Wholly Holy...

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, 'Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God.'" -Leviticus 19:1-4


David Crowder sings a song titled Wholly Yours, and the chorus is quite intriguing when you understand the play on homophones. To say God is "wholly holy" is to say he is completely set apart, totally "other". This is fantastic - that our God is not bound to, or tainted by, anything on Earth (or, indeed, the entire universe). There's nothing here that fully describes His strength, mercy, love or justice. Jesus didn't bring postcards from Heaven because it would have been like bringing a French grammar book to a fish pond and expecting the Koi to give an oral report on Napoleon. Heaven, the holiness of our Lord, is so foreign to us that He speaks in parables instead. Similes and metaphors abound in the Gospels simply because if He had actually just showed us Heaven we'd have lost our marbles.

Recall Matthew 17, when Christ is transfigured while James, John and Peter are watching. Peter's reaction is to build not just one tabernacle, but three - one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Not that this didn't seem reasonable at the time, and maybe James and John thought it sounded good too, but it's so woefully inadequate in light of passages like 1 Kings 8:27 and Psalm 113:5,6 that it should be abundantly clear that Peter was just unable to process what he'd witnessed (not that we would've acted any differently!). The King of kings and Lord of lords, the living God of all Creation, is so far above and beyond our comprehension that if we experienced His fullness without a body better suited to that purpose (1 Corinthians 15:44) we'd completely overload.

And yet, He says to be holy, just as He is holy. Could this mean that living our lives in the relentless, reckless and unwaivering pursuit of the Author of our salvation and Lover or our souls can, and should, leave our fellow Earthlings speechless? When we exercise the fierce love of our Savior on those around us by caring for their physical needs and praying for their very souls, it should throw them for a bit of a loop - after all, we're not from around here (Hebrews 11:13).

~~JBH

P.S. The Jaffrey Bible House is doing alright, and we'd love to see you Tuesday nights at 6pm or Fridays at noon to worship the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and fellowship!