The Meaning Of Holiness

This week’s focus is on the holiness of God, an unapproachable holiness that we cannot get close to. God says “Be holy as I am holy”. It is not possible for us to achieve the holiness God desires in this world. Perfect holiness is nothing but a utopian idea as long as we live in the flesh in the fallen world. But we can all grow in holiness. It will be during the second coming of Jesus that we will all be made perfect. And on that day we will achieve perfection, till then we are growing (progressive growth).

We worship God for He is holy!
We praise God for He is mighty!
We thank God for He is good to us!

Let us take a look at some scripture passages discussed previously;
Job 4:18 says If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,

Psalm 24:3-5  (3) Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? (4) The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.[a] (5) They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior.

Hebrews 4:13 says Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

These are words that instill fear in us. In this world, there are plenty of unproven criminal cases. There are rape cases, mysterious murder cases, home invasion cases, etc which are never solved. But all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of our Lord to whom we must give an account! God can see all things hidden to our eyes. He sees everything and everyone.

What is holiness?
The Old Testament was majorly written in Hebrew. ‘Qadesh’ was the word used for holiness. It means something which was cut off or separated. Qadash describes something that is elevated out of the sphere of what is ordinary. Therefore, the word ‘holy’ means consecrated, set apart, dedicated, sanctified, purified, and so on.

On the other hand, the New Testament was written mainly in Greek. ‘Hagiasmos’ was the word used for holiness. It means set apart, separate, in a class by itself, something that is not ordinary. As children of the extraordinary God, we are a special class/category, we are a special nation!
 
Nazarites in the Old Testament (not Nazarenes) are a pledge toward God. They are separated from the common walk of life. This is the meaning of ‘holy’. It means separated from all impurities, set apart and reserved for special use.

For instance, when we go to restaurants some tables will be reserved for VIPs, etc. Similarly in the world, some people live for their families, for their children, for their spouses, for politics, for wealth, etc. There are many reasons people have for living. But in this world, those set apart for God and categorised for Him, need to put aside the ordinary from our lives and live in the extraordinary for God.
 
Holiness of God is His purity of being and nature as well as of will and act. He is separate from all that is unclean. Just like that we should separate ourselves from all that is unclean in the world. Do not partake or participate in activities that are not holy. Keep yourselves clean and holy!