💡
Join me as I do a refresh of basic doctrinal topics of the gospel, these are personal study notes. KJV is used for Bible references.

God is totally and competely separated from all that is unclean and impure. In other words, God is completely Separated from all that is sinful.

Exodus 20:3-5. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

  • Is it possible to make a carved image (statue) of anything in the sky, or on the earth, or in the ocean that would properly represent God? No
  • Is it true then that God is completely different and completely separate from all that is created? **Yes

Isaiah 6:1-3 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

  • When Isaiah saw the vision of God's holiness, what did he realize about himself? how sinful he was. (Isaiah 6:5. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts).

  • According to Psalm 24:3-4, who is able to stand in God's Holy place? One who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully)

  • How much of the darkness of sin is in God? None. 1 John 1:5. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all

Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Matthew 27:45-46. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

  • Why did God the Father forsake His beloved Son when He bore our sins in His own body on the cross, when Christ was made sin for us? (1 Peter 2:24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 2 Corinthians 5:21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The answer is found in Psalm 22:3. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel

What is it that separates us from such a Holy God? Isaiah 59:2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Our sins separate us from God.

God's holiness therefore means 2 things:

  1. God is totally separated from all that is created.
  2. God is totally separated from all that is sinful.

Certainly, it is impossible for us to be separated from all that's created. We can't stop being creatures. Only the Creator is absolutely separate from all of creation, so we'll never be holy in this sense.

However, by the Grace of God, it is possible for the believer to be separated from all that is sinful. In fact, we are commanded to be separated from all that is sinful.

1 Peter 1:16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

According to this verse, why are we to be holy (set apart, separated)? Because God is Holy.

  • Does God want the believer to imitate His Holiness? Yes. (Ephesians 5:1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children).

  • According to Leviticus 11:44-45, did Old Testament believers have this same commandment? Yes (For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy).

Thus in studying the Biblical doctrine (teaching) of separation, we must beging with God Himself, and we must ever keep before our minds the fact of His Holiness and His separateness.