"Holy" 7-24-22

Overview

The Holiness of God

Like the sun on a brilliant summer day, God's holiness draws us in even as it overwhelms us. We cannot stare at it directly; it is too pure, too consuming, too "other." Yet holiness is one of God's defining attributes—He is eternally, unchangingly, unaffectedly holy. To confess this is to say that God in His very being stands in absolute opposition to all sin, all impurity, all that is common or unclean.

Two sobering passages bring this truth into sharp focus. In Leviticus 10, Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offer "unholy fire" before the Lord and are consumed. In 2 Samuel 6, Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark when the oxen stumble—seemingly a good and protective act—and dies on the spot. These accounts unsettle us because the men appear to be doing something right. But Moses gives the interpretation: "Through those who are near me I will show myself holy." God's holiness is not a polite quality; it is a consuming fire, and nothing impure can stand in His presence on its own terms.

For this reason God gave Israel a sacrificial system, grounded in the principle that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" Leviticus 17:11. The lifeblood of the offerings made it possible for an unclean people to dwell with a holy God. Yet sin abounds, and no offering we bring can finally make us worthy. Romans 3 declares that "no one is righteous, not even one." John weeps in Revelation 5 because no one in heaven or on earth is found worthy to open the scroll—until the Lamb who was slain steps forward. There is One worthy. There is One whose blood is acceptable.

This is the gospel: Jesus Christ is the sacrificial Lamb, and through His blood we have peace with God Romans 5:1–10. What we cannot bring, He has brought. What David confessed in Psalm 51—that the Lord desires not burnt offerings but a broken and contrite heart—is now possible because Christ's lifeblood was poured out for the sins of the whole world. We come to the Father not by our own works, prayers, or efforts, but through the once-for-all sacrifice of the Son. The sun is still blinding; God will never not be holy. But in Jesus the door has been opened, and through the Holy Spirit given to us in baptism we are washed, sanctified, and empowered to live as a holy people. We cannot approach the throne in our own power—but in Christ we are invited in eternally, to sing with the angels: "Holy, holy, holy."

Transcript

If you would please open your Bibles to Leviticus, the 11th chapter. 3s

The 10th chapter, I'm getting my chapters mixed up here. 9s

The 10th chapter, if you're using a pure addition of the Bible, you can find that on page 89 12s

of the Old Testament. 19s

I know you're saying, wow, yay, we're going to go to Leviticus. 21s

Woo! 25s

This is exciting, but it is. 25s

I promise you, we're going to have fun. 27s

Okay, so this happened to me driving in today, and I'm sure you've all had this experience 30s

where you're driving or you're walking, and the sun is just absolutely blinding. 35s

And you want to look at it, but you can't look at it. 43s

It's too much, or even when there's a red sunset, and the sun is just so gorgeous. 48s

And again, you want to look at it, but you can't look at it. 53s

You can't look at the brightness of the sun. 59s

It's too much for us to take in. 64s

It's absolutely blinding. 67s

And we're drawn to it. 69s

We like the sun. 72s

We want the sun, but we can't. 73s

We can't be near it. 77s

Today, we are going to talk about another attribute of God, and attribute that, again, is beyond 80s

our understanding. 88s

So we're going to do our best to get at a glimpse of what the holiness of God is. 90s

He is eternally unchangingly, unaffectingly holy. 98s

He is holy. 105s

And when we consider God's holiness, we think of it in positive ways. 108s

We think that it's good. 114s

We want God to be holy. 115s

We want to proclaim God as holy. 117s

And we want to praise and lift up our Lord as the holy one. 119s

But His holiness is also very confusing for us. 127s

And it's quite scary. 134s

And we come in contact with this scaringess of His holiness. 137s

In Leviticus, in our reading for today. 143s

But first, we're also going to go to a difficult reading of God's holiness. 146s

In second Samuel, where David has been anointed king, he is going forth. 154s

They are bringing the ark to Jerusalem and in chapter 6, 159s

it reads, David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. 164s

David and all the people with him set out and went from Bell Judah to bring up from there, 169s

