Bulletin

Be Ye Holy for I Am Holy
Bob Bauer

In his book Ten Lies About God, Erwin W. Lutzer states that he wrote his book with some deeply held convictions. One of which is "the clearer we see God, the clearer we see ourselves." Nothing could be more true. The more we know about God the more we realize the difference between He and us. This difference is clearly manifested in Isaiah 6 which records when the prophet was given a vision of the throne of God. Isaiah wrote, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!' And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke" (Isaiah 6:1-4). Isaiah, seeing this manifestation of God, said, "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 6:5). When Isaiah, with his human frailties and weaknesses, saw the holiness of God and heard the cry of the seraphim, he realized how much difference there existed between God and himself.

The apostle John alluded to God's holiness and the gap that exists between man and God. He wrote, "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). There is not even the minutest speck of sin in God. He cannot be where sin is. The prophet Habakkuk wrote that God was of "purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon wickedness" (Hab. 1:13). The apostle Paul wrote, "For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14). God always does what is right (Deut. 32:4). Such is not the case with us. John also wrote, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). What many do not realize is that the very first time we violate our conscience, fail to do right, or choose to do wrong, we, like Isaiah, should lament, "Woe is me, for I am undone." The reason is found in the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. The prophet penned that sin separates one from God (Isa. 59:1-2). No matter how perfectly we may live our lives thereafter, the consequences of that one sin will be eternal separation from God. The holiness of God requires Him to do so. James wrote, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). The more you and I understand the holiness of God the more mindful we are of the vast difference which exists between God and sinful man.

However, our holy God, in Whom is no darkness, Who always does right, Who can neither look upon nor fellowship sin, is also the God of hope (Romans 15:13). He has sent One to bridge the gap which exists between God and sinful man. This One is, of course, Jesus the Christ (Jn 14:6). The apostle Paul wrote of Him, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). Jesus' shed blood on the cross has bridged the chasm making it possible for man to approach God. Since nothing sinful can approach God, it follows that the same blood which enables us to approach God has cleansed us from sin (Rev 1:5).

The blood of Christ enables us to be holy as God is holy and to have confidence to approach Him in our time of need.