Holiness

Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

One writer called this verse “one of the loftiest descriptions of the majesty and excellency of God in the whole Scripture.” Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? This verse is a lyric from a song – a song of Moses. His “triumphant song” for their miraculous deliverance out of the hands of Egypt.

When we think of Moses, we think of many things, but usually a great songwriter isn’t one of them. We might ascribe that label to David because of his beautiful Psalms, but Moses could write an epic song, and he could sing, too.

This triumphant song of Moses in Exod. 15 is the first song recorded in the Bible. They had just crossed the Red Sea in the previous chapter and immediately following their miraculous victory over Pharoah and his army, they sang.

The Song of Moses

Exo 15:1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Exo 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Exo 15:3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. Exo 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. Exo 15:5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Exo 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. Exo 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Exo 15:12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Exo 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. Exo 15:14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Exo 15:15 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Exo 15:16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Exo 15:17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Exo 15:18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.

Breakdown of the Song

The structure is brilliant.

They retell the narrative of what just happened. Yet, sprinkled throughout the narrative, they repeatedly turn their eyes back to the Lord and praise Him for different aspects of His glorious nature that made that victory possible.

The opening of the song is a declaration of their commitment to sing to the Lord, to sing His praises, and to keep in remembrance the glory of His victory for them over Pharaoh and his army. I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Then they remind themselves of who God is for them. Exo 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation (certainly soul salvation, but He is also the One who can deliver them from their enemies): he is my God (which I love. They can claim possession of the living God. He is my God), and I will prepare him an habitation (He will always have a residence in their hearts); my father’s God, and I will exalt him (He is the God of my forefathers and I will worship Him and glorify Him always.).

Then they highlight an attribute of God and back it up with the facts of what just happened. They sing in vs. Exo 15:3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name (He is not a passive God. He will fight for them. He will get involved in their lives and His name is the LORD or Jehovah in Hebrew. While Elohim is God as the Creator of all things, Jehovah is the same God in covenant relation to those whom He has created. Jehovah means the Eternal, the Immutable One, He Who WAS, and IS, and IS TO COME.).

After having sung that The LORD is a man of war and JEHOVAH is his name, they back it up with the facts of what just happened. We find in Exo 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. Exo 15:5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

Then, they turn their eyes back to the Lord to praise Him yet again. They sing in vs. 6, Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Exo 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble (I love that expression, the greatness of thine excellency, the glorious, abundant, superiority of God in all His perfection). Exo 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils (the natural agency of God by which He caused) the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. In this they pivot back to the narrative, and Pharoah and his army’s proud, selfish, in-the-flesh desire for vengeance. Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

Then they return to the Lord again and the simplicity with which He defeated them. Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

Then we get the famous verse about the holiness of God. Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Exo 15:12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Exo 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

They ask the question who is like unto the Lord and then list examples why nothing compares to Him. He merely stretched out His hand and the Earth swallowed their enemies while at the same time, He was showring mercy to His own people and guided them in the strength of His power.

Then they comment on how these miracles of God would send shockwaves around the known world at the time. Exo 15:14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Exo 15:15 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Exo 15:16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

Talk about evangelism! The world knew of God, and they knew that the Hebrews were the people of the one, true, living God. And finally, they sing of their own deliverance.

Exo 15:17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Exo 15:18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. Interesting to me that they’d describe the promised land as God’s sanctuary, which His hands established and wherein the Lord shall reign forever and ever. This is such a stately exaltation of overwhelming praise to God.

Definition of Holiness

All of this brings us back to our text in Exo 15:11 which is almost perfectly in the center of the song, which is brilliant. At the center of the song is the central theme of the song, the reason they were singing praises to God in the first place. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

The first thing he sings in that lyric is Who is like unto thee, O Lard, among the gods? This is the kind of searching question that answers itself and affirms that not only does nothing that exists compares to God, but also nothing man has imagined about false gods can even compare to the real God, and when we meditate upon God, His very depths are also beyond comprehension. Who is like unto thee, O LORD…?

Bullinger would point out that that phrase, Who is like unto thee is ever the saints’ noblest praise of God. Moses said in Deu 33:26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. Hannah would say in 1Sa 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. David would write in Psa 71:19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! And he’d write in Psa 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. That phrase, Who is like unto thee is ever the OT saints’ noblest praise of God. And Moses would sing, Who is like unto thee, O LORD, O Jehovah, the Eternal, Immutable One, He Who WAS, and IS, and IS TO COME, Who is like unto thee, O JEHOVAH, among the gods?

I love that he says among the gods. What idol, and all the vain nonsense man imagines about idols, even among the best idols man can dream up, what idol can compare to God? You consider the life they had just left in Egypt. This was a time in which polytheism with its belief in many gods was at its peak in Egypt with its gigantic statues and temples of grandeur. Yet, it was all worthless, counted as dung, compared to the series of miraculous victories they had just witnessed, which proved the greatness beyond compare of Jehovah-God.

