Holiness Given for All Eternity

Before you read, I want you to think shortly on these things:

What are your first thoughts when you bring to mind the infant Jesus? Perhaps you picture the setting: the stable, the star, the quiet night. How do you imagine Him? What words would you use to describe that fragile, newborn life?

Now, let your mind traverse thirty years. Jesus has begun His ministry. How do you see Him now? Imagine you are there in the crowd, watching Him preach with authority and heal with a touch. What comes to your mind? What words describe this man?

Move forward another three years. Christ is crucified. What are your first thoughts now? Imagine He is right in front of you, nailed to a rough beam of wood, hanging publicly in agony. How would you describe Him in this moment of suffering?

Finally, move forward three days. The stone is rolled away. He is risen. His life declares total victory over sin and death. What takes hold of your thoughts now? What words are sufficient to describe Him?

As we stand at the threshold of a new year, we naturally look back. What were the major events that shook the world this past year? What were the personal experiences that left their mark on you?

And as you look forward, do you have resolutions? If not, pause for a moment. What is the one thing your soul truly needs this year?

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The passage begins with a tragic marker: the death of a great king. In a time of profound political instability and personal grief, Isaiah goes to the only place where peace and guidance can be found — the temple.

There, he is confronted with a reality that confronts us today: Throughout the reign of every man on earth, there is one God who rules over everything. His reign knows no beginning and no end. No political shift is above His sovereignty.

This past year may have been filled with conflicts, both in our nation and across the globe. We must accept that this turmoil will not cease so long as sin remains in the world. So, what are we to do? We follow Isaiah's lead. He chose to seek God, and God responded, providing an answer far deeper than Isaiah expected.

The Holiness of God

We see the Seraphim in glorious worship, repeating a single word: "Holy." What does this truly mean? In Hebrew, it means "sacred" or "set apart." If you were to ask a theologian about God's attributes, they would likely tell you that holiness is central. It is the attribute from which all others — His love, His justice, His wrath — derive. Holiness is what makes Him God.

Yet, despite its paramount importance, we spend far too little time meditating on it. Perhaps this is because we cannot fully comprehend it. There is nothing physical in this world "holy" enough to serve as a perfect analogy. It is an attribute we find only in Scripture, understood only through the Holy Spirit.

In verse 5, Isaiah cries out, "I am lost!" Other translations say he is "ruined" or "undone." R.C. Sproul describes this scene with chilling precision:

What Does This Have to Do with the New Year?

You may wonder: What does this have to do with the New Year? We often hear messages like this, focus on them for a week, and then forget them as life rushes back in.

When Isaiah stood before God, something drastic had to happen. God's standard of morality is perfect; every sin is a direct attack on His nature. Because He is just, He must correct everything that does not measure up to His standard.

By rights, Isaiah should have died. He confessed his uncleanness; the verdict was clear.

But the God who is Holy is also full of grace. As Isaiah was being torn apart by his own guilt, God decided not to annihilate him, but to recreate him. God made Isaiah holy.

This is the heartbeat of our lives. The desire of the Holy God is for us to be holy, just as He is holy (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16). In His mercy, God did not leave us "undone." He chose to make us born again.

Isaiah was cleansed by a coal, but that was merely a shadow of the true cleansing to come.

Holiness Made Flesh

There was a time when Holiness became palpable among us. The same God, whose grandeur is infinite, left the chorus of heavenly hosts to walk on our dusty earth. Yet, He was not stripped of His holiness here. If we needed Jesus to show us anything, it was what it looks like to be holy in human flesh.

We could never become holy through our own methods. So, the Holy God came to live beside His sinful creation. We needed Jesus's holy life. We have hope in His sacrifice and faith in His resurrection specifically because He was holy. He lived the life we could never live. He died the death we should have died. It is only through His holy, living sacrifice that we now have access to the Father. Because of Jesus, we can stand in the presence of the Holy God and be filled with praise instead of woe.

Living Holy

Do you fear that holiness will mean boredom? Do you worry that in becoming holy, you will lose your personality or your ability to enjoy life?

The undeniable reality is that you were created for the Holy God. To "be holy" does not mean to be superior to others; it means to surrender your human aspirations to the superior will of the Father.

I recently reflected on the changes I need to make in the coming year. When I asked myself, "Why change this?" my initial answer was, "To build character."

What a shallow answer! It was as fragile as my own willpower because I did not place God at the beginning, the end, and every point in between.

This is not a catchphrase. It is not something we apply only to our "spiritual" activities. There is no separation between "work life" and "spiritual life" — there is only one life, and the entirety of it must be set apart. To do this, we must know Jesus better, for holiness comes only through the knowledge of the Holy Son of God.

We will live our most satisfied lives only when we live as we were created and redeemed to live. As John Piper famously said, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Paul Tripp wrote, "Every day of your life, you preach some kind of gospel to yourself."

My final question to you is this: Will the gospel you preach to yourself this year make you holy? And not just for a year — for what good is a "set apart" year if our whole existence is not set apart for Him?

May we bring all our plans for 2026 before His holy altar. May His holy flame burn away everything that is not God-centered, that we may find this coming year to be a joy more fulfilling and holy than any we have known before.

May our Holy Savior give us grace through it all.