​The 139th Psalm is King David’s praise of the attributes of God, and he explicitly names three areas where God is infinitely and eternally present: In heaven, on earth, and in hell. God’s presence in heaven means He has transcendence; He is far above and beyond us. God’s presence on earth means He has immanence; He is close to and active with His people. God’s presence in hell means He has vengeance; His judgement and wrath are persistent and eternal in condemnation of Satan and his worshipers. In all three of these, the omnipresence of God is a great comfort to believers and a warning to the unbeliever.

When it comes to our understanding of what God understands, His wisdom and knowledge are insurmountable. This is a truth repeatedly posited throughout Scripture. At the same time, Scripture makes abundantly clear, the God we serve is a knowable God. The omniscience of God, while fully unfathomable, is intimately connected to His will for this world, the Church, and our lives. The nature of being all-knowing includes a foreordained will. This logical conclusion carries deep implications, some of which many Christians would rather skip over.

In our understanding of who God is, we come next to His omnipotence. God’s might, power, and will are other ways of describing this omnipotence, which does not diminish and never changes. This is another attribute that is hard for men to fathom, simply because we all change all the time. We change our minds, we age and grow, we learn new things. When we aim to do something, we must first learn how to do it or gather enough resources. For God, these things are frankly not the case. However, in light of the omnipotence of God, there are somethings that even He can’t do. In this message, I unpack the implications of an all-powerful God.

No one of God’s attributes is more or less present in Him. All of God is all of His attributes all of the time. That’s hard to fathom for mankind; indeed, it is God Himself who said “My ways are not your ways.” In order to aid our knowledge of Himself, God has deemed it appropriate that one and only one of His attributes be listed in the superlative in Scripture. That attribute is His holiness. For this introductory sermon in this mini-series from Isaiah, we begin by looking at what happens when a mere mortal is confronted with the holiness of God.