Holy, Holy, Holy God
5 min read
38 Moses and Aaron and his sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, in front of the tent of meeting. They were responsible for the care of the sanctuary on behalf of the Israelites. Anyone else who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.
Numbers 3:38
For us, the holiness of God is a life and death matter. Unfortunately, most believers today do not have a sense of the holiness of God like the ancients did.
The holiness of God does not have to do with the clothes that we wear, or the vestments that the priests wear, or the order of service, or the songs that we sing.
The holiness of God is life and death—life for those in Christ, death for those who are not.
The holiness of God is unapproachable because of sin. To approach God is to die, because His holiness would consume the sin. But because sin is mixed into the fabric of our souls, we are consumed with it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Moses, Aaron, and his sons, and every high priest who was appointed to enter the sanctuary, were without sin. God consecrated them—that is, God made a provision to make them holy, despite the sin in their hearts. Even so, the high priests would enter the holy of holies with a rope tied to them so that they could be pulled out if they died at the altar for not approaching the throne of God with the proper reverence. The point is, however, that because of God’s grace, He made a provision for their holiness to approach His throne on behalf of themselves and the people.
And so, why didn’t God just make that same provision for for everyone? Because (1) they would take the holiness of God for granted and most (all?) would die; and then (2) they would be too afraid to approach the throne of God and settle quite comfortably into our unholy flesh and this unholy world.
In Christ Jesus alone, we are able to approach the throne of God. But the holiness of God is still a matter of life and death. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been consumed by the wrath of God because He became clothed with our unholiness on the cross. But because of God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are clothed with His holiness so that we might approach the throne of God without being consumed for our many sins.
If not for our Lord, Jesus Christ, interceding for us at the cross, as well as before the throne of God in heaven, we would all be consumed for approaching the throne of God every Sunday. Without Christ, it wouldn’t matter how fancy our clothes were, how “reverent” our worship was, how “uplifting” our songs were, how “spiritual” our prayers were.
Christ is our holiness. And so, we get to approach the throne of our holy, holy, holy God without fear of being consumed, but rather with joy and reverence and awe for the Life that has overcome death.
Father, You are holy, holy, holy. Your holiness is beyond our comprehension. Forgive us for making the things we do holy instead of approaching You and You alone as holy. But thank You for Your amazing grace and Your great mercy. Make Your holiness known to us, Lord, so that the things we try to make holy smell like dung. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
