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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 7, NUMBER 10, MARCH 11, 2007 “I MUST BE REGARDED AS HOLY” In Leviticus 10 we find the account of Nadab and Abihu. Most Bible students recall that these were the sons of Aaron who offered, “profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them” (v. 1). This is a wonderful place to go to show the necessity of doing things just exactly as God has commanded them to be done. However, for the purpose of this article, it is verse 3 we want to focus on as Moses informs Aaron of what God had said to him concerning the reason for His shocking punishment of Aaron’s two sons. God’s words in that verse were, “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.” It is this idea of God’s holiness and our response to it that will be the theme of this article. I do not believe that it is overestimating the case to say that this element of Deity (God’s holiness) overshadows all the others (Psalm 99). God is separate from everything and everyone else in His wisdom, power, knowledge, love, presence; indeed, in everything. This is the idea behind God’s holiness. I am reminded of God’s words in Isaiah 40:18, 25: “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him….To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal? says the Holy One.” Read the entire chapter for yourself and you will see immediately that the answer is “No one!” But His holiness goes even deeper than this because it also encompasses His absolute moral perfection. I don’t care who it is, if you spend some time with someone, eventually you are going to come across an imperfection of some sort. Who has found God’s imperfection? Who has found God’s blemish? No one has and no one ever will simply because it does not exist. Notice how acutely Isaiah felt his own imperfections in the presence of true perfection: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5. Read also verses 1-4, especially verse 3). In 1 Peter 1:14-16 Peter says to Christians, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior; because it is written ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” As children of God we are to reflect God’s holiness in our lives through our words and actions. This has always been true for God’s people, both in the Old and New Testaments. Notice what is said in the last part of verse 7 of Amos 2: “And a man and his father resort to the same girl in order to profane my holy name.” In the New Testament, in 1 Thessalonians 4:7 we read, “For God did not call us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (NKJ). Obviously, if the Christian’s conduct tends toward uncleanness, then he is profaning the holy name of God. Consider again Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1:14-16, and then let us consider our own personal conduct. Are we striving to be holy as the Holy One Who called us? Consider this – the hardest working people I believe that I have ever met have been some of my brethren. I have known Christians who seem to work all day, every day, and yet they still manage to attend each and every service. They are to be commended for this because that does require some effort and some faith. However, I have a suspicion that we as Christians sometimes get the feeling that God will be pleased with our leftovers. There is a lesson that we must learn if we wish to be truly pleasing to God. He (not our jobs, not our finances, not our homes, not our hobbies, not even our families), He must get the very best that we have to offer. Does this mean that we ignore all of these other things? Of course not; yet God must come before them all. I would like for you to read the following words from Malachi 1:6-10 very carefully, for then you will be able to see the application that follows: “A son honors his father and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect,’ says the Lord of hosts to you, ‘O priests who despise My name.’ But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, “The table of the Lord is despised.” But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly? Says the Lord of hosts. But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly? Says the Lord of hosts. Oh that there were some among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘nor will I accept an offering from you.’” Brethren, can we not see how offering to God any less than the best that we have in our worship and in our daily lives is the equivalent of offering to him the blind, lame, and sick? If He would not accept that type of worship from His people under the Old Law, how much more will He refuse to accept such from Christians, who have something so much better and today worship in spirit and in truth? There is an innumerable host of heaven worshiping our God, and one of the beautiful statements that they repeat endlessly is recorded in Revelation 4:8 which says, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come.” That is the God that we worship and serve, and He must be regarded as holy by those who approach Him. Is that how you consider God? If not, dare you approach Him? Think about these things. Adam Litmer
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