And then Moses sings, who is like thee, glorious in holiness? First, the word holiness. Webster on holy says, “The state of being holy; purity or integrity of moral character; freedom from sin; sanctity. Applied to the Supreme Being, holiness denotes perfect purity or integrity of moral character, one of [God’s] essential attributes.”

Holiness encompasses the perfect purity of God’s nature being free from sin or any corruption, which gives Him the moral authority to do anything He wishes including the judgment of all mankind. Holiness is a source of comfort for the believers because the perfect purity of His nature means that He will judge all things righteously in truth, which can be a fearful thing, too, because He will also judge YOU righteously in truth.

You may ask, what do you mean by righteously? Righteousness is the rightness of God, the rightness of all His ways, the moral perfection and correctness in all that He thinks and does. So what’s the difference between righteousness and holiness? I’m reminded of Deut. 32:4, which tells us that God “is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity (holiness), just and right is he (righteousness).” God’s holiness is the purity of His nature being free from all sin and iniquity whereas His righteousness is the rightness with which He acts. Anything unrighteous is anything that has acted against His will, gone against the moral rightness of His ways, or done anything that falls short of His perfect holiness, which is His crowning glory.

You might remember in Isaiah 6, how Isaiah found himself in the presence of the Lord in Heaven. For us, we would think, “Wow! I’m in the presence of the Lord. I’m actually looking at Jehovah God. And He’s actually going to talk to me! This is awesome!” No. Isaiah didn’t react like that. He said, “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.”

An angel had to bring a live coal to purge him from sin so He could survive standing in the presence of the Lord. This story has always stuck with me because we cannot imagine what it’s like to stand as a natural man in the presence of God in His natural state, for us to actually look upon His pure… undiluted… absolute… holiness. We would be just like Isaiah. We wouldn’t be celebrating. We would instantly feel so unclean that we’re worthy of death.

There is power in His holiness.

Holiness forces the corrupt to face the reality of their corruption. And a natural man need only stand in the Lord’s presence to instantly realize the depths of his uncleanness, the depths of his unworthiness to even be in His presence, because there is so much power in the purity of His holiness that you already know that you’re in trouble because nothing unclean can survive in His presence.

You remember when Moses asked the Lord to show me thy glory, and the Lord said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live (Ex. 33:20).

In fact, in Isaiah 6, God’s holiness is so magnificent that the Seraphims, the elite class of angels in Heaven, they have to cover their faces before Him simply because they are in the presence of the power of the purity of His holiness.

Plus, the Seraphims are crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” There’s a similar passage in Rev. 4:8 in which “The four beasts rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” Do you ever notice that heavenly beings are always singing about His holiness? They never sing about any other attribute. You never read about angels singing out “Eternal, eternal, eternal, is the Lord God Almighty;” or, “Merciful, merciful, merciful is the Lord God of Hosts?” They always sing of His holiness, because that is the pre-eminent, crowning attribute of His divine nature. He is glorious in holiness.

This is why we are all sinners. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We’ve fallen short of His crowning glory, which is His holiness.

The holiness of God is the core of who He is, being free from all iniquity and sin. His holiness is what makes all His words true and all His actions and judgments perfectly righteous. He has the power to do anything He wants, but His power is subservient to His will, which is holy.

Psa. 145:17 says, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” Deut. 32:4 calls Him “A God of truth, and without iniquity.” Twice in Revelation He is called “holy and true.” James 1:13 tells us “God cannot be tempted with evil.” Job 34:10,12 says, “Far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity… Yea surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.” He is glorious in holiness. His holiness is His glory, the crowning capstone of His entire divine nature.

He is free from all iniquity and sin. He is uncorrupted and uncorruptible. What a relief to all of us, surrounded by corruption, to know that God can never be tainted with corruption.

And He never forced man into sin. When God created the world, He never said, “Let there be sin.” We’re living in a sin-cursed world because man in his free will brought sin into God’s creation. Tit. 1:2 tells us about the “hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” In 2 Chron. 20:21, the Israelites “appointed singers unto the LORD that should praise the beauty of holiness.” His beauty is a holy beauty.

Stephen Charnock, who wrote “The Existence and Attributes of God” has a big ol’ chapter on the holiness of God, and he made the point that God’s holiness is His glory and His beauty. Holiness is what brings honor to God. His holiness is what makes God so beautiful, what makes His mercy, His grace, His power, His love all so beautiful as well, because all those other attributes flow out from His essence of holiness. And having His holiness work in us and through us is what makes us beautiful from the inside out, because it molds us into His image, and sanctifies us to His glory.

His beauty is a holy beauty.

His justice is a holy justice. His wisdom is a holy wisdom. His love is a holy love. His power is a holy power (Psa. 98:1). His promises are holy promises (Psa. 105:42). “Holy and true” go hand-in-hand (Rev. 6:10). His name, which signifies all His attributes, is a holy name (Psa. 103:1). His holiness is the guide to all His actions and the source of all His punishments.

