DAY 42 - HOLINESS
MILANNA MARTILLARO, YA CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM LEAD
“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” Revelation 4:8
The idea of God’s holiness is something I love to think about. The word holy is used all throughout the bible to describe The Lord. But this word that is used so often to describe one of our God’s attributes takes on a much bigger meaning than just being “good”.
When the bible refers to God as being holy it is actually telling us that God is not just good or morally perfect. The word used here is actually telling us that God is UNIQUE and PURE, both in goodness AND in power. This is important that we note that God is not just unique in goodness, but also in power. We have to acknowledge that along with being unique and perfect in his morality, God is also unique and perfect in His power.
Do this for me: think of the sun as being “holy”. Unique, but also powerful. Now if the sun is holy and if it’s the presence or the area all around it is holy, then the closer you get the more intense it feels. Powerful, but also, dangerous. This is exactly what God’s holiness is like. If you are impure then His presence is dangerous to you. Not because you’re so bad, but because He is SO good. It’s intense. Dangerous.
This is why we see all throughout the Old Testament that in order for the Israelites to enter into the presence of God in the tabernacle, they had to make sure they were pure first. There were tons of laws and regulations they had to perform before even entering into God’s presence because God’s holiness was so intense. They had to be pure or holy to enter the temple.
Fast forward to the New Testament, where rather than having to be made holy to enter into the temple, God’s holiness left the temple and brought His pureness into our impure world through Jesus. This means that God’s holiness is a gift to us. That through Jesus coming to our earth, dying on a cross for our transgressions and impurities, He has made us pure. Part of God’s holiness now lives in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. THANK YOU GOD!
This then gives the mission to go out and spread holiness (God’s uniqueness and power) to the rest of the world. As believers, we are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:14-16), but we are not called to do that on our own. With this gift of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we receive guidance and help in walking in God’s holy ways. God is UNIQUE in power and goodness, we will never be as holy like Him, but He gives us a piece of that to help us be image bearers of Jesus on earth. This is so special.
And while God has given us this gift of a piece of Himself within us, we still have not even scratched the surface of God’s holiness quite yet. There is so much more to come. So I encourage you today, to let your heart be filled with so much thankfulness, awe, and wonder as you sit and just revel in the concept of God’s holiness. He is UNIQUE.