Woe is me in even trying to describe to anyone the Holiness of
God! In thinking about His Holiness, you almost have to think on another realm
of understanding. God’s Word in John 4:24 teaches us that God is a spirit and
those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. The more truth
that we have of Him the better our worship becomes. If you have already
encountered Him yourself, you need no description, because you know there are
hardly words to describe Him; and yet there are so many feeble words that we
could use in making the effort to do so, that you could fill a book with them.
One thing is for sure, once you do encounter God, you will most certainly
encounter His holiness and when that happens, your life will never be the same.
In the times that I have encountered the Lord in worship, personal Bible study
or hearing a certain word from God through a sermon, I get a sudden and innate
awareness that I have come into the presence of the indescribable, consuming,
holy, infinite, one and only, God. I am also very mindful that my relationship
to Him is not a cheap one, nor is it to be taken for granted. When Ezekiel saw
God in Ezekiel chapter 1, he fell on his face. What he was saying by his
actions was that he suddenly encountered the holiness of God like never before
and felt that he had to get as far away from His presence as he could. Because
of who God was, the only way that Ezekiel could bare such a presences was, to
bow down as low as he could go, making himself humble as God was exalted over
him. When Ezekiel encountered God’s presence, God’s Holiness shouted separation
to him, revealing the truest part of God’s nature; Holiness.
Many today that
claim to be a child of God, have lost or never understood that transcendent
holiness of His perfect Character, but preferring a cheaper grace and more
shallow sanctification because they have departed from or never come to
the biblical picture of God’s holy and exalted nature. Instead He has
become to them by the same manner that the world perceives Him to be,
“The man upstairs” or some other form of human description and believe that
they have their own individual thing going on with God. Their conscience and
imaginations are sired with what they want Him to be, in order to fit in with
their lifestyles and current plans. At the core of every unregenerate human
heart, is the desire to reduce the holiness of God so that there’s seemingly no
separation between them and God and when God is humanized and man deified,
holiness is lost. But when we embrace God for who He truly is and we understand
who we truly are, then everything is put in its rightful place. That’s what God’s
holiness does for us. It puts everything in its right place.
Before I became a Christian in 1979, I had always had a form of
reverence for God. Yet it was only after I invited Christ into my heart and
life and began to grow as a child of God, did I really understand the
importance of knowing the truths about God and developing my personal
relationship with Him. The Bible teaches us in 2 Cor. 5:21 that, if we are in
Christ we are the righteousness of God. That means that He has allotted to
those that has been redeemed through the shed blood of His Son Jesus, His
own righteousness which adopts those who come to Him in repentance to become
the children of the living God.
In Ezekiel’s encounter with God, he quickly understood that
holiness demands immediate caution and a consuming carefulness when around
God’s presence. Even the Seraphim angels that serve God on His throne hide
their face and cover themselves from God’s consuming presence. God’s holiness
is not something to be taken lightly. There is a difference between God’s Omni
prescience, verses being in the very throne room of God. God’s word tells the
child of God in Hebrews 4:16, Let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need. God makes a way for us when we cannot make a way for ourselves to come
boldly to Him as His child and it should never be taken for granted, but
unfortunately it is taken for granted, by us all at times! I have no idea how
many throne rooms represent God’s Sovereignty, but I do know this; in John’s
encounter and vision of God’s Throne room, there are many, both great and small
who stand outside Christ before God at the Great and final judgment in
Rev.20:11. This will not be a place that you will want to be.
When Adam and Eve
sinned the first thing that was effected by their sin was there awareness of
holiness. When God found them in the garden, they were hiding, why? Because
when God is understood as the Holy infinite Being that He is, you cannot stand
around questioning Him, you simply try to run and get away from Him or you turn
to Him, get as low (humble yourself) as you can and start confessing. You will
either do it while you are alive and His Holy Spirit is persuading you to come,
or you will stand before Him at the Great white Throne Judgment where you will
be on trial for rejecting God as He was calling you to salvation and you
continued to reject Him. God is serious about our lifestyles and the influence
that we are having and projecting to others in His name. Should we be
concerned? You better bet we should! Read Matthew 7:23, Mark 9:43-48 and
Revelation 20:11-15 and find out for yourselves.
If we are in Christ, we are
made new creatures and we know that something different has taken place in our
lives that sets us apart from what and we once were. The old us is gone and God
has given us a new life, to start over. Have you been set apart today sweet
friend? Can you say that you have a new life in Christ? If you can, are you
striving to be more like Him? Or are you simply rationalizing your life by
saying things like, “God understand that I am not perfect”? Did you know that
God tells His children in 1 Peter 1:16 “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for
I am holy”. Or has your spiritual life been cheapened because you have
had no change? He is calling….waste no time, run to Him, He has the answers
that you are seeking and the power you need to overcome!
Loving on you today!
Bren
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