Holy
When you declare that there is no one like God, you are simply acknowledging His holiness.
Have you ever put something aside for someone? Paul and Barnabas were consecrated for the work to which they were called (Acts 13:2). In a way, that something is holy, in the sense that it’s set apart for a specific task or person. “Holy” after all in its simplest terms means “set apart”. But doesn’t that seem to lessen the significance of the word when it relates to God?
In Miracles, C.S. Lewis talks about God’s sheer otherness, which has obscured Him in the intellectual world and causes philosophy as it relates to theology (which is literally the study of God) to spin out of its orbit. There are many thoughts out there that equate God to this abstract, formless everything and everywhere. Some go as far as to say that we humans are somehow a part of or can become a part of this all-encompassing consciousness they claim as god.
Remember when I quoted the first five words of Genesis 1? I will use them to demonstrate what I mean by sheer otherness. “In the Beginning, God created…” God is the only Being that has ever existed outside the constructs of time, i.e. before God created Time, He existed. God is the only Being that did not have a beginning. He is infinitely good, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and infinitely perfect. In as much as there are things about God that are outside the realm of our experience, there are still others that are very much in our realm of possibilities.
I believe that this “sheer otherness” is what is obscured by light at the Transfiguration and in Revelation 1. In short, I think the holiness of God is that part of His glory that He didn’t let Moses see in its fullness. The pieces seem to fit. Seeing God’s perfect righteousness would cause anyone not as righteous as Him to die. Even the thought of pre-dating time itself (though that terminology is inappropriate) or contemplating the vastness and limitlessness of infinite perfection boggles the mind.
Yet, the beauty of His holiness, His sheer otherness, is that He does not deign to be in relationship with His creatures, like some reluctant play buddy. On the contrary, He desires it; He wants it so much that His own Son’s death is a price He’s willing to pay for it to happen. Rightly, we hide our eyes from His holiness and mercifully God veils the full weight of His sheer otherness. But there will come a …I suppose it would be best to say time…when we will be able to see it and live.
Psalm 99:5(NIV) “Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.”
Psalm 34:3 “Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.”
How can one as unworthy and little as I ever exalt and lift high the One who is above all?
Psalm 95:6