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

Holiness: The Big Deal

Who wants holiness? It’s not something top of mind, is it? Actually, God wants holiness, and He wants us to want it. Besides the fact that holiness is part of His character, He provides pictures so we completely understand our need, our inadequacy and His provision for our holiness.

The second time the word holiness appears in the Bible, it is part of the 43-verse description of Aaron’s priestly garment in Exodus 28. You probably skimmed over it in your through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. Before I share the verse, it’s important to understand that the tabernacle and everything associated with it had a bigger purpose than what’s visible on the surface. It was all “made according to pattern,” and if God took the space in the Bible to explain it all in detail, we have to know there are some pictures. That is the case with Aaron’s priestly garment. “And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.” (Exodus 28:36) See the picture here of the garment? Look at the turban, and notice the gold rim at the top. It has an inscription, “Holiness to the Lord.” Why is that? The reason comes two verses later in verse 38:  “That Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord.”

Don’t miss God’s amazing picture. Aaron, the first high priest, is a type of Christ, the ultimate High Priest. God knew that even though He required the Israelites to present offering and gifts, these would not be presented in total purity. Only by intercessor Aaron’s wearing of that “Holiness to the Lord” piece of garment would those gifts be accepted by the Lord.

And that’s the only way we are accepted—by Christ’s holiness. We have none. We try to hallow ourselves and our offerings and efforts for God. But our best efforts and gifts are inadequate, just like the Israelites’. So God made the holy provision to make us acceptable. Jesus Christ. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6)  “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)

What is it about Jesus Christ that makes us acceptable to God through him? His holiness applied to us when we were saved. When Jesus died on the cross, the eternal swap happened—we received His holiness, and He received our sin. We are positionally holy through Christ. Shouldn’t this make us want to be practically holy? We’ll discuss that in a future post.

Jody

Mystery of Holiness Decoded

In my four decades as a Christian, I bet I could count on one hand the number of sermons I’ve heard on the topic of holiness—though the words holy or holiness appear in 587 verses. With that much exposure in the Bible, I became curious. So I cruised through and studied holiness, and it was like a tour through the eternal cosmos. Not only is holiness a major part of God’s personal character, which I expected to see, He attaches His holiness to people and places for a visual snapshot and as a framework from which to demonstrate His holiness on a grander scale. Holiness has its place in eternity past, now and in eternity future.

But on a personal level, holiness is also something we must achieve, and the why is as important as the what and the how. Because God will not allow any unholiness in His presence. Our life is as much about ridding ourselves of unholiness as it is about accomplishing grand plans for God. The sermons I hear are only about the things we are supposed to do, and not so much about the things we are supposed to be—and those things are paramount to God, who said “be ye holy, for I am holy” twice.

I used to have a bumper sticker that said “God is Awesome.” Encased in that awesomeness is holiness. If God was going to describe Himself, holiness would be at the top of His attributes.

Oh wait. God did describe Himself. The first time the word holiness appears in the Bible, it describes God. “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11)

Bible students know that the first time a word is used in the Bible sets the tone and definition of the word. That being the case, we should brand in our minds that God is glorious in holiness—sacredness and set-apartness.

I concluded from my study that God didn’t want us to think of His holiness as an abstract, ethereal thing that we could only comprehend when we reach heaven. He wants us to see it now, and so in future posts, we will look at the visuals God gave.

In the meantime, here’s a popular song about holiness that is worth a look/listen to set our hearts right.

Jody