Read: Psalm 99:1–5
Holy, Holy, Holy
Psalm 99:5 – “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool! Holy is he!”
The Lord’s holiness is reason for praise and exaltation. Everything about him is holy, and Psalm 99 proclaims that message with a threefold refrain, in verses 3, 5, and 9: “The Lord our God is holy!” His holiness is praiseworthy because it means that he is absolutely unique, one of a kind. There is no other like him. He is exalted over all, untouched by sin or fault, “perfect in power, in love and purity.”
But Psalm 99’s refrain is more than just a simple declaration; it is also a call to action. We are exhorted to praise the Lord’s great and awesome name, to exalt him, and to worship at his footstool, at his holy mountain. God is holy; therefore, he is to be praised!
In the person and work of the Lord Jesus, the holiness of God was brought down to earth, so to speak. Iron
ically, evil spirits were the first to acknowledge that Jesus was “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). But later in Jesus’ earthly ministry, Peter too was led to make this confession to him: “You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69).
Christ the Lord is holy. Yes, he is our friend, who laid down his life for us (John 15:13, 14). We rejoice in the beautiful truth that he is also our brother (Matt. 12:50), and that through him we have been adopted by the Father (Eph. 1:5). But at the same time, he is so much more!
That means that Jesus is not our “buddy.” Jesus is not our “homeboy.” He is the Holy One of God, our brother and friend, but also our Lord and King. When we exalt the Lord and worship him, we also “honour Christ the Lord as holy” (1 Peter 3:15). And we honour him by living in imitation of God’s holy people of old, who “kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them” (v. 7).
The Holy Son of God has made it possible for us, people who are anything but holy in ourselves, to be holy. We were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, “that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4). And so we praise him, not only in word, but also in deed. For the Lord our God is holy!