God’s holiness is an indispensable part of his character. His holiness is tied up with his beauty, majesty, and glory, so that if he were not holy—that is, if he were not set apart, unstained, and unsullied by the brokenness, ugliness, and sin of this world—then he would not be the God that he is. We naturally long for what is good, beautiful, and pure, because our hearts were created to long for God’s holiness. To be set apart to him is to be aligned with the true north of creation’s spiritual compass.

At the end of the day, here is the issue: you cannot—and you would not want to—have God unless you have him in his holiness, but you also cannot enter into his holy presence on your own because of your sin. God’s holiness is the quality of him that you most deeply desire to be aligned with, but his consuming-fire holiness is also what spells the greatest threat to your safety. Sinful human beings would be consumed in a moment by the holiness of God, no matter how much we long for God’s perfect purity.

How, then, do we get beyond this gap? How do we draw near to God in order to glorify him and to enjoy him forever when it is his perfect holiness that cannot tolerate even the smallest imperfection of sin? In fact, Joshua 3 gives us the insight to address this problem.