Translate

Monday, May 14, 2012

Transformed by Holiness


1 Timothy 6:16 “Who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”



Holiness is the sum of all of who God is in the brightness of His glory and Goodness

We began looking yesterday at the concept of “holiness” or “The Holy”.  To be holy is to be in a unique class, special, separate, owned or pure in relationship to oneself or other things.  In looking at the origin of Holiness, the God of the Bible, holiness is the sum of all God's infinite goodness concentrated in infinite brightness. It’s like taking a magnifying glass and concentrating all of the sun's light into a specific point. Holiness is the very essence of who God is.



Holiness deals in the realm of God's relationship to people or things, and their relationship to Him

As we noted earlier, God is in a unique class by Himself. This is, in my mind, the closest we can come to identifying the nature of "The Holy". God is sufficient in and of Himself, not in need of anything. All other things derive their life and existence from God. However God alone has existed before all creation.



Although God is uniquely Holy, something interesting takes place when the presence of God enters a place or comes in contact with somebody. That object or person is deemed Holy. Exodus 29:37 tells us - "For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy." Jesus Himself taught this principle in the form of a question in Matthew 23:17 “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?"



Thus when the Holy Spirit enters into a person at saving faith, that person is deemed a "saint" or a "holy one". (1 Corinthians 1:1-2; 6:19-20) Anything outside of the immediate vicinity of the area touched by God is considered "common" or "unclean" or "profane". When Moses was met by God in the burning bush in Exodus 3, God told him to take off his sandals, since the ground he was standing on was "holy ground". In other words, the ground in the immediate vicinity of the burning bush was "separated" or "made unique", cut off from the space around that area because the Lord Himself touched it and deemed it Holy, since He Himself is Holy.

No comments:

Post a Comment