What really is holiness– from God’s perspective? People may associate holiness with religion. From God’s perspective, however, holiness is an issue of the heart. It’s also about our lifestyle; and how we relate with God and one another.
What can we learn from David?
There was one individual God referred to in the Bible as “a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22). That was David; the shepherd boy who God raised up to be King of Israel. So many scriptures referenced David as a forerunner of the Messiah that when Jesus showed up on the scene the people referred to Him as Son of David.
The big question is what did God really see in David and know about David’s heart that would serve as a barometer for what God looks for in you and me? Coming to grips with this reality will help you see more clearly from God’s perspective, relate with God and discern the things of God.
Know firstly that God isn’t very interested in man-created religion. He is very interested, however, in who He created you to be.
He, therefore, wants to bring you to the core of who you were created to be. He wants you to realize His purposes and intents; even more, to experience His love and discover the greatness of His grace and truth in real and tangible ways.
So God designed a way to make this happen. It’s part of the covenant He made with you before you were born.
Let’s focus, therefore, for a moment about a concept usually connected with the subject of religion, but one that is in reality very far from it: holiness. Why do I disassociate holiness from religion? Come and see!
How does God view holiness?
Firstly, how would you know the difference between what God considers holy and unholy or clean and unclean? Why is this important?
It has everything to do with the dynamics of your relationship with God. In addition, it relates to how you relate to the world around. Furthermore, it affects how you navigate through your journey over the course of your life. How So?
Think about this crucial concept. God communicated another key aspect of His covenant with the children of Israel; “It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean” (Leviticus 10:8-10). This is significant. Think about it—forever—throughout your generations.
So that means us! He soon added, “consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.” The BIG IDEA here relates to how we apply this and how it is relevant to us today.
See how God connects the dots
The prophet, Ezekiel, while receiving instruction from God several hundred years later, was told of a future type of priesthood who would “teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (Ezekiel 44:23-24). What was the message that God had attempted to drill down?
Peter, the Lord’s most transformed disciple who became a chief apostle, would hundreds of years later further reveal to those placing trust in Messiah Jesus that, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5-6).
In addition, he added that believers are called to be “a royal priesthood…His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” In other words, be God’s instruments to represent Him and do his work. How can we really be such instruments?
Stepping beyond religion into reality and relationship with God
The problem is, for centuries holy and clean was interpreted primarily to apply to religious rituals. Scripture first connected it to animals for ritual sacrifice. In the orthodox Jewish tradition it has continued to be applied to food and religious practices.
Looking at the Hebrew words used, however, conveys something that sheds more light on the relevance of these concepts and how it can be applied:
Holy (kodesh)): dedicated, consecrated; transparent before God
Unholy (chol): profane
Clean (tawhor): pure
Unclean (tawmay): defiled, polluted
In reality, holiness refers first and foremost to our approach towards God. What is holy is what is set apart from common and worldly use; or beyond the natural, connecting us with God on a spiritual level.
Being clean refers first and foremost to the condition of our heart; and specifically, the ways and means that characterize how you walk through life. It encompasses the qualitative aspects of your motivations, desires, attitudes and integrity—the things that matter most to God—and affects the quality and reality of your life.
The dynamics of holiness
Holiness is NOT about being religious or conforming to any religion, doctrine or dogma. Holiness relates to our state of being, standing before God and relationship with God.
It, in essence, points to our spiritual consciousness. So what God really cares about is the integrity of our desires, values, motivations, attitudes, inclinations and intentions. All these issues are matters of the heart. They come from within you but are expressed outwardly through words, behaviors and actions.
The deeper issue of holiness relates to our transparency—our integrity—before God, as nothing is hidden from God but clear in His sight. So when His word says “be holy, for I am holy” He is saying that His nature, which is beyond human fleshly nature, is able to be revealed in clarity and transparency, serving as a mirror to the human soul.
How we see the reflection in the mirror relates to the softness of our heart, strength of our spiritual vision and condition—or health—of our conscience. The prophet Isaiah spoke of how our vision can experience transformation; and progress from a state of obscurity to clarity (Isaiah 29:18). The more we perceive the holiness of God and become transformed, or made holy in His image, focusing on and walking in truth, the more we see from God’s holy perspective.
Why is this so crucial? The more we see from God’s perspective, the more we can relate with and apprehend things which have their source from God’s Word and energy from God’s Spirit.
The key issue about holiness
This benefits you in two key areas. Firstly, it enables you to see more clearly the difference between the issue of holy and unholy and good and evil. God’s Word makes a distinction.
Good and evil, as depicted through the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, can be subjective. They can be relative to what one considers good and evil—good or bad according to the ways common to man and of the world—or as the Bible portrays in several cases, right in one’s own eyes.
