What is the holiness of God?
What is the holiness of God?
Man has various interpretations for God's holiness, from being sinless to all sorts of other explanations that have to do with being sins-free. But God's word tells us how God Himself defines His holiness. We see a description or demonstration of God's holiness in Numbers 27 where Moses and Aaron failed to demonstrate God's holiness to the children of Israel--
7 "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him."
But then Moses went and did something else after he and Aaron summoned the people! See this in the very next verses--
"10 Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to DEMONSTRATE MY HOLINESS to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!” 13 This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there He demonstrated His holiness among them."
I put some words in caps for emphasis. Moses did not present God as “holy" to the people. God's holiness is portrayed by His Grace (unmerited favour) which He demonstrated in His freely giving water to the undeserving and rebellious Israelites. The Lord said:
“speak to the rock...”
Instead, Moses spoke (angrily) to the assembly, made it look like he and Aaron were their deliverers, made it look like God was angry with the assembly and that God isn't one who gives FREELY from the Rock (the Rock is Christ.)
Plus there's the issue of Moses using his own rod and jettisoning “the rod" that the Lord commanded him to take from before Him. Recall -
“So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him."
“The rod" above was not Moses’ walking stick that turned into a snake when he threw it on the ground before Pharaoh. It was not Moses’ rod that turned the Nile river to blood that the Lord asked him to take here. According to God's word, it was a different rod that the Lord commanded Moses to use. And there's a deeper meaning and lesson in this incident for believers in Christ today, particularly for pastors and leaders. See the link below for the truth of Grace in the difference between the two rods--
In the Old Testament, why was Moses not allowed to enter the Promised Land?
Another demonstration of the holiness of God is found in 2 Chronicles 20 where Jehoshaphat king of Israel appointed singers "who should praise the beauty of holiness" to go before the army as Israel went to battle against its enemies. A great multitude was about to attack Israel. Jehoshaphat turned to the Lord and prayed that famous prayer that ends with--
"O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” 2 Chronicles 20:12.
To digress a bit, recall that the Old Testament is all about Jesus Christ and our salvation in Him? We see this in Christ's conversation with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24.) The Old Testament is recorded for us as types and shadows of our life in Christ. The Scriptures are are faith pictures whose reality or substance is found in Jesus Christ and our salvation in Him. For every demand, He is the Supply. Recall "we wrestle not against flesh and blood...?" The physical enemies of Israel are a type of the issues or troubles of life that oppress or put fear and worries in believers' hearts today e.g. demonic oppression, unemployment, poor academic performance, lack, distractions, poverty, stupid mistakes at work, sickness, depression, worry, every earthly ill.
Back to Jehoshaphat's prayer, the Lord promised Israel victory through the prophesying of Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph. The Lord told King Jehoshaphat--
"Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”
Beloved, God's response to "this great multitude" that threatened the peace of Israel is the same response that He has for we His children in Christ Jesus concerning all of the issues that threaten our peace today--
"....stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you,..."
But churchgoers do not want to "stand still…." The spirit of the antichrist is not necessarily anti-God. In fact, as it was with the Christ-rejecting Pharisees, it is passionate about obedience and good works and is always proclaiming the need for man to be godly (be like God) from every rooftop, but it's own way for man to attain godliness is the same way that Satan used to deceive Eve in Eden: dependence on human effort for the attainment of godliness. Its carriers who are manning church pulpits basically tries to replace what Christ has done to make us godly/righteous in God's sight and eternally saved with what man must do with his useless arm of flesh that is bound to fail.
Thanks to the teaching of antichrist pastors, many churchgoers are indulging in a flurry of human activities - fast for 80 days, sow seed, go to a mountain to neglect the body and all sorts of "fighting" -- all in a bid to have victory over enemies of sickness, demonic oppression, unemployment, lack, etc, as if Christ demanded these things or anything at all from anyone whom He healed, saved and delivered when He walked the earth as man. Child of God, none of those people whom Christ helped was even born-again! And He gave to them freely. Recall Jehoshaphat's prayer:
"O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” 2 Chronicles 20:12.
