Tuesday, September 27, 2011

What Is Holy?

The basic meaning of the word "Holy" in the Bible is to be set apart for a special purpose. It is something that is made to be different from other things, especially in its intended use or purpose. The furniture and utensils of the Old Testament tabernacle/ temple worship were Holy in that God had designed them for Israel and given each item a purpose. To have used them for any other than the purpose given them by God was an unholy use, it was to defile or make them unclean. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon started down a dangerous road when he capture these holy items and took them to his temple in Babylon.  "Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon." (2 Chr 36:7).  Later, his son Belshazzer saw the "hand writing on the wall" when he used these special, sacred items at one of his parties (Dan. 5:2ff). These items had been created and given a purpose to be used in acceptable worship to the Almighty God. To ignore the instructions for their use and original purpose was to bring one's self into contradiction and conflict with God.

Holy is to be set apart for a purpose, but perhaps the most significant part of what makes something holy is Who has made it holy. Most things are created to serve some purpose. A flat screwdriver was created to install or remove flat head screws. If I use the screwdriver as a chisel, I am using it for something which it was not intended. No big deal, the creator could care less. But, when God creates, speaks and gives his opinion on something, His instructions are very important. Only God's Word can reveal what He has created, set apart and given a purpose. What God says about anything is Holy, of special origin, from the only authoritative source in matters of faith. The scriptures are "holy" because of their origin and giver. (The Holy Bible). They must be viewed as holy and set apart from ALL other religious instruction.  All teaching and instruction which is of human origin (the majority of religious teaching) may contain some good thoughts, but it is not holy. In fact, if it contradicts the holy teaching of the Bible, it becomes "unholy", "defiled" or "unclean." Fewer and fewer people today actually consider the Bible as God's actual Words given by inspiration (2 Tim 3:16,17). The Bible is no longer "holy" in their minds for what they think, what they feel or what some man has taught is just as special and authoritative in their hearts as the Bible. That which is "holy" is made to have equal status with that which is unholy. They should just scratch the word "Holy" off of their copies of the Bible.

The priests of Old Testament times were given the job of educating the people to understand, not just God's instructions on the furniture, but on all things He had taught concerning their worship and service to Him. What He said was "holy", it was separated, different, given special importance. What others said was not. Do the religious people of our time have any concept of the difference between what is "holy" and what is not??

"And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; {11} And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses."  (Lev 10:10-11).

How important is it for us today to be able to know the difference between what God has said (Holy) and what men have said (unholy) to fill the religions thinking of the world?  Holy is not just about what is said, but even more importantly, Who said it.

"For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? {4} God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."  (Rom 3:3-4).


"Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." (Psa 119:128). 

How would you define "Holy"????

Is Your Bible Really Holy In Your Heart and Mind???

1 comment:

  1. Being holy means Ephesians 5:1 to me. Being an Imitator of God. It means trying to look at the world the way that God wants me to look at the world. This isn't an easy thing to do because we still have that other law at work in us that Paul mentions in Romans 7.

    To be honest, I don't think we can be holy on our own. It's God who makes us holy. He does the cleaning and purifying. He does the convicting and correcting. That's why Paul says at the end of that verse that the only person who can rescue him from his body of death is God through Christ.

    That's part of what it means to me.