Jackie Hill Perry - Holier Than Thou: How Gods Holiness Helps Us Trust Him

Copyright 2021 by Jackie Hill Perry

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-5359-7571-1

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 231.4

Subject Heading: GOD / HOLINESS

Main translation is English Standard Version. ESV Text Edition: 2016. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scriptures marked csb are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible, and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Scriptures marked niv are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible, and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Scriptures marked nlt are taken from New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked Berean Study Bible are taken from Berean Study Bible, BSB, Copyright 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub, Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Cover design and illustration by Matt Stevens.

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To my children, Eden, Autumn, and Sage.

This work wasnt written for you but around you. While you played, I studied and thought deeply about the nature of God. While you were away at school or in your rooms, I wrote as much of it as I could. At times you interrupted me with the want to tell me something or show me anything, and whenever you did, I thought to myself, This is holy, too . There is a child-like purity in the way you look to me for most things.

I pray that what is written next is what youve seen me obey so that when each of you is old enough to read Mommys words and understand the holy God it explains, that if and when you make the decision to be like Mommy, my example actually means you will be more like God.

Acknowledgments

Preston, Mother, and Dana, Thank you

Austin, Devin, and Ashley, Thank you

Father, Son, and Spirit, Thank You

Foreword

Deep insights into the character of God dont come without great trial. Ask Moses. He spent the better part of forty years in ignominy until he met God at that burning bush. His life in the wilderness was more of a personal and professional desert than it was an address in the backwoods of desolation. Some of the best revelation about God, however, came at the expense of his personal wasteland.

Ask Ruth. A Moabite bereft of kinsmen, pelted on the fringes of sixth-century womanhood, but determined to see providence run its course. Her story and lineage bequeath to us pieces of the mystery of God on the canvass of her struggle.

Nobody experiences revelation without some great cost. Sometimes, the tariff is our own transgression. Ask David. Somewhere between Bathsheba and Absalom, his life became the studio for melodies from heaven. Much of the godly music we sing today hearkens from his trumpet of tribulation.

Ask Jackie. The book you hold in your hand was forged through time and trial. Jackie paid to write this book. Something of her weariness leaks through the ink on these pages. None of us come to love God deeply, to see Him clearly without first having an awakening to our internal depravity which can lead to a fuller appreciation of Gods holiness. Something of the richness of her treasures found hide here in plain sight.

Every era needs its own prophet of holiness; a kind of living invitation to marvel in the beauty of Gods holiness, and in the holiness of His beauty. Its the last part that grabs me: the holiness of His beauty. Our culture is bedazzled with images of fleeting majesty. We are so easily let down. The glisten of gold from Wall Street to Main Street bids anew on each passing generation. Sephora and Mac do their best to hide the spots and wrinkles of our worn countenances. Fame and influence beckon our singular devotion for their possession. We humans are on the hunt for a beauty that does not fade only to discover that it does fail.

While we need a prophet of holiness, now is not the time for empty moralism and pious irrelevancies. Neither of those is sufficient to sustain or satisfy. So many of our sermons and books, whether conservative or liberal, are but moral manifestos disguised as scholarly exegesis. We tire quickly of cold commands. We need a grander vision of God even if the window from which we see Him is small.

This book is a wide vision through a narrow window. I want to warn you, however. The complex enigma which is Gods holiness is literally indescribable. Our best attempts are but anthropomorphic images, metaphors to decode mystery. Truth is, words will not do. God must be experienced. That, friend, is a frightening proposition. Few people, from Moses to D. L. Moody, could barely contain the awful joy after such an encounter. So, get ready. The words bound between these pages are like the rungs of a ladder to that vista where the subject is as glorious as the object.

I told Jackie that she is a gifted communicator, but Im stunned that the readability is likewise so profound. Like an apologist and logician, she argues for our most reasonable faith. She has served her generation well. When A. W. Tozer wrote that God is looking for men and women in whose hands His glory is safe, he must have been thinking about a captivated saint like Jackie.

I read this book and wanted more of God.

I poured over its pages with both interjection and applause.

I wasnt ready for the bliss that found me.

Here it is. Read it and weep for joy.

Dr. Charlie Dates, senior pastor of Progressive Baptist Church and an affiliate professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Baylors George W. Truett Theological Seminary

Introduction

Toni Morrison once said, If theres a book that you want to read, but it hasnt been written yet, then you must write it. So here I am, writing.

Walk into a seminary, peruse an aisle, ask your pastor for his favorite, your friend for hers, your father for his, and they will all have a holy book to offer you. Ive read so many of them at this point, and the shape of my soul, the stretch of my mind, and this work you hold is the proof. I honor the likes of G. E. Patterson, John Onwuchekwa, R. C. Sproul, A. W. Tozer, Stephen Charnock, and David Wells for how they helped me to think about the subject. I dignify gospel songs like Nobody Greater, Nobody Like You, Lord, and Nobody Like Jesus for putting melody to it. I remember my Aunt Merle, the first holy woman I knew. I know a halo when I see it because of her little brown self. She wore it always. That haloed woman, I honor too. These influences have been good to me, but even with their help, I still had questions about the holy subject they introduced me to.

I dont remember the day I thought about it and if my coffee was iced or warm. What I know is that what I thought, and what I thought of, I wanted an answer for: If God is holy, then He cant sin. If God cant sin, then He cant sin against me. If He cant sin against me, shouldnt that make Him the most trustworthy being there is?