HOLY!
We know that
GOD is HOLY or set apart from every other being because He is the creator of
all beings and no being can stand before GOD on their own merit.
We know that
GOD created humanity in His own image and called humanity to be Holy as He is HOLY;
we are to be set apart to GOD above everything and everybody else.
We know that
GOD is Spirit and that being made in His image that humanity is spirit. We know
that Ruach HaKodesh (The HOLY SPIRIT or SPIRIT of GOD) is GOD. One of
the identifying marks of the believer is that the SPIRIT of GOD is the seal or
mark of our salvation; or the HOLY SPIRIT is the seal of our being set apart to
GOD. This is the evidence to the spiritual and physical world that we are redeemed
by the Blood of the LAMB; that those humans who believe and confess that JESUS
CHRIST is Savior and LORD are born again as a new creation in CHRIST JESUS. We
are set apart from the world even though we still live in the world because He
has made us Holy as He is HOLY.
So why does
GOD tell us in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, “Be Holy as I am HOLY!”
if His SPIRIT sets us apart from those who do not believe and is the seal of our
Holiness? Because as the whole of the Old and New Testaments teach; we are to
stop living like those of the world around us live. As JESUS said, “Go and sin
no more!” we are called to be separate from those in the world who do not
believe in GOD and JESUS CHRIST, those who continue to sin.
It is not
about religious activity, even though under the Law the Jews were called to be
Holy as GOD is HOLY they did not desire a personal relationship with GOD but
preferred Moses to act as their mediator, and they failed to understand and
therefore know GOD as SPIRIT and TRUTH so they became religious. JESUS came as
the perfect and only mediator between GOD and humanity that could actually
bring humanity back into relationship with GOD and lead humanity into Holiness;
because as the Son of GOD (in the SPIRIT) and the Son of Man (in the flesh) He
was the only person who was set apart to GOD from conception since Adam and it
was Adam who sinned (disobeyed) and caused humanity to stop being Holy to GOD.
Adam was conceived
in the heart of GOD and formed from the dust (which GOD had created) and then
GOD breathed into Adam and made him a living being and commissioned him to care
for His creation. JESUS was conceived in the heart of GOD before the foundation
of the earth was laid then formed in the womb of the virgin and commissioned with
the salvation of humanity and creation waits for the fulfillment of our
salvation.
It is about
how we live our life now that we believe in JESUS and confess Him as Savior and
LORD. Our part of being Holy as GOD is HOLY is to demonstrate to the world by
our lifestyle that we are no longer part of the world (even though we still
live in the world) but that we are set apart for GOD’s eternal Kingdom now! We are
to be witnesses (light and salt) of GOD’s eternal Kingdom so that others will
see and desire what we have and we are to be ambassadors of GOD’s eternal
Kingdom (telling people how to receive citizenship).
But we must
be clear this is not a dual citizenship life we now live. We cannot be citizens
of both the world and GOD’s eternal Kingdom! The true sign of our being Holy as
GOD is HOLY is that we live in the world even while we live for GOD’s eternal Kingdom.
Relationship with GOD is about lifestyle. We can be religious and live for the
world but we cannot have a personal relationship with GOD as our Father and
live for the world. To have a personal relationship with GOD as our Father we
have to live for Him and His eternal Kingdom. That is being set apart only for GOD,
that is being Holy as GOD is HOLY!
Study
Genesis 1-3; Exodus; Matthew 1-7; John 15-18; Romans and Hebrews.
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