How so? Since the beginning, as illustrated in Genesis 3, humanity has proved that believing you can be good in and of your fleshly nature is a falsehood. The truth is what is holy and unholy is not subjective. God’s Word provides definitions. This is because God wants you to know what is of God and what is not of God.
In addition, seeing from God’s perspective helps you distinguish more clearly between what is of presumptuous and superstitious faith and real dynamic trusting faith. Grasping hold of the distinction will make all the difference in how you relate with God, experience the reality of God and live your life.
Sacrifice brings alignment with God
We see this illustrated in the way Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu approached God. They offered up what God deemed profane or strange fire. Whether their sacrifice was made carelessly, irreverently, in presumption, with pride or with any other motivation, God was making it clear that it did not honor Him.
Therefore, at the very core, their service was not in alignment with His way or order. It was actually bizarre and foreign to God. So it was counterfeit and profane in His sight.
So what was God’s point? What may have an appearance of being of God may not be of God at all; but of man’s presumptuous design or ill intentions. God wants us to discern what is in alignment with His Word and Holy Spirit; what He considers holy and clean.
Seeing the reality of God’s holiness
Isaiah was given a unique opportunity to pierce through heaven’s gate and catch a glimpse God’s heavenly court. He recorded, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” He described what he saw, and also what he heard the chorus of angels singing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!
All he could, therefore, say was:
Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6:1-5).
Seeing the purity and beauty of the image of God served as a mirror to his soul. He felt unclean. He couldn’t help but being completely transparent before a holy God. His self-awareness of his own state of being unrighteous and unclean clashed with God’s utmost holiness.
He saw things that grieved his heart deeply. He saw the reality of humanity’s state of corruption compared to a holy living God. He saw the reality of how the human heart could be so polluted with desires for vain things and value things of little value at all.
He also saw how the human mind could be filled with such vain and hollow imaginations that cause one to dwell on circular thoughts that stir anxiety, bring depression and despair. He saw how the human conscience, trying to rationalize the issues compelling the heart against the backdrop of the complexities of the world cause emotional havoc and leave the soul confused and desperate for solutions that bring peace.
Sacrifice is at the heart of God’s covenant reality
David, the man after God’s own heart, relentlessly engaged with God to sort through these issues and allow God to build heavenly bridges to his heart, mind and conscience that brought resolution and peace. We can perceive how he reflected upon it through this snippet in Psalm 24:3-6.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face.
Jacob refers to the people or family of God; those in covenant relationship with God. The Bible illustrates many aspects of Jacob’s journey through life and reveals to us how he experienced supernatural transformation and came to be renamed by God as Israel.
What God wants us to see is how David experienced the reality of a covenant relationship with God. He learned in real and practical ways how those who have clean hands—representing one’s outward actions and works born from within a clean heart in harmony with God—will be blessed by God. David, therefore, focused on and emphasized heart issues; the motivations and drives on the inside that propel our outward behaviors and actions.
David grasped hold of the fact that a heart that was cleansed by the Holy Spirit from sinful desires and motivations could reflect the goodness and love of God. That’s why he cried out to God, after being convicted of sin, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
Even more, David experienced how a cleansed heart cleared his conscience from the power of guilt, condemnation and shame. Furthermore, it enabled him to experience real freedom in and of God.
Messiah Jesus uniquely connects us with God’s reality
This was the very issue Jesus made a point of illustrating. He set out to distinguish between the religious practices of man and spiritual reality of God’s word.
So, He proclaimed to His disciples;
“those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man” (Matthew 15:18-20).
This was the reality Jesus brought front and center in His discourse recorded in Matthew 5-7. He began with His declaration of the Beatitudes, which address the human conflict between natural thoughts and emotions and moral behavior.
His words forever serve as a mirror, bringing the human soul to confront the inward motives that drive outward actions. The Beatitudes, as well as the other topics He brought to the light in this series of discussions, challenge us to find God’s moral standards and values; all which reflect those of a holy God desiring to reveal His love and grace to the humanity He created.
Sacrifice touches the heart of God
So, in saying, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), Jesus further revealed one of His key missions in coming as Messiah. He revealed the heart of the Father or nature of God.
Therefore, when He said, “there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light” (Mark 4:22) He was relating to a greater degree how all things are capable of coming to the light, or being revealed in transparency and in truth. In the same sense, if we are honest with God and true to self we will not have a problem being transparent—or holy in God’s eyes.
So when we feel we have to hide something from somebody or God or reveal a partial truth, we are really revealing that there is something born out of our deeper sinful nature that we are disguising or keeping from the light. It means we have further to grow in holiness and in integrity, and likewise in humility.
Jesus accomplished something else very important. He connected the dots between love and sacrifice. How so? See the article, “How Jesus Connected Love and Sacrifice to Holiness.”