“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Acts 7:33.

Holy, hagios Strong’s # 40. Sacred, pure, blameless, consecrated, separated, properly revered, worthy of respect, Godlikeness, God’s innermost nature, set apart for God, reserved for God and His service. Nothing that is polluted could be hagios, purity becomes a big part of hagios. A holy God calls for a holy people.

I am including a quote from Strong’s Systematic Theology on Holiness the fundamental attribute in God.

Love cannot be the fundamental attribute of God, because love always requires a norm or standard, and this norm or standard is found only in holiness. Phil.1:9-“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more in knowledge and all discernment.” That which conditions all is highest of all.

Holiness itself higher than love, in that it conditions love. Hence God’s mercy does not consist in outraging his own law of holiness, but in enduring the penal affliction by which that law of holiness is satisfied. Conscience in man is but the reflex of holiness in God. Conscience demands either retribution or atonement. This demand Christ meets by substituted suffering.

His sacrifice assuages the thirst of conscience in man, as well as the demands of holiness in God: “For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” John 6:55.