We read in a passage in the book of Psalm 89 verse 35: “Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.” Since there is no one greater than God, He swore by Himself, by His Holiness, the essence of His Being. His Holiness is the grandeur of His Being, His glory which He will share with no one. Such indescribable purity, such brightness, such perfection that even the Seraph could not behold with their eyes.
God’s Holiness sets Him apart. 1 Timothy 6: 16: says: “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
The essence of His Being also speaks of unity: “In Him is no variableness”. One outstanding quality of His Holiness is that God changes not and this is why He holds everything together, His Sovereignty stems from His Holiness. Another important aspect of God’s Holiness is revealed in Psalm 45 verse 7: “You love righteousness and hate wickedness,”. When we come to God, we must uphold these standards: righteousness and hate wickedness. What is wickedness, it is casting off God’s word behind us to do our own thing. Everyone who comes near to God must acknowledge that He is Holy and He must be glorified in our righteousness (which He imputed to us in Christ), our obedience, in our submission, and our waiting upon Him with no offering of strange fire.
Without Holiness, we cannot see God, therefore God demands it. “Be ye holy for I the Lord, am Holy”. God loves righteousness therefore He demands righteousness from us in our conduct, in our thoughts, in our actions, in our motives; He wants us to come to that level of perfect man, after the measure of the stature of fulness of Christ. As He, with whom we have to deal is righteous, He wants us to be also, for two cannot walk together except they are agreed (that is in likeness).
Holiness is a call to equity. We read in 1 Peter 1: 15-16: “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.”
In another passage of the scripture we read: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” Matthew 5: 48. This call to be perfect was the conclusion of a teaching on right conduct or righteousness. These are conducts that are radically different from those of the world. So we can say that to be holy is to be perfect like our Heavenly Father is and we know that the bond of perfection is love. It is love that leads to the right conduct towards others. It is love for God that makes us obey His commandments and turn away from every evil. The second of the two greatest commandments is: “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” So Holiness on one hand is about conduct beyond reproach, being like our Heavenly Father. It is about conduct that are radically different from the ways of the world and which draw praises to God, they are conduct against which there is no law. The book of Philippians chapter 1 verse 11 calls these conduct fruits of righteousness which draws praise unto God: “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 to 23 calls them fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law.
This Holiness which, God has called us to be partakers of in one part fruit which comes by Christ, which comes by the Holy Spirit unto the praise of God because they are opposite to what the world knows or is used to. Their beauty is in the fact that they promote righteousness and there is no law against them. God wants us to worship Him in that beauty of Holiness. God wants a worship of His children, His redeemed, His church, in whom there is no blemish.
God is both Righteous and a Judge therefore anyone that comes to Him must come with clean hands. We must come to this level of understanding in our worship and service of God.
Apostle Peter admonished that these fruits should abound in us in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 8: “If these fruit be in you and abound, they make that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus” And what does the knowledge of our Lord Jesus produce in us, it produces righteousness, life, godliness which has great gain.
There is beauty in love, the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 1 to 8 gives a list of the beauty of love and it concludes that love never fails. There is beauty in joy, in peace, in longsuffering, in gentleness, in goodness, in faith, in humility, in temperance or self-control. Like the virgins assembled at the Shushan palace who gave themselves to one year of purification, we have to give ourselves to nurture these fruits of righteousness in us and let them abound in us. They are tangible, they can be seen and felt and are attractive, they are of God so they are precious.
Secondly, the call by God to Holiness is so that we might be partakers of His glory. Why must we be partakers of His glory?
The whole creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God that will manifest His glory. What do sons do?, they honour the Father. Like our Lord Jesus, we must consecrate ourselves, purify ourselves from every filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God. Our obedience to Him, to the details of His word and instructions of His Spirit, must be proven so we can enter within the veil and partake in Christ the glory, that is the glory of God’s Presence, His Holiness and bring blessings to the whole creation that is in waiting. The beauty of it all is that God has called us in Christ to be partakers of His Holiness, the beauty, the glory, the purity, the power and the splendour of His Being.
The first commandment says: we are to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength. To love God is to do His commandment. Obedience is proof of our love and if we must partake of His glory, the glory of His Presence, His Being, then we must learn not to offer strange fire, that is do our own thing. We must be a people that wait upon God in explicit obedience to His word and the instructions of His Spirit so that we can bring blessings from His very Presence, blessings of redemption upon the creation. Our Lord Jesus exemplifies this in the days of His flesh, He was a refreshing, a hope, a blessing because of the glory He had of the Father. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had the glory of God for their covering. Our Lord Jesus, the second Adam, is also glorified in His resurrection. By faith in Christ, we are partakers in His glory being His bride. So the glory which our Lord Jesus had of the Father is risen upon us. It is time we set ourselves apart in consecration, and purge ourselves continually because of the hope of this glory. Furthermore, we live by the word to develop godly character and live in explicit obedience to the instructions of the Holy Spirit. Those who draw near to God must regard Him as Holy and must glorify Him.
How do we attain to this Holiness? By the word of God and by the Spirit. The book of Hebrews says without holiness no man will see the Lord. It is a requirement for every believer aspiring to enter into the Holy of Holies to see the Lord. We must get back to a consecrated life and lifestyle. Thank God for His grace given to teach us to shun all ungodliness and every worldly lust. We must nurture the fruit of the Spirit through the word and prayer. We must commit to a life of explicit obedience to the leading and instructions of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, we must not forsake the assembly with fellow believers. It is dangerous to be a lone ranger, for it is easy to be enticed and be taken captive by the world.
The word of the LORD spoken in the days of Moses still echoes today, what does the Lord require of us? In Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 12 and 13, we read: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear (to hate evil and depart from it) the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good”.
