Revealed // Holy // Week Five, Uncommon
The Hebrew word for “holy” is qados, meaning by nature to be sacred or to be admitted to the sphere of the sacred. Its use in scripture describes that which is distinct and separate from the common or profane. At times, its use describes that which is perfect. Other words from the same root are sanctify, consecrate, and hallowed.
The idea of holy can be a little intimidating. If we misunderstand it, we will give it a bad reputation. As I began to study how God revealed himself as holy in the Bible, I was struck at the order in which it unfolded. He displayed what holy meant long before he said, I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)
The first use of holy is in Genesis 2:3, So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. This use not only marks the importance (sacredness) of rest, it is the first of many distinctions displaying God’s intrinsic holy nature. They continue, including the burning bush and holy ground (Exodus 3:5), God’s charge to Israel to be a holy nation (Exodus 19:5), Most Holy Place in the tabernacle (Exodus 26:33-34), the holy garments priests had to wear in the holy place (Exodus 28:2-4;29:29), and Holy anointing oil and incense used in and for the Holy Place (Exodus 30). If you’ve read through the books of Exodus and Leviticus, you know just how detailed the sanctification rituals can get.
In these lengthy distinctions, we see God set his intentions apart from man’s; Israel gets set apart from other nations; and God’s tabernacle is set apart from common practices. Then, buried deep in the laws, God reveals the why behind the holy actions. In Leviticus 19:2 God instructs Moses to say to Israel, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Why? Because he is holy and we are made in his image.
God is not common. His intention is for us to be as uncommon as he is.
I find God’s decision to display what holy looked like well before he revealed himself as holy to be interwoven with his kindness. I can’t help but wonder what we would have missed seeing out of intimidation and unholy fear had God started with a big, thunderous voice, “I am holy!” In our weak, fallen state would we have been able to see him as caring, as intimate, as faithful, as merciful? I suspect the way it unfolded was his perfection (holiness) in action. God’s first holy distinction was rest—that’s not a fearful or intimidating display. This first act displays his kindness and goodness. It reveals that holy was never intended to be burdensome.
As we continue to explore holy, we will ultimately find the holy laws and actions are fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the spotless, Holy One.
This week, as you read the following daily scriptures, consider how holy is not the dark side of God we have to endure. Rather, how the composite nature of God is holy with goodness, with mercy, with faithfulness, with wisdom, etc…
Day One
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey… Exodus 3:5-8
Day Two
You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples…You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. Leviticus 20:22-26
Day Three
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Psalm 24:3-6
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5
He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name! Psalm 111:5-9
Day Four
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:1-6
Day Five You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:
Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known[d] in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your[e] midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken. Isaiah 62:11-12
Day Six
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:4-9
©2018 Adrienne H. Scott
Acknowledgements: Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, by William D. Mounce
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