Glorious in Holiness

Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? God is glorious in holiness. Glorious is to speak of exalted excellence. It is noble. It is excellent. It is renowned. It is majestic. It is celebrated. It is illustrious. God is magnified above everything that exists because of the majesty of His supreme purity of holiness. His holiness shines in everything that He is and everything that He does. The holiness of God is His crowning glory, the aspect of His nature to be admired and praised above all. Charnock would write that His holiness is, “the blessedness and nobleness of his nature; it renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures, that understand any thing of this lovely perfection. Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging to the nature of God. Hence he is in Scripture styled often the Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel; and oftener entitled Holy, than Almighty, and set forth by this part of his dignity more than by any other. [Holiness] is more affixed as an epithet to his name than any other: you never find it expressed, His mighty name, or His wise name; but His great name, and most of all, His holy name. This is his greatest title of honor; in this doth the majesty and venerableness of his name appear.”

God’s holiness is so precious, the He has at times sworn by it. In Psalm 89:35, the Lord says, “Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David,” and in Amos 4:2, we find “The Lord will swear by his holiness.” He swears by His holiness means that He is laying before all mankind the credibility of Himself, of everything He is, when He makes a promise. When one of us swears in the Biblical sense of making a guarantee on a promise, we’ll swear by something greater than ourselves, but there is nothing greater than God Himself, and so He swears by Himself, offering up His holiness, His name, the very credibility of everything He is as a means of guaranteeing the fulfillment of His promises.

Holiness is his very life.

He didn’t invent holiness. He doesn’t choose to be holy. That’s what He is and who He is. That’s how He thinks. That’s how He naturally operates. That explains the why of everything He does. God’s holy essence and the beauty of His holiness is the very glory of all that He is.

His holiness is set out as a pattern for our lives.

“Be ye holy, as I am holy.” He told the Jews in Lev_20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. Peter told the Little Flock in 1Pe_1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 1Pe_1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. These are timeless principles. Even Paul would tell us Eph_1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

Did God choose who would get saved? No. He chose HOW we’d get saved and WHAT our standing would be before Him in love. God determined before He ever created the world that all of us in the age of grace, who accept His gospel by faith, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Because of the all-sufficiency of what Christ accomplished for us at Calvary, we’re positionally holy before God. Paul would in Col. 3:12 call us holy and beloved. He’d write, Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

The big picture point in those passages is that our position before God should govern our walk before God. We align our earthly walk with our heavenly identity. Because we are elect, holy, and beloved, we should therefore put on all those attributes of Christ Himself who is also holy and who died for us.

Since the Lord is glorious in holiness, and since His holiness is the crowning capstone of who He is, then all of His other attributes are glorious as well because they all flow out from the essence of His holiness. Charnock would write, “As [holiness] is the glory of the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead. As his power is the strength of them, so his holiness is the beauty of them.”

As it is with God, so it should be with us. When we put on those attributes of Christ in our walk, there is a glory to each one of those attributes because they would flow out from the holy essence of everything God made us in Christ. All those attributes flow out of the holy essence of Christ. Thus, those same attributes should flow out of the holy essence of who we are in Christ, us as well, because God made us holy in His sight and as righteous as His Son because of the cross. His glory becomes our glory because of the holy essence and position of everything we are in Christ.

His holiness is an essential and necessary perfection of His nature, which also demands that we rejoice in all the hope we have in Christ because everything rests on who God is, and God is holy. He only knows what is right. He can only do what is right. He can only know truth. He can only speak truth, and He can only operate in the realm of truth. Charnock would write, “He is as necessarily holy, as he is necessarily God; as necessarily without sin, as without change. As he was God from eternity, so he was holy from eternity. He was gracious, merciful, just in his own nature, and also holy…”

Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Let’s finish the exegesis on this verse. Next, He is fearful in praises. There is great, fearful reverence in our praise to God because there is such abundance of all the attributes of God beyond comprehension. He isn’t just holy, He is so holy beyond comprehension that nothing unclean can exist in His presence. He isn’t just loving. He is love Himself, so loving beyond comprehension, He would send His only Son to die for us to satisfy His holy justice for sin. He isn’t just powerful. He has power beyond all comprehension but His power is subservient to His nature, which is holy.

Jeremiah would write, Jer 10:6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Jer 10:7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. And finally, Moses speaks in this verse of the Lord doing wonders evidenced by the miracles they had just witnessed when they crossed the Red Sea.

But His wonders extend far beyond that one miracle. I loved what Adam Clarke wrote about that expression. “Every part of the work of God is wonderful; not only miracles, which imply an inversion or suspension of the laws of nature, but every part of nature itself. Who can conceive how a single blade of grass is formed; or how earth, air, and water become consolidated in the body of the oak? And who can comprehend how the different tribes of plants and animals are preserved, in all the distinctive characteristics of their respective natures? And who can conceive how the human being is formed, nourished, and its different parts developed…? What is life, sleep, death? And how an impure and unholy soul is regenerated, purified, refined, and made like unto its great Creator? These are wonders which God alone works, and to himself only are they fully known.”