HOLY? ME?

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In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
Isaiah 54:14-17 ESV



¶God gave his people laws that we might live in peace and harmony. Rebellion against God's law distorts the lives of the smith who turns plowshares into swords and the ravager who employs them to destroy. But God addresses our rebellion not by withdrawing, but by drawing closer, by seeking Adam in the garden, by establishing a tabernacle dwelling place for Himself among His people in the wilderness, by emerging from the womb of a virgin and going to the cross as a pure sinless sacrifice, and with an invitation to join Him at a festal gathering where our union with Him will be celebrated. And everywhere we meet Him, we experience His holiness, His separateness from any kind of impurity. This He desires to transmit to us. It is His greatest gift to us. We see it in His commands to remain a separate people unmixed from the people of the land they are to occupy, and to use only food and clothing of unmixed elements. The Spirit He leaves within us is called Holy in the way it comes with purifying fire, using the living Word of God to penetrate even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and make us holy.
 

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