GOSPEL NUGGET #423

Great Men Reduced To Nothing When They Saw God's Holiness

Job was probably the best man in his day in terms of morality. And yet, when he saw God's majesty and holiness he saw himself vile:

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
Job 40:4 "Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.

The prophet Isaiah, again, we can say, was probably one of the best men in Israel, if not the best man in his time. But when he saw God's holiness, he saw how unclean he was:

Isa 6:3 And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!"
Isa 6:5 So I 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 my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts."

The apostle Peter considered by many as the first pope saw his sinfulness when face to face with the holiness of the Lord Jesus:

Lu 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

If Job, Isaiah and Peter saw and realized that in spite of their seemingly impressive moral record before man, were not good enough for God, how much less are we who are down there in the ladder of morality.

The man who is most white on the face of planet earth would appear as dirty white when face to face with God's holiness. We are like bright candles at night that appear as nothing when exposed under the full blazing sunlight of a noonday sun.

None of us measures up to His holiness and standard. We are all found wanting. If ever God should accept us, it is only through the sinless sacrifice and offering of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

It is only through Him and what He did on the cross that sinners can be accepted by God.