Holiness or HELL?

                                      

Holiness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Holiness is the state of being holy or sacred. Holiness is being clean or pure, to be holy is to 
be like God. 

 In 1 Peter 1:13-16, Peter writes to believers, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" Peter is quoting fromLeviticus 11:44 and Leviticus 19:2.


Let's look at God's holiness. What does it mean that God is holy? Passages like 1 Samuel 2:2 and Isaiah 6:3 are just two of many examples of passages about God’s holiness. Another way to say it is absolute perfection. God is unlike any other (see Hosea 11:9), and His holiness is the essence of that “otherness.” His very being is completely absent of even a trace of sin (James 1:13; Hebrews 6:18). He is high above any other, and no one can compare to Him (Psalm 40:5). God’s holiness pervades His entire being and shapes all His attributes. His love is a holy love, His mercy is holy mercy, and even His anger and wrath are holy anger and holy wrath. These concepts are difficult for humans to grasp, just as God is difficult for us to understand in His entirety.


God is 'LIGHT'. Therefore, as man (Adam & Eve) were made in his image, they were of his 'light.' When they fell due to sin & rebellion, their light became darkness and this darkness was evident and manifested as their "Nakedness." 

Genesis 1

The Account of Creation

 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.^[a] 2The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

 ³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light "day" and the darkness "night."

   And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

We can see here in "The Beginning" God's first activity in creation was to create from "nothing." The first order of business was to overcome the dark formless void with LIGHT! 

We see that "The Spirit of God" was in activity in this process. Then he spoke The Word: "Let there be Light" And there was light. While God is a Spirit, who is Omnipresent and Omnipotent, we can never see God in his infinite total being because there is no beginning nor end to God. But man has beheld his shekinah glory.

The word shekinah does not appear in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally means "he caused to dwell," signifying that it was a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling of JEHOVAH God on this earth. The Shekinah was first evident when the Israelites set out from Succoth in their escape from Egypt. There it appeared as a cloudy pillar in the day and a fiery pillar by night: “After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:20-22).


God spoke to Moses out of the pillar of cloud in Exodus 33, assuring him that His Presence would be with the Israelites (v. 9). Verse 11 says God spoke to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud, but when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told Him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v. 20). So, apparently, the visible manifestation of God’s glory was somewhat muted. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand, and passed by. Then He removed His hand, and Moses saw only His back. This would seem to indicate that God’s glory is too awesome and powerful to be seen completely by man. 

The visible manifestation of God’s presence was seen not only by the Israelites but also by the Egyptians: “During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt’” (Exodus 14:24-25). Just the presence of God’s Shekinah glory was enough to convince His enemies that He was not someone to be resisted.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the dwelling place of God’s glory. Colossians 2:9 tells us that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” causing Jesus to exclaim to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Christ, we see the visible manifestation of God Himself. Although His glory was also veiled, Jesus is nonetheless the person and presence of God on earth. Just as the divine Presence dwelled in a relatively plain tent called the “tabernacle” before the Temple in Jerusalem was built, so did the Presence dwell in the relatively plain man who was Jesus. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). But when we get to heaven, we will see God in all his glory, and the Shekinah will no longer be veiled (1 John 3:2).


So when God covered Adam and Eve's darkness/nakedness with the skins of animals, this pointed to the "Tabernacle in the wilderness and Christ! When we are covered by the Blood of Jesus, 1 John 5:  [8] And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
[9] If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
[10] He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
[11] And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
[12] He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

The witness that we have is in ourselves is his Life/Light which is "The Holy Ghost"...holiness is within us but unless our reflection of that light is visible, whether we are "being holy...in his image, conformed to Christ and fulfilling our calling and purpose, all man-made standards of dress and abstinence in 'touch not...taste not..handle not' are in vain.

The "witness of men" will be that we talk the talk and look the part, but the witness of God will be  ³⁸He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

 ³⁹(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Having the Holy Ghost in you does not make you holy. It means you have "received power" (over all the enemy) to break your outer shell, the "alabaster box" so that the "living water (precious anointing) can come forth and produce fruit. God does not want to dress up the outer-man, he wants to break it completely so his Spirit can use the New Man.

The Lord Jesus tells us in John 12, "Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone ; but if it die, it bears much fruit