the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, 175s

who is in throne on the cherubim. 179s

They carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of a bean 181s

adab, which was on the hill. 186s

Uza and Ahio, the sons of a bean adab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God, 188s

and Ahio went in front of the ark. 193s

David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, 196s

with songs and liars and harps and tambourines and castonettes and symbols. 201s

When they came to the threshing floor of Nikon, Uza reached out his hand to the ark of God 206s

and took hold of it for the ox and shook it. 211s

The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uza and God struck him there 215s

because he reached out his hand to the ark. 220s

And he died there beside the ark of God. 222s

This is in the context of a joyful happening. 228s

The ark of the Lord, the presence of the Lord being brought into Jerusalem. 233s

There is song and dance and a parade filling this scene and there is so much joy. 238s

And then a little tumble or stumble by the oxen and Uza, 246s

Uza was doing what any of us would do. 251s

He was trying to study the very presence of the Lord. 254s

He was trying to study the ark, the tabernacle from falling and he reached out and was consumed. 258s

But wasn't he trying to do something that was good? 270s

Wasn't he trying to care for the presence of the Lord? 274s

Aaron's sons, Nadev and Abihu, each took his sensor, put fire in it and laid incense on it. 283s

And they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them. 290s

And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord. 296s

Then Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord meant when he said, 302s

through those who are near me, I will show myself holy. 307s

And before all the people, I will be glorified and Aaron was silent. 311s

What does this mean? 322s

The priests are offering incense. 325s

Uza was trying to study the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, and they were consumed. 330s

They died, but weren't they doing what they were supposed to do? 340s

What does the holiness of God mean? 348s

The holiness of God, the essence of God, God in His godliness is in absolute and direct opposition to sin, all sin. 354s

His holiness is so great that just the presence of the unclean, the presence of the impure 373s

near him is consumed. 383s

It cannot be. It cannot stand. 387s

And so God gave to the Hebrew people, He gave them a system, a system of sacrifices, 392s

a system of their offerings that He would make them okay to be in His presence. 400s

But they were not to come unarmed. They were not to come closer than what He would allow 408s

because His holiness itself would absolutely consume them. 418s

And so this sacrificial system is set up. And it is all based on the principle of blood, 424s

of lifeblood in Leviticus chapter 17, verse 11, it says, 434s

for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you for making 440s

atonement for your lives on the altar. For as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. 444s

So God gave to them a system, a system of making atonement, a system of sacrificing that was all 452s

based on the lifeblood, all given to cleanse the Hebrew people. It was a symbolic cleansing 461s

to be in the presence of God, to have God in the presence of this community. And it was in place 470s

because the presence of the Lord was going to dwell with them. The presence of the Lord was leading 479s

them was going in and out with them and they had to have a way to make it okay for the unadulterated 486s

holiness, the pure holiness of God to be in their presence. And it was absolutely imperative 497s

that the unclean, the common, would be cleansed to be in the mere presence of the Lord. 508s

So the sacrificial system was this goal that was set before the people. Guess what? People 522s

send. They continued to send and send, abounded and send continues to abound. In Romans 3, 532s

it says that not one is righteous, not even one. No one seeks the Lord. All are unworthy. In 544s

two heaven, where in chapter 5 John in his vision writes, then I saw in the right hand of the one 560s

seated on the throne, a scroll written on the inside and on the back sealed with seven seals. 568s

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and 574s

break its seals and no one, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open 580s

the scroll or to look into it. Not one, not even one is righteous. Not one, not even one, 590s

in heaven or on earth is worthy. And I began to weep bitterly because no one 612s

was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. What a despairing word from scripture, 624s

what a despairing feeling that presses in hearing those words, 639s

that we would eternally sit in our sin, that no matter how many sacrifices we brought, 650s

it's not enough. No matter how much we do, we're not worthy. Then one of the elders said to me, 662s

do not weep. See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he 678s

can open the scroll and it's seven seals. Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures 688s

and among the elders, a lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered. 695s

