MasterTruth

The Two "H's" God Loves

Since the day I accepted Christ at age 15, I’ve wanted to get closer to God. I’ve wanted to know Him more. After more than 20 years, I discovered that to know God more/better is to get to know His word more/better. Because everything about Him that is important to know, He made sure to tell us in His word. Pretty simple, I know, but it took 20 years to realize that.

Now, what does His word say about being close to Him? I’ve found two keys, and they both start with H. If I can focus on these, I’ll be close to God.

One: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8)

Two: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1Peter 1:15-16)

Humble and holy. Humble is simple surrender. Not rearing my ugly self-will, but learning what He wants and yielding to it.

Holy is practical righteousness. I have positional righteousness—that is Christ’s righteousness applied to my account when I received Him as savior and Lord. But holiness is knowing right and doing it.

Combine that humble yieldedness with righteous holiness, and this verse comes to life:

“For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” (Romans 6:19b)

We exchange our prideful, selfish desires for God’s desires. It takes humbling, or yielding ourselves. Then we renew our mind with God’s desires that we find in His word. We choose to desire His will, not our will. It’s a daily transformation that we make ourselves. We purposely surrender, yield and choose to obey… every day:

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)

Those are the basic, simple things God desires of us. “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)

It’s something to think about. Tell me what you think.

Jody

What is Heaven Like?

We wonder what heaven is like. We know for sure the streets are made of gold, and there are many mansions. Somewhere there must be a huge table, because those who know the Lord will participate in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

But there’s an intangible quality in heaven we can’t miss. Holiness. It’s written about in the prophets, including Revelation. We should be conditioning ourselves to holiness now, because it’s the essence of heaven.

Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: Isa. 63:15a Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven. 2 Chron. 30:27.

Look ahead to eternity future in Rev. 21: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  (2)  And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:1-2

The point is, the New Jerusalem and heaven are lined and filled with holiness…the supreme value of God. Any sin is an assault to God’s character, and it will not be in heaven.

Remember when Saul was king of Israel and he did little disobedient things, like offering an offering when that was Prophet Samuel’s job? Then there was the time God, through Samuel, told Saul to kill the enemy Amalek and destroy everything, animals included. Saul decided they should keep the best sheep and oxen rather than destroy them. When confronted by Samuel, Saul lied about his reason for keeping the cattle. He made it sound spiritual. He kept them to sacrifice to God, he said.

But remember, God is holy. Lying lips are an abomination to Him. Here is Samuel’s summary to Saul. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. (1 Sam. 15:22-23a)

God and everything He stands for is holy, and our old nature bristles at that. Understanding that, let’s not try to get away with compromises and sin. Let’s keep our eyes on God and His character and ask Him to help us. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. (Psalm 19:13)

Jody

The Essence of God

What is God’s throne made of? It has to be made of something, and it must be significant for the God of the universe to sit on it. And while we’re pondering that, just where is His throne? It has to be someplace, and wherever it is, it must be significant to be the place He chooses to reside.

Interestingly, we have the answer to that in the Bible, and even more interesting, the characteristic description of His throne and where it is located are the same.

His throne: God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. (Psalm 47:8)

His location: Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” (Psalm 48:1-2)

His throne is holiness and He is in the City of God in the mountain of His holiness. That mountain is Mount Zion, which is in Jerusalem. This is why we know God is not finished with Israel. He attaches His holiness to that place, and it’s not going away. Look for Mount Zion in Jerusalem to have its place in the prophetic future.

But the point I’ve been making (see previous 2 blog posts) is that God attaches his holiness to things we can see. Another example is the Ark of the Covenant, a picture of His holiness. Remember that? It was made according to strict instructions and was kept in the holy of holies. Inside it were the tablets of the 10 commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded and a keepsake jar of manna.

Remember when Israel’s enemy, the Philistines, stole the ark? They feared it greatly in the presence of Israel and they took it from them. Look what happened when they stole the Holy Ark (it’s called holy in 2 Chron. 35:3). “When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.” (1Samuel 5:2-4)

What would we expect from a holy God whose holy symbol, the ark, was set in a pagan temple next to a pagan god? It was blasphemy to God and He took care of it. He also took care of the people in the cities where the Philistines moved the ark around. They were plagued with emerods. That is hemorrhoids!

Let’s not lose the fact that God is holy. He shows us His holiness and that it is the foundation of who He is. God is a lot of things. He is love, a jealous God, a consuming fire, great, a refuge, our helper, our defense, a sun and shield, etc. But above it all, he is holy. Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy. (Psalm 99:9)

Jody

The Beauty of Holiness

God loves and deserves worship. There’s no one greater we can praise for all the awesome delights that surround us in nature, in our relationships and in our experiences. When we walk with God, those blessings abound, and it’s natural to raise our hearts in worship.

To us, worship becomes an experience. To God, worship is His choice adornment. He wants to wear the praises of His people. But not just any praise and worship. He especially responds to those who worship in the beauty of holiness. “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (1Chron. 16:29) Several other verses talk about worshipping God in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 29:2, 96:9)

Notice how that says worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, not for the beauty of holiness. This holiness isn’t God’s holiness; it’s our holiness. It’s what He delights for us to wear when we worship Him. Worship to Him from a set-apart, dedicated, consecrated person is beautiful.

Remember, we have pictures of holiness through the Bible. Aaron, the one consecrated to make offerings to God, had a holy garment he wore to do his priestly service to the Lord. The entire chapter of Exodus 28 describes that garment. God wanted him to wear it. God wants us to wear the beauty of holiness when we worship him. “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

Compare that with the slacking way we may be used to worshipping Him. Is He pleased when we sing and sway with the music in church but our lives are dirty? We enjoy the experience of worship, but to really give Him the glory due his name, we will bring an offering and come before Him and worship Him in the beauty of holiness. He loves purity. In heaven, He will be surrounded with holiness, because no sin will enter His presence. But short of eternity, He deserves worship now that springs from holiness. This garment we see here that He described in 43 verses is beautiful to God. It represents the beauty of holiness. Let's be more mindful of our lives and offer worship to God wearing what He loves and deserves.

Jody