THE HOLINESS OF GOD!
By: Dr. Mike Jones
As one Christian writer discovered, and he’s right, the Bible speaks of the love of God, the power of God, the majesty of God, how worthy God is to be praised, but the supreme message of the Holy scripture is THE HOLINESS OF GOD!
The Christian writer went on to say, the cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of a God so holy that only His Son could be the sufficient sacrifice for the sin of the fallen men. What a powerful statement of Faith!
In 2 Corinthians 7:1, the word of God states, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The Greek word for perfecting means to finish or to complete. The word holiness in this verse refers to separation from all that would defile both the body and the mind. Complete or perfect holiness was embodied only in Christ, thus believers are to pursue Him.
The word Holy has taken quite a secular beating over the past century. It’s been associated with being stuck up (when some one says, You think you’re holier than thou?) and in modern day culture used more so as a cliche (when someone says, Holy Cow, Holy Molie, Holy Mackrell, etc.)
The thing to remember is that holiness centers round what is uniquely associated with God. Then what we are saying is:
- Holiness means uniqueness – In Old Testament, holiness was associated with the nation of Israel because the nation was set apart from other nations. Today, the uniqueness is the residence of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
- Holiness means belonging to God – A covenant relationship. God agrees to protect us, through covenant relation between God/Son.
- Holiness means living with God – It’s for God and living in obedience to Him.
- Holiness means being a light – We are anointed by the indwelling Holy Spirit to represent His light and radiate it out to those we come in contact with. We are light to the dark world. We are salt (flavor) to the bitter world.
These four areas of holiness shows that holiness is a setting apart for God’s purpose.
[Therefore, we can conclude that there are 2 ideas of holiness. The first is the idea of greatness. He’s set apart from His creation… He’s in a class all by Himself. Holiness simply means that God is unique and superior in His greatness. The second aspect of holiness is the idea of Purity. The Bible states that God is good! This means that He does what is right and never compromises sin nor does what is wrong. He always acts in a righteous manner because His nature is holiness. Saints, Jehovah God is both great and good!]
The Apostle Peter picked up his pen in 1 Peter 1:15-16 and said, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. Peter is saying, God is holy and commands us to be holy because He is holy!
Here on earth, we’re mere mortals, dying to this corrupt world, daily, to express the Life of Christ through us. And yet, there are angels living in their glorified state who give us a glimpse of the holiness of God as they worship Him at the foot of His throne.
In Isaiah 6:2-4, Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord sitting on His throne. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory! And the posts of the doors were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.”
Let’s look at the purpose of the 6 wings of the seraphim, and how they relate to the holiness of God:
(2 wings) covered the faces of the seraphim because they dared not gaze directly at God’s glory… (TO BE CONTINUED)