God’s ‘problem’ - He is holy!

It is his first characteristic - the living creatures did not cry, ‘Love, love, love!’ Psalm 89:14 says, Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Holiness and justice are his FOUNDATION - love and faithfulness flow from them. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:28-29). However, God is not only holy, but unchangeable. Incorruptible. Nothing can tarnish his holiness. I used to think that we were unable to enter heaven in a sinful, unholy state because it would pollute heaven, or contaminate God. But how arrogant is that! My sin besmirch a holy God? Ridiculous! If one minute spot touches a perfectly clean sheet of paper, the paper is no longer clean. If one sin were to touch our holy God, he would no longer be holy. BUT he is incorruptible – he cannot be contaminated. Therefore if anything unholy touches him, it MUST be automatically destroyed. Consumed - he is a consuming fire. Read the full story in my book, Holy Fire.

God’s solution

And THAT is why God cannot allow the unholy into heaven.  Without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). If we were to enter heaven unclean, we would have to be destroyed. The Lord loves us too much for that. Instead, he MUST make us holy first, or there can be no fellowship. A relationship with a holy God is only possible with those made holy through the blood of Jesus: And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10). Righteousness is not something we do or can do. It is a gift from God, for those who believe: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7). If we are in Christ, perfection awaits us in heaven, the city of the living God, but righteousness is ours now, by grace.

Holy & Most holy

Under the law, there were two levels of holiness - ‘holy’ and ‘most holy’. ‘Holy’ meant sanctified, purified, set apart for God. But ‘most holy’ was different. It had influence: You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy. Exodus 30:29. Their nature changed the nature of whatever touched it. In Matthew 8:3, a leper comes to Jesus. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Under the law, Jesus should have been made unclean. Under grace, the leper was made clean - cured of his leprosy. Jesus was demonstrating the ‘most holy’ nature of the Kingdom of God. It has influence. We have been endued with the same privilege, by faith, that is, if we would only believe it! John G. Lake said there were three levels of healing: 1) Divine healing, 2) Divine health (not getting sick), and 3) Divine influence - whatever we touch, or touches us, is healed. Or killed! Doctors placed bacteria on his hand, examining them under a microscope, and watched them die. We have not just been made holy by the blood of Jesus, but most holy. People who touched Jesus were healed. People were healed by Peter’s shadow. Cloths that touched Paul brought healing and deliverance. Let us believe, and go and do the same, most holy people!