This is true for all today: the arm of flesh/human effort will fail. Instead of putting the eyes of the flock on the Lord for salvatiom from sin and death, false preachers load the flock with fasts, seeds to sow and all sorts of dead works with the aim of getting God to give victory to His children! No standing still there. Beloved, ask the our heavenly Father who gives freely with Christ for Grace to “stand still…” He gives freely. See His counsel to us and the consequences of not standing still in Isaiah 30, beloved—
Rushing off on horseback is a picture of dependence on man's strength or works for the attainment of godliness and victory over the sin and death which is preceded by earthly ills. Something is horribly wrong when your pastor is challenging God's word by encouraging you to engage in a flurry of human effort-driven activities or tender your file of obedience to get your own heavenly Father who gave His Son to die for you to help you in your time of need.
The arm of flesh (human effort) will fail. Only through Christ's shed blood by which we are made righteous in God's sight do we have victory over all the power of the enemy and escape the wrath/punishment which all of mankind deserved--
"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Romans 5:9.
So Jehoshaphat heard the word of the Lord through the prophesying of Jahaziel and did something that explains to us what God's holiness is all about. We see this in the same 2 Chronicles 20--
"21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”"
Beloved of God, God's Holiness is found in Him showing us His unending mercy. The word "mercy" above is translated from the Hebrew word "Chesed" which is so rich that it is impossible to capture it in one single translation-- in the Old Testament, "Chesed" is translated into loving kindness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, favour, love, steadfast love, GRACE. The Complete Jewish Bible version of 2 Chronicles 20:21 says:
"After consulting with the people, he appointed those who would sing to Adonai and praise the splendor of his holiness as they went out ahead of the army, saying, “Give thanks to Adonai, for His grace continues forever.”
Everywhere "Grace" appears in our English New Testament, the Hebrew New Testament translates the word as "Chesed."
Beloved, God's holiness is His Grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) towards we His children who look to Christ for salvation from sin and death (Bible "death" is a process includes its symptoms of sickness, lack, depression, whatever earthly ill.) God's holiness is NOT that horrid interpretation by antichrist preachers which subtly implies that you cannot draw near to our holy God because of the plenty sins that you struggle with. Beloved, this is why Christ came to die for you and I--
"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21.
How does avoiding the Medicine (Grace- Christ Himself) for your sickness (sins and ills) make any sense? How does trying to making yourself better (with your arm of flesh/human striving) before visiting the Physician make any sense?
Beloved, those same sins and addictions, even your slothfulness which antichrist pastors hang over your head and tell you to expect God's wrath for, beloved, He sent His own Son Jesus Christ to save you from them all. He will never condemn you. He will save you when you come to Him trusting His godness-- helpless to help yourself become godly aka "be like God."
Plus "sin" is not just doing bad deeds. It is translated from the Greek word "Hamartia" which means "miss the mark."Unemployment, lack, stupid mistakes, laziness, disease, barrenness, depression, bad temper, being late to work -- all of these things are ungodliness for God does not have them. They "miss the mark" of His perfection, beloved. They are a part and parcel of Sin. And God sent His own Son- Jesus Christ our great High priest - to save us from them all. He knows how screwed up we all are of ourselves and He helps us in all of our weaknesses, believer. And God demonstrates His holiness (Grace) to us in His word to us concerning this Great High Priest of ours in Hebrews 4:
"15 For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
16 Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]."
It is helpless sinners who can draw near, beloved. In reality, that includes all who are descended from Adam. But many think they are not that bad because God is still preventing them from being sifted like wheat by Satan and propping them up from devolving into their default base human nature. We receive "mercy" when we escape the punishment that we very much deserved. We find "grace" when we get the good that we do not deserve. Those who challenge God's word by thinking that they have some good in them cannot draw near. In reality, no one is good of themselves. Take the word of Christ for it. He says:
"There is none good but God."
Beloved, let us take our blessed brains to church and by Grace break free from antichrist pastors who peddle or promote Satan's doctrine of trying to attain godliness (be like God) via human effort at obeying the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. It is the same false doctrine that Satan sold to Eve in Eden. To follow it is to reject God's gift of godliness that Christ died for us to freely have for man's effort and to challenge His Word by thinking that one has it in himself to be good like God when Christ Himself says "There is none good but God." The doctrine seems moral but God's Word calls it "pompous pride and perverse speech" -- akin to the kind that Peter who trusted his strength to stand proferred when he thought that his Maker was wrong about his then upcoming denials. Christ our WISDOM from God who suffered and died to make us godly (good like God) is missing from that equation: Proverbs 8:13--
"Wisdom pours into you when you begin to hate every form of evil in your life, for that’s what worship and fearing God is all about. Then you will discover that your pompous pride and perverse speech are the very ways of wickedness that I hate!”
