In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:1-8)
What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you think of holiness? In light of our warfare and our cultural setting, I believe we are on the most solid ground, approaching this theme with questions as opposed to opinions. And, I am sure we are on the safest ground, approaching this theme, honoring God’s Word as opposed to our culturally-tinted impressions. There are some Blue Book themes I have written on and rewritten four years in a row but I have never written a word about holiness. I don’t know if I was fishing four years in a row (which is not impossible) or whether I was just flat out intimidated. I haven’t reviewed my journal, but I think the latter is the case.
My first wrestlings with this word occurred thirty eight years ago when Jerry (Navigator) Bridges released The Pursuit of Holiness. I ate it up! My impression was that Jerry was a reincarnated Puritan prophet readdressing the overlooked command;
“Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16)
He had hit on it! The only thing missing in the western church was “the pursuit of.” I could do “pursuit.” I had mixed-Navigator blood pumping through my young and naive heart. My spirit is blushing as I recall the ignorance and arrogance. Holiness? I had no clue.
In my pea-sized perspective, I had the impression that holiness was a moral quality driven by the the prohibitive (mostly Old Testament) commands. My response; “Yes, we needed old time religion! We needed more “Jonathan Edwards” fear of God, lest our unholiness be our undoing!” I was on fire, “Yes, God, let’s do this so that men not end up in your angry hands.” My spirit is blushing scarlet. Holiness? If I had a clue, it was minuscule.
I honestly do not recall if Jerry Bridges made this point or not but God has made the point directly to me over the years: holiness has much more to do with being than it does with pursuing. In fact, the word pursuit, if misunderstood (as I had misunderstood it) would be counterproductive in fulfilling the apostolic command;
“Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16)
Regardless of our impressions of holiness, we cannot side step it. We must come to grips with its meaning. So, instead of depending on “the pursuit of” I suggest we start with the more scriptural “Ye being” aspect. Being is the big word that will lead our hearts to the right place regarding holiness. And, it should be said that holiness is not (first) a moral idea. It includes morality, but it is an eternally larger idea.
Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)
When Isaiah spontaneously reacted to God’s presence with these words, his woes were not just driven by his personal moral vacuum. That went without saying. What brought this great prophet’s heart to its knees was the “otherness” of God. “What manner of being is this before me!!??” This being utterly, incomprehensibly transcended anything that had ever breached this prophet’s imagination. He was undone. This being tripped the breaker to Isaiah’s previous grasp of Yahweh. Yet we are to be like him. How can this be?
How does an embreo ultimately become like its parents? It becomes like them because they are similar in nature. In the embryonic stage it is only detectable by DNA sampling. But over time, they become unmistakably related because Life is in the Seed. The embryo does not ultimately resemble the parent because it pursued this attribute. It is transformed into its parent’s image because, in its being, it shares the same DNA. Honoring our new natures (or beings) in Christ, will take us further than pursuing holiness as some kind of turbo charged attribute of character. True holiness will take care of any character issues via our new natures.
Much Christian energy is invested pursuing things, including holiness. What if the energy that is expended by us mere-sinners-saved-by-grace on sin management were reinvested into gaining a deeper understanding of our new natures in Christ? What if we became proficient stewards of that talent? Perhaps we are short of holiness because we have not believed holiness is actually native to us, as new beings in Christ. We are a new race of men in Christ; Jesus is our elder brother; We are children of God by virtue of the new Life that is in us. This inventory forces me to rethink holiness. It enables me to see the plausible nature of this seemingly impossible command;
Be holy as God is holy.
Father, give us eyes to see ourselves in the greater light – that of ourselves as new creations – a new race of like beings with Your Son. However embryonic our new natures may appear, may we entrust ourselves to Your nature in us. Help us to see that we were once ruined but now we are rescued. May we see that not only have our sinful deeds been forgiven but our sinful natures have been buried and are raised up by the resurrection power of Christ in us. Amen.