Pondering His Holy Word

Approaching The Holy

Leviticus 10:1-3

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace

Leviticus 19:1-2

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

Sanctification 

During our pilgrim’s journey to the Kingdom of Heaven, God, the Spirit, sanctifies us. What I mean by sanctifying is He is making us holy as Christ is holy. He is creating us in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Justification is a decree from God in eternity carried out by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. Once you are justified before God, you will always be justified before God. Justification happens once and does not need to be repeated. Sanctification, also an act of the Holy Spirit, is the act of being made holy. This process is being crucified to the flesh and living in Christ. However, before I talk about sanctification, I want to spend some time discussing the holy and the holiness of God. 

As a new believer, I noted the places in the bible where I get the most hung up: genealogies, the law, descriptions of the temples, and most of the major and minor prophets. I was able to breeze through the narratives, the histories, and the four gospels, and muscle through the poetry, and I was able to follow much of the epistles. However, the Bible book that I struggled with the most was Leviticus. In this book, God gave precise instructions on how the priests were supposed to approach Him and what was clean and unclean. I mean, this book is very detailed. 

God was clear when He discussed approaching Him as Holy. God’s display of holiness is abundantly clear in the account of two of Aaron’s sons. Nadab and Abihu are mentioned in Exodus 6:23 when all of the elders of the Israelite’s houses were named. They were listed as sons of Aaron. Based on the fact that Nadab and Abihu were listed first and second, respectively, we can infer that they were the oldest of Aaron’s children. They were the first two descendants of Aaron and likely the first two consecrated priests. That being said, we can infer that Nadab or Abihu would succeed Aaron as the high priest. They knew that, and all of Israel knew that.  

Chapter 10 of Leviticus states, “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2). God gave precise instructions on how to worship Him. Also, He consecrated all of Aaron’s sons as priests, and He expected them to be holy. When they deviated, God’s judgment was prompt.

In many Christian circles, we often hear that God is love. We have a warm fuzzy view of God. Usually, God is depicted as an old grandfather who loves us all unconditionally. But in the Old and New Testaments, there is one refrain that is repeated. “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The Lord declares His attributes to humanity, but one attribute that He makes very clear is that He is Holy. 

When Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire before God, His judgment was swift and immediate. They both were consumed by fire. My first thought was, “Wow, that was an overreaction.” Moses’ response didn’t help change my opinion. I had a tiny idea of what Moses meant when he said, “By those who come near Me, I must be regarded as holy.” 

In the “modern” and “post-Christian” era, God’s name is often used as a cuss word. It is unnerving how often I hear God’s name being blasphemed. Humanity, even Christians, seem to not take God’s holiness seriously. It’s no wonder that people may think that God overreacted when He killed Aaron’s son. The world does not regard God’s holiness. 

What Doesn’t Holy Mean? 

When I speak of holy, I want to be clear about what I don’t mean by holy. Humanity tends to use the term holy and moral synonymously. As humans, we seek to be moral. A moral person strives to live a righteous life by avoiding wrong conduct or behavior. Morality deals with behavior and the concept of right and wrong. In a sense, morality can reflect the ethics of what a particular society deems right and wrong. A moral person internalizes what a society considers moral and displays it in their conduct. What is ethical in one society is considered unethical in another. 

Morality changes with society. What is considered moral in one generation can be regarded as immoral or at least amoral. For instance, loyalty is considered a time-tested attribute of a good person. 

At one point in time, it was considered to be loyal to the company where you work. In previous decades, people could count on retirements and pensions, but that is not the case anymore. Most states have at-will employment where the company can fire you for any reason or no reason at all. The reverse is also true; we can quit a job for any reason or no reason at all. For a while, we held on to the idea of being loyal to a company, but that is not the case anymore. Many people are working multiple jobs and job hopping for the best opportunity. I’m not saying that it is good or bad, but as a society, we don’t hold to staying loyal to one company anymore. 50 plus years ago (before I was born), people would likely have a strong sense of patriotic loyalty to the company where they work. Now, I say this, knowing that I have been at my school district for less than ten years,  knowing very well that my employment can end at any time for any reason or no reason by either party. In 2024, that does not make either party immoral. In a short period of time, our idea of morality in a job has changed drastically. 

That being said, morality is not the same as holiness. Where morality is based on outside influence, holiness is based on something else entirely. 

That being said, God is not moral, at least not in the sense that His sense of right and wrong is defined by the current societal norms. Now, I want to be careful when I say this, lest I approach God in an unholy way. But let’s be clear: God’s moral compass is not influenced by the ethics of this world. 

