The Beauty of Holiness
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1 Chronicles 16:23-36
Might be in your Bible as the “splendor of holiness”.
ASV “worship Jehovah in holy array”
“holy” used most often in Leviticus. Around 152 times. We will be using Leviticus for much of our comparisons and application this morning.
Holiness is not just about not doing the bad things. We need to see the beauty of holiness as a single concept that describes our entire life and practice. It is glorious, pleasing, and inspiring to be holy!
We are called to be Holy
We are called to be Holy
The standard - as He is holy. Eph 1:3-6; 5:27; 1 Pet 1:15-16
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
We fail in this standard, but God makes us righteous, just like Isaiah. Is 6:1-7
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”
He accomplishes this through our chastening. Heb 12:4-11
You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Partakers: A partner/companion. A “sharing with”. A sense of community, belonging.
The author is making clear that chastening shows that God loves you. If a child is not disciplined, it means that child is not loved. Thus, chastening proves God’s love for us.
He intends us to be partakers of His holiness, and He accomplishes this through chastening.
The Beauty of Holiness in Separation
The Beauty of Holiness in Separation
David spoke of God’s holy nature when he brought the ark to Jerusalem. 1 Chron 16:27, 29
Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and gladness are in His place.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
God has always demanded we conform to His holy nature. Lev. 20:26; 18:24,27,30; 19:27; 2 Sam 6:14-23
And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
His holy standard. To be separated from the rest of the world, in order to belong to Him.
‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you.
Taught not to share in the sins of the world, since we are separated from it.
(for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled),
Those in Canaan had committed abominations, and God punished them for those abominations. Be separate.
‘Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.’ ”
Committing these sins meant defilement and abomination before God.
You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.
Might be looked at as rather minor; yet think of how this would have distinguished them in the ancient world! Other nations would treat them differently, look at them differently. It was all intentional to show that they WERE different.
Note: We might ask how Israel moved from worshiping God to the point where they were placing their children into the arms of a molten idol and watching them roast alive. Might not sound like it, but go back and read Leviticus 19. It started by disobeying “small” commands like this one.
When we start dressing, talking, and living like the world, we will be led to very bad ideas and horrific conclusions that can and will result in our spiritual death, and our families’ spiritual death. We begin with compromise and end with destruction. God says, don’t even start going that way!
How are we dressing, speaking, tending to ourselves in trying to be separated to God in the beauty of holiness?
Back to David - consider 2 Sam 6:14-23. David must not have looked “kingly” in Michal’s opinion. Yet, David was devoting himself entirely to the worship of God. And he was unconcerned about her reaction, likely because her reaction was more out of hatred and envy.
The beauty of holiness will not always look beautiful to the world. Sometimes the world will look at the separation demanded by God’s holiness as an ugly, horrendous thing! Yet separation to the Lord is honorable, glorious, beautiful.
The Beauty of Holiness in Exclusivity
The Beauty of Holiness in Exclusivity
Jehoshaphat knew that only giving himself and his kingdom entirely to the Lord could save them from trouble. 2 Chron 20:1-30
Jehoshaphat laid Judah’s concerns before the Lord, worked hard to please the Lord, and the Lord delivered them.
And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”
God wants us to understand that our purpose is to belong to Him. Lev. 12 ; 21:17-23; 19:14; Jas. 1:2-4
Women under the old law had to be constantly concerned with being unclean. A hard reality of life.
The priests had to be without defect in order to offer sacrifices to God. Offensive to our modern sensibilities, but this was the reality of what God commanded at the time. Hard truths that these defects existed because of sin.
“Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ”
Sin brought these defects into the world, and God wants us to see that God’s presence is where those things are no more! In fact, God is not saying, “keep those people away”, but rather, “you better take special care of those people. There are drastic punishments for you if you don’t.”
You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
Remember, YOU ARE BROKEN, TOO. Patience will only have its perfect work when we truly belong to Him in the beauty of holiness.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
The Beauty of Holiness in Wholeness
The Beauty of Holiness in Wholeness
David says that God gives strength and blesses. There is no other such source for our existence. God makes us complete. Ps 29
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
God’s judgment is a reason for praise and rejoicing. His final judgment will be our perfection! Ps 96
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Do you see the beauty of holiness? Matt. 5:48; Lev. 19:2
God tells us we don’t have to live in sin and decay. He has done something to show us the way out. Not only show us the way, but what needs to be done in order to GO that way. Not because He is prudish, but because He loves us!
Put away what is possible to put away. Let God show you what is possible and not possible!
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.