There was one worthy. There was one worthy to enter, enter the throne, enter the throne room 706s

and open for us the scroll, open the scroll of life to see and to proclaim those who are written in it. 720s

The sacrificial lamb, the one sacrifice that is acceptable to the Lord. In Romans, we read that no 736s

one is righteous, not one. And it goes on to say in Romans 3 that this is so that the world, 749s

the mouth of the world would be silenced. Remember in our Leviticus reading, in our reading for today, 759s

how Aaron, his two sons are consumed by the Lord, by the holiness of the Lord. And Moses says, 768s

no one is worthy. They offered an unholy and unworthy sacrifice and what could Aaron say in response. 779s

Nothing. Aaron was silent. When we come before the Lord, 793s

we come completely unworthy. We come completely unholy and we can try all we want to hide our sin. 802s

We can try all we want to skirt around our sin, but scripture tells us very plainly that when we are in the presence of the Lord, all is laid bare. 815s

When we are in the presence of God's holiness, we cannot stand. We crumble. We are consumed. We are consumed 827s

in the holiness of God for the very nature of our sin. And so we sacrifice. 843s

But nothing we do, nothing we say, nothing we bring to the table is worthy to open the scroll, 857s

is worthy to open heaven for us. Chapter 5 of Romans, verse 1, it says, 868s

therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, 881s

jumping down to verse 10. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, 891s

much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 897s

Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb, the only sacrifice that is acceptable to the holiness of God, 905s

the only sacrifice that we can approach the Father from. 918s

Jesus is the sacrifice through which we have peace with the Father that we are then again 926s

allowed to be in the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. David in the 51st Psalm, 936s

he writes that sacrifice or burnt sacrifices, burnt offerings, that's not what the Lord wants, 945s

that's not what the Lord needs, he doesn't need or want anything that we can bring to him. 951s

But in that Psalm, David writes, a broken and contrite, heart-alord, you will not despise, 958s

a broken and contrite heart. The lifeblood has been given, 967s

the lifeblood of his very own son upon the cross for the sins of the whole world, for the 975s

sins of all time. It doesn't matter what we do, what we say, what we think, what we try, 985s

what we pray, what we bring to the table in our own efforts by our own powers is nothing. 997s

When we come, broken and contrite, repentant through the blood of Christ, we come 1012s

with the correct, with the right sacrifice, because we are entering into the presence of the 1018s

Lord through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus that washes us clean. It is Jesus that 1026s

sanctifies us through His own spirit. It is Jesus through the spirit that calls us 1039s

to the table, with the broken, the contrite heart repenting. And then it is Christ through the 1047s

spirit who drives us forward to live the Holy life. It is the Holy spirit that empowers us to 1058s

be a holy people. God demands holiness. He cannot be in the presence of anything unholy. 1071s

Without Christ, we cannot dwell amongst the Lord. Without Christ, we cannot be in the presence 1083s

of the Lord. Through God, we live in the freedom. So Leviticus, we do have laws put before us. 1091s

Numbers, we do have laws put before us. We do have the Hebrew sacrificial system put before us, 1105s

but all of that is answered through Christ and Christ alone. The sun, the sun is still hot. 1113s

The sun is still blinding. God will never not be holy. God will never not be pure, 1126s

holiness and goodness in and of Himself. God in His holiness will never be approachable 1141s

in our own power by what we do. But through Jesus, the door is always opened to us. 1153s

Through Jesus, we are invited into the presence of the Father, the sun, and the Holy spirit. 1166s

Through Jesus, our sins, your sins have been washed away so that you are free not to live 1174s

under the law of the sacrificial system. But you are free to live in that sacrifice which was made 1183s

for you and you are free to live in the freedom of the Holy spirit, the very holiness of God 1191s

that was given to you in your baptism. My brothers and sisters, we have difficult passages in 1200s

scripture and it may be very difficult to understand how these men were consumed. But when we consider 1211s

the very greatness and completeness of the holiness of God and understand that that is the 1224s

presence into which we have been invited eternally. We cannot not sing with the angels and the 1233s