HOLY

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be Holy, for I am Holy…
Leviticus 11:44

Holy. Even the word sounds big. But what IS this word, ‘holy’ that God says He is? That Paul says our bodies should be in I Corinthians 6:19? That Moses waste remove his shoes for he stood on ‘holy groud’ before the burning bush in Exodus 3? That is such a big word that there are four ‘living creatures’ that have a sole purpose to cry out ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ in the presence of the Lord as recorded in Revelation 4?

Well. For one, it’s a pretty cool song-both ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ the hymn written by Reginald Heber in 1826 and ‘We are Standing on Holy Ground’ written by Geron Davis in 1983. But what does the word actually mean and why is it used so much about God?

The English word ‘Holy’ according to Meriam-Webster dictionary means ‘religeous or morally good’. Ok, the makes sense-God is what we base both our religion on AND He is the author of morality. But it goes deeper.  If we look at it from the Hebrew, where we see so much of this word that God describes Himself as and calls us to be is translated from the Hebrew ‘Kadash’. It means to ‘set apart’. Something unique and dedicated it one thing. In the case of God, to be pure and light and everything. In the case of the Nation Israel in Exodus 19:6 it certainly doesn’t indicate a lot of purity. Their history is replete with really bad stuff. But then WE are called to be ‘holy’ in 1 Peter 1:16 and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who can say-pure I am not!

But in the case of Nation Israel-and all of us called to follow Christ-the idea of ‘seperate’ or ‘set apart’ has a different meaning. In the case of Nation Israel, they were to separate themselves out of the pagan nations around them, to come out from them and serve the Living God. To separate themselves and dedicate themselves to Him. Because He was going to use them as an example to the world and also to bring forth the Messiah. For us because we are the example for people to SEE the work of the Messiah. Not that we are perfect-hardly. Being holy doesn’t mean being perfect, unless you are God. Being holy means we are dedicated to the Lord, and strive to separate ourselves from sin and this fallen world so that others can see there IS a hope. 

Maybe that’s why ‘hope’ and ‘holy’ are so close in form. He calls us to be holy, and through that we have the living hope. 

Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”