Exodus
15:11
"Who
is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You,
glorious
in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
(This is part of Moses' response and song after the Lord took His people through the Red Sea and defeated the Egyptian army. Moses saw the glory of the Lord and sang this fabulous song (Exodus 15:1-19) - the first song recorded in the Bible)
The first attribute: He is glorious in His holiness. The first and main description of the Lord is that He is holy, holy, holy (Is. 6:3). There is no other part of His character that is repeated like this - the angels repeat this attribute to the 3rd degree! This is Divine perfection.
His holiness makes him beautiful and glorious above all other beings. Holiness and glory are linked many times in Scripture - this verse in Isaiah 6:3 shows us the angelic beings crying "Holy, holy holy, Lord God almighty, the whole earth is full of Your glory!" God's glorious holiness affects the whole earth. Anything that is holy has God's touch on it, and God's touch leads to His glory. This reason alone makes me desire holiness al the more.
Even though His holiness means that He is set apart - He is in a class by Himself - "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?" The answer is simple: there is absolutely no one like Him - not even close.
The concept of holiness in all its forms is mentioned over 650 times in the Bible.
The second attribute: He is fearful in praises. The sight and sound of His holiness leads every creature to reverential fear and awe. I have already talked about the fear of God on this blog. It has little to do with being afraid of God and a whole lot to do with knowing Him, worshiping Him and obeying Him.
The word "praises" here, is the Hebrew word tehillah. Every time this word is used in the Bible for "praise" there is something of God's presence and glory in the praise. It is not simply a reverence ascending to the Lord from our hearts - but God is now enthroned in our praise (Ps. 22:3 uses this word tehillah also). As we praise Him, He responds with His presence - look at these verses and take note of the miracles of God's presence:
Deut. 10:21 - He (our tehillah) does great and awesome things
2Chron. 20:22 - as the singers began to tehillah, the enemy was defeated
Ps. 40:3 - He puts a tehillah song in us that will cause many to see (not hear) the song and trust in God
Ps. 71:8 - when our mouths are filled with tehillah, then we will have His glory ALL DAY!
Is. 61:3 - tehillah (praise) is like a garment that lifts heaviness
Is. 61:11 - tehillah (praise) is the glory that will be seen by all nations
...I could go on...
The third attribute: He does wonders. This word in Hebrew is pele' which means it is something extraordinary, difficult to understand.
These three attributes of God flow from holiness, through His presence in our praise to His wonders that cannot be numbered:
Job 9:10 He does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number
Again, His wonders are linked to the glory of the Lord
Ps. 96:3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among the peoples.
My search for a life of holiness is also a quest to be part of seeing and ministering His glory in the nations.
