Only the Holy

In Psalm 24:3-6, King David presents the exclusive standards of true holiness God requires for a person to live in His immediate, unveiled presence when he writes, who will ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?   He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.  He shall receive blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.  This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Selah 

The term Selah is a term found at the end of a number of passages in the Psalms and appears to have a number of meanings or designations. It is said to be a term instructing the musicians (Psalms were written as poems and songs) to pause in their playing of the melody, or to play louder or faster.  Another understanding of the term is that it is essentially an AMEN – proclaiming may it be so forever, pointing back to what was read or sang. Probably the most common understanding from what I have read was that Selah was a call to pause and think deeply about what has just been sung or read.

Now as I have previously noted, holiness is not something we who call ourselves Christians give much time and attention to thinking deeply about. In all the years I have been a Christian, I had heard no memorable sermon regarding the holiness of God, nor my need for holiness – how I was to pursue it and what the attainment of it might look like.

These issues would seem to be of upmost importance considering we have explicit, emphatic commands from God to “Be Holy as I am Holy” and a dire warning in Hebrews 12:12-14, that to not be so, we will not see God – live in and enjoy His unveiled presence, which is what is being referred to in Psalm 24 (Leviticus 19:1-2) (1 Peter 1:15-16).

As I have noted in previous posts, the term holy or holiness, in general, means to be set apart or above.  Holiness is thus the term used in the Bible to distinguish God from His creation, that He exists apart from or above all else in the infinite perfections of His eternal being (Leviticus 10:3) (Psalm 99:1-9).

Holiness, thus would be the defining characteristic or identifying trait of men and women God created in His image and likeness, to be holy, set apart from the rest of His creation to display His glory, the outshining of His holiness in our nature and character, our intellect and emotions, in the beauty of our outward appearance and the excellencies of our physical abilities, and most importantly in our moral purity, our full and willing submission to His good plan for human flourishing and our individual happiness in Him ((Isaiah 43:7) (Genesis 1:31) ((Psalm 8:4-5).

As beings created in the image and likeness of our holy God, man was to be holy, set apart for intimate communion with God, finding our greatest joy, our greatest pleasure, our ultimate satisfaction and security in knowing, loving and being loved by God (Psalm 16:11) (Jeremiah 31:3).

Mankind was set apart from and above the natural creation, to rule over and freely enjoy its glory, the perfections of God’s being that are revealed and displayed in it (Genesis 1:26-28) (Psalm 19:1-6). However, we learn in the creation story found in Genesis Chapters 1-3, that it took only one willful act of disobedience, one sin by Adam and Eve for them to be declared unholy by God, unfit to live in His intimate presence and thus exiled from the Garden of Eden, cut off from the glorious life in intimate relationship with God for which man was created.  At the same time, the glorious image and nature of God in which man was created, and creation itself was marred and corrupted beyond anything man could do to restore it (Genesis 3:6-22) (Romans 8:20-22).

In their state of innocence, Adam and Eve were given the gift and responsibility of procreation, being instructed by God to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with other image bearers of God who would be holy as they were (Genesis 1:28). However, now, in their sin corrupted condition, they could only reproduce sin corrupted offspring, who would produce only sin corrupted offspring with an unholy and rebellious nature and character more consistent with that of the one Adam believed over God, namely the devil, than that of  a holy God, and thus destined for the same penalty deserved by the devil, Hell (John 8:44) (Genesis 6:5) (Matthew 25:41).

This fallen, unholy nature is clearly on display early on in Genesis 4:1-8, in the murder of Abel by his brother Cain.  By Genesis Chapter 6, which theologians estimate to be about 1600 years into human history, mankind has become so corrupted that human violence and injustice fills the earth to such a degree that it brings about God’s first worldwide judgement on the human race, with a second and final such judgement imminent (2 Peter 3:5-13).

In this first judgement God will save only Noah and his family according to the only way He saves anyone from His judgment – by grace (Genesis 6:8).  Through Noah’s linage (Luke 3:36), God would bring forth his eternal plan of redemption, of bringing out of this sin corrupted, condemned humanity, again by grace, a people who would be holy as He is holy (Ephesians 1:3-4) (Ephesians 2:8-10).

They would be a people born into this world like all mankind, spiritually dead in trespasses and sin, who lived according to the sinful course of this world, governed by their sin corrupted passions under the influence of the one who deceived our first parents, Adam and Eve, the devil, exhibiting his rebellious nature and character and thus subject to his eternal destiny, the unending wrath of God in Hell (Ephesians 2:1-3).

But God, God the Father, who is rich in mercy, who delights in displaying that mercy, planned from the foundation of the earth to send God the Son, Jesus Christ, into this sin corrupted, sin condemned world as a man.  As a man, Jesus would accomplish everything necessary for sin corrupted, sin condemned men and women who would repent of their sin – of their unholiness – and by faith entrust their life to Him as their savior and their Lord, to be restored to holiness (Ephesians 2:4-10) (1 Corinthians 1:2).

We are restored positionally in our union with Jesus, as Jesus, who is the holy one of God, having fulfilled on our behalf all that is required of man to live in God’s immediate presence as revealed in Psalm 24:2-6, is now able to save and make holy all who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25-26).  Jesus then sends God the Holy Spirit to live in us to transform our nature and character to make us actually holy as He is holy, working in our hearts both the passionate desire to pursue and ability to achieve a measure of holiness while in this world (Ezekiel 36:26-27) (Mark 1:24) (Philippians 2:12-15). Our full restoration to holiness in our nature and character will be completed at the time we first see Jesus in Heaven, a transformation that will be completed at His second coming when our bodies are fully restored in conformity to His glorious body, holy and acceptable to our God (1 John 3:1-3) (Philippians 3:20-21).

Therefore, let us live our lives in this world, passionately pursuing holiness, in the certain hope that in Jesus we will one day see, reside with, enjoy, delight in and be delighted in by our holy God – forever (Zephaniah 3:17).

Grace and Peace ×