“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3) is what unceasingly echoes through the Heavens by the voices of those around the throne of God as they bear witness to His majestic holiness. The divine holiness of God is what commands the eternal worship of both mankind and angels.
John Piper once wrote, “The holiness of God is his concealed glory. The glory of God is His revealed holiness”. When we see His glory, we see a manifestation of His holiness. Moses and Israel sing a song to the Lord in Exodus 15:11 saying, “Who is like thee, glorious in holiness”. Divine glory and holiness are inseparable.
But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy for I am holy” 1 Peter 15-16
Peter gives us a simple yet imperative instruction – to be Holy. Why? Because God’s presence is gloriously holy, an all-consuming fire. The dwelling place of His Holy presence being within the heart of every believer, if they holdfast to the love of Jesus and His word (John 14:23). Corporately, scripture portrays this like a place of living stones that are being built into a spiritual house. Ezekiel 43:4 saw a vision of this when the glory of the Lord filled the temple. He is later told in verse 12, that “This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.”
Glory filled is a result of holy fulfilled.
God has set eternity in our hearts, a spiritual place in which He inhabits. Therefore, we are called to be holy because we are a temple of His Holy Spirit. Our holiness, which is perfected through the fear of the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:1) comes from the way we conduct ourselves, to separate ourselves from our old self, the flesh, with all its futile passions and focus on the new living way in which we are called “to put on the new [spiritual] self, created like God in true righteousness and holiness “ (Eph 4:24).
This calling to be holy simply put means be set apart and sanctified. It’s about separating oneself from all that defiles, and in doing so ushers in purity and holiness. Having a pure heart means that it is undivided, unwavering between that which is clean and unclean, godly, and ungodly.
Praise God, because of love, Jesus made a way for His Bride, you and me, to be sanctified, that one day she may be presented back to Him holy and without blemish! Amen.
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27