Beloved, beware of antichrist pastors who place on your shoulders the burden of getting right with God and obtaining victory over demonic oppression, lack, poor academic performance and every other earthly ills by your own strength at doing things; those whoead the flock to trade God for His freely-given benefits in Christ with things like fasting for 70 days, human striving at being godly, etc which are like "a menstrual rag" in His sight according to Isaiah 64:6. Following their doctrine is the sure way to get cut off from Christ who saves from sin and death--
"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace." Galatians 5:4.
Beloved, let's not be found here. Satan and his agents who masquerade as "pastor" are actively promoting Satan's doctrine of trusting in self for the attainment of good/godliness because they know that there is no salvation from sins for such who follow them since this is what Christ came to do--
"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.
Beloved, God knows that we cannot fight "this great multitude" of issues that plague mankind by ourselves much less by useless 70 days fasts and all sorts of arm of flesh-driven activities which antichrist pastors lead the flock to depend on or trade with God in exchange for salvation from trouble. God's counsel to we who believe Jesus remains the same, beloved:
"Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.......17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”
And the result for the Israelites as they went forth into battle praising the "beauty of holiness" aka magnifying God's GRACE that endures forever? Recall the enemies were Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir? Well, the Lord caused Ammon and Moab to band together to kill their allies from Mount Seir and when they had finished, to turned on each other! I wanted to summarise but this is just something that we must read for ourselves-- 2 Chronicles 20--
"22 At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. 23 The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. 24 So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.
25 King Jehoshaphat and his men went out to gather the plunder. They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables—more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all!"
Beloved, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He will do exceedingly, abundantly and above... all for you through Christ Jesus. Freely. His heart of compassion beats passionately for you, beloved. Only stop your silly efforts to save yourself with silly attempts at obtaining holiness before God via useless human effort-driven works. In Christ, our "Holiness" is not something we produce by useless arm of flesh. Our Holiness is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says of what our Abba Father in Christ has done for us:
"But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God [revealing His plan of salvation], and righteousness [making us acceptable to God], and sanctification [making us holy and setting us apart for God], and redemption [providing our ransom from the penalty for sin],"
Our holiness before God and even our being in Christ is a gift of His Grace. Beloved, know and believe Christ as all of the above, counting all of your works and obedience as DUNG, and the Lord will fill you to overflowing with His goodness and mercy so much that with what is spilling over, you cannot help but live a godly life, produce much fruit (good works,) love, give beyond the lawful regulation of the tithe and be a blessing to your generation and beyond, yet not you but Christ in you- so you cannot boast in that antichrist "God blessed me with a jet because I sowed my car and fasted" manner where what Christ has done has been replaced with what man must do. Rather, you will praise the beauty of holiness: GRACE. You will wonder at His transformation of you, be His light for the world and be an advertisement for His Grace in your life. With Christ, He gives us ALL things FREELY so no man can boast or glory in his presence:
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32.
By His Grace, let us rest in and continue to praise "the beauty of holiness" - God's Grace that continues forever - just as the Israelites did after they heard Jahaziel's prophecy which is God's word to we who are in Christ today:
“Give thanks to Adonai, for His grace continues forever.”
God's Holiness is defined, demonstrated and expressed in His Grace towards us, beloved.
Grace is undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. He is LIMITLESS. Believer, we simply cannot "out-sin" God's Grace or go on sinning sprees because of Grace as antichrist pastors who deceive the flock into trusting in the arm of flesh for the attainment of godliness as Satan did to Eve love to imply. You know why? It is because the demonstration of God's Holiness -Grace - is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:
"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."
And in Him, we cannot continue to wallow in sins because this is what Grace came to do according to verse 14 of the same Titus 2:
"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
God's Grace is sufficient for us, beloved. So ask our heavenly Father now to open your eyes to see Grace in whom we are made partakers of His holiness. Of ourselves, we have none.
Comments
Post a Comment