Divine

This is a picture from Scott Erickson an artist that I recently found on Instagram
@scottthepainter

This week’s blog post is very exciting because I am writing about God's holiness which if I'm honest is a topic that is foreign to me! Last week we talked about having a right relationship with God and how we as humans can’t have this because we are broken and sinful. We can’t pay for our sins against God and so what we receive because of this is death.




Merriam-Webster defines holy as “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect and goodness in righteousness”. This is a characteristic of God. God is utterly unique in this way. He is set apart from the rest of us because he is sinless. God is perfect, righteous, and worthy of complete devotion. Now, humans on their own are not holy. This is because of sin. We are impure and impure things around God’s holiness are in danger. In the book of Isaiah, we see the prophet, Isaiah having a vision of the Lord in chapter 6. He’s in some sort of throne room and angels are flying around saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lords of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” Isaiah replies with “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah sees how different he is from the Lord. He calls himself “a man of unclean lips” and laments "Woe is me!" After this, an angel comes to him, touches him with burning coal and says “Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”




In the book of Leviticus, there were tons of rules and regulations that God gave to the Israelites regarding how the Temple was the be built and how the priests were to operate. All of this was because God was holy and set apart from us. He set these rules to keep the Israelites safe and also to commune with them. In these instances, His holiness also displayed the idea of wholeness.




Now God’s holiness is not to be feared! It’s a good thing! It has been displayed in Jesus. When Jesus was walking around on the earth, his holiness essentially spread to others. This was displayed in various ways. Whenever he healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind or raised someone from the dead this was a form of His holiness spreading to those around him. They were becoming whole.


Not only in the Old Testament do we see the idea of God’s holiness but we also see it in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” God’s holiness radiates throughout the Bible and gives us a wonderful example of humility for our lives. God, being so amazing and completely set apart, and us, so lowly yet able to commune with Him because he has overcome our darkness.

I love the idea of a completely holy, perfect and unique God. It takes my focus off of myself and puts it back on my God.