God’s Holiness

In the Hebrew language, the word holy means set apart. So if God is set apart, that means that God is separate or Other, high above all of creation, that is part of His attribute. God’s holiness is not something that He does; it is who He is. God does not display the holiness within Him. He is holy. That is the essence of who He is. He is absolutely othered from all of His creations. His holiness cannot be separated from Him. God’s essence does not change. God cannot become less holy or more holy. 

God is separate and above all of His creation, but His invisible attributes permeate all creations. So we know that God is there even if we do not see Him with our eyes. All of humanity feels the benefits of God, but we dare not approach Him without invitation. 

Usually, people swear by something or someone greater than themselves. “I put that on everything.” “I put that on my mom.” When we are under oath, we swear under penalty of perjury. This means that we are accountable to the country’s laws, state statutes, or local ordinances if we were to lie in a situation where we are expected to tell the truth. In Genesis, God could not have been sworn by anyone or anything greater than Him, so He said to Abraham. “By myself, I have sworn.” When God swears to Himself, He swears by His essence. His very character.

In the temple, Jesus makes a striking statement. “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say I do not know him, I would be a liar like you” (John 8:54-55). In this statement, Jesus makes a claim of His holiness. He could not lie about being the Son of God because of who He is, the Holy One of God; he cannot lie. To put this in a positive manner. His truthfulness is so pure that no deceit or lies can be found in Him. In this statement, Jesus said that if He were to say He did not know the Father, He would profane His holy name. Even though first-century Palestine rejected Jesus, that did not change who He is. Regardless, He was still God incarnate. He would not profane His own name even if it assuages the wrath of the Pharisees and Sadducees. His holiness was not based on the morality of the world. 

Now, from our standpoint, we describe this one thing that cannot be done by God, and thus, we found something that God can’t do. He can’t be unholy, so God can’t do everything. But the truth is, we as people cannot be holy. We cannot see God’s face and live. That is not a reflection of God’s limits, but it is a reflection of our limits and our weakness.  

Judas 

Let’s see another example of how some approached God in a profane manner. If you read the first chapter in the book of Acts, Peter speaks of Judas, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus” and “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and ‘Let another take his office.’ (Acts 1:16,20). This would have been an excellent moment to bad-mouth Judas and discuss all of the bad things they knew about him. However, there is almost a sense of pity in Peter’s tone as he speaks of Judas. 

Judas was as close to the holy as any human can get without being killed in the process. During Jesus’ three-year ministry on earth, Judas heard all of His teachings, and he witnessed many of His miracles. In fact, Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 who Jesus initially sent out to announce Jesus was coming, and he was given the power of healing and casting out demons. 

For the last 3 years of his life, Judas spent most of his time in the presence of the Living God. Yet, he was lost. Whether Judas was ever a true believer in Jesus, we can’t be sure. However, what we can say with a great deal of certainty is that even with all of the warnings from Jesus that someone amongst the 12 was not who they said they were, the other 11 disciples were none the wiser. The only indication that something was amiss was in John’s gospel. 

“Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:3-6). 

The disciples did not know any of this until after the fact. Even after Jesus dismissed Judas for betraying him, the disciples did not understand. “Now, no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor” (John 13:28-29). This was after Jesus had announced that one of them would betray Him only shortly before. Yet even with all of this being said, none of the gospels writers slandered Judas. The worst thing that was said was Satan entered him (Luke 22:3, John 13:27). Judas was a vessel for Satan. At the time the gospels were written, the apostles, the writer of the gospels, and the listeners knew exactly where Judas was. They can only pity him as someone who approached the Holy God in a profane manner and died. 

It was a dreadful and pitiful thing to be that close to God and end up in eternal torment. He approached God with an impure heart, and God judged him. Judas, along with the other 71 others, was given the authority to cast out demons in the name of the Lord, yet he ultimately became a host for Satan. At a certain point (we don’t know exactly where), Judas had his heart set on betraying the Son of God. At any point, Judas could have stopped, but he didn’t. Just like Nadib or Abihu, Judas Iscariot approached God in an unauthorized and unholy manner, and he was sent to his assigned place. 

Conclusion 

My point is that walking in the faith is not something to take lightly. To say that you are a Christian means that God has set you apart from this crooked world to be in His royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5). To say that you are a Christian for social, political, and economic reasons is to profane His name. Moreover, ascribing to God the morality of this world is idolatry and is blaspheming His holy name.  We have to be careful not to approach God in the same way the world approaches its “gods.” He expects us to approach Him exactly as He instructs us and not deviate to the left or to the right.