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For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy;
for I am holy" (Lev. 11: 43, 44).
"I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall
therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11: 45).
"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" (Lev. 19: 2).
Then follow laws regarding obedience to parents, observance of the sabbath,
avoidance of idolatry, and great variety of commands dealing with ceremonials and
morals, as far removed from one another in subject as seeking after wizards, and using
false weights and measures (Lev. 19: 1-37). Lev. 20: 26 is set in a similar context,
enjoining holiness and defining it by righteousness and purity of life, worship and walk:--
"Ye shall therefore put a difference . . . . . ye shall be holy unto Me, for I the Lord am
holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine" (Lev. 20: 25, 26).
The theme is continued into Lev. 21:, where it deals with defilement by the dead, by
the following of heathen customs, and by contracting marriage with any but a pure
woman (Lev. 21: 1-8).
The holiness of God is beyond the possibility of comparison:--
"There is none holy as the Lord" (I Sam. 2: 2).
"Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in
holiness?" (Exod. 15: 11).
God's throne is a throne of holiness (Psa. 47: 8). God's dwelling place is "His holy
heaven" (Psa. 20: 6). His "habitation", "hill", "place", "mountain" and "city" are
holy (Psa. 68: 5, 3: 4, 24: 3; Isa. 65: 25; Rev. 11: 2). The "Scriptures",
"promises", "covenant" and "law" are holy (Rom. 1: 2; Psa. 105: 42; Luke 1: 72;
Rom. 7: 12).
It is because God is holy that sin could not be put away except by sacrifice. The only
time that the Saviour used the title, "Holy Father", was in view of His great sacrifice
(John 17: 11). It is because God is holy that none can enter His presence except by the
new and living Way consecrated for us through the veil. It is because God is holy that
the shedding of blood is necessarily associated with the forgiveness of sins. When once
we grasp the basic fact of the essential holiness of God, the slightest tendency on the part
of any doctrine to associate Him with sin in any shape or form--however specious may
be the arguments, however, it may appear to magnify His greatness and His almighty
power, however it may appear to explain the problem of evil or to justify God with
men--must be repudiated as coming from beneath and not from above, where "no
darkness at all" is the great shining truth:--
"For thus saith He that is high and lifted up, inhabiting futurity, and holy is His name:
a high and holy place will I inhabit, also with the crushed and lowly in spirit" (Isa. 57: 5,
Rotherham's Version.).
"This God is our God."