R.C. Sproul and the Burj Khalifa by Paul David Tripp

Today is the last devotional in our current Wednesday’s Word series on the holiness of God. I hope it has been a blessing, but in some ways, every week felt like a futile effort.

It’s absolutely impossible to do justice to the majesty of God’s holiness within the limited boundaries of our human language. Trying to find adequate words sometimes felt like writing in circles.

So, to conclude, perhaps an illustration might help.

If you’ve ever been to Dubai, you are confronted with the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Impressive skyscrapers fill Dubai, but the Burj Khalifa looms over them all; it’s on an entirely different scale.

Even from far away, it was hard to crank my head back far enough to see all the way to the top. The closer I got, the more imposing and striking this structure became. As I walked, there was no thought of the other buildings in Dubai that had previously impressed me. They were simply not comparable in stunning architectural grandeur and perfection to this one.

Once inside, we took an elevator to the 125th floor. As I stepped to the windows to scan the city of Dubai, I remember immediately commenting on how small the rest of the buildings looked.

Those “small” buildings were skyscrapers that, in any other city, would have been the buildings that you wanted to visit! They looked unimpressive, not worthy of my attention.

Such is the holiness of God. There is nothing like it. If you allow yourself to gaze and meditate upon his holiness, what has previously impressed you and commanded your awe will do so no more.

But sadly, this most stunning reality of life, one that should shape how I think about everything, not only doesn’t always fill me with awe but sometimes doesn’t even get my attention.

I don’t always live with God’s skyscraper holiness in view. I don’t always look at everything else in life from the height of that perspective. And when I don’t, not only do other things seem bigger and more impressive than they are, but even unholy things can get my attention.

My prayer for me and you is that when it comes to God’s holiness, this truth would take hold of us and not let go, giving us the proper perspective on everything else and putting what once commanded our attention in its correct place.

Any reflection of the holiness of God must lead us to seek and celebrate his grace. It is only by revealing grace that we know that the Lord is holy, only by convicting grace that we know that we are unholy, and only by transforming grace that we desire to live holy lives.

R. C. Sproul said it this way in his book, The Holiness of God:

“When we understand the character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and helplessness. Helpless sinners can survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. We may dislike giving our attention to God’s wrath and justice, but until we incline ourselves to these aspects of God’s nature, we will never appreciate what has been wrought for us by grace. Even Edwards’s sermon on sinners in God’s hands was not designed to stress the flames of hell. The resounding accent falls not on the fiery pit but on the hands of the God who holds us and rescues us from it. The hands of God are gracious hands. They alone have the power to rescue us from certain destruction.”¹

By grace, we have been invited to live in God’s holy presence forever and ever.

God bless,

Paul David Tripp

1R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 25th ann. ed. (Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2010), 221.

PaulTripp.com Finally, if you’ve been reading these devotionals on your own, go back to the beginning of this Wednesday’s Word series on holiness (which started on May 3) and use the devotionals and Reflection Questions with someone else or in a small group. Hebrews 3:12-14 is an explicit reminder that the pursuit of holiness is a community project. You need brothers and sisters to help you (also see Hebrews 10:19-27)!

(You may view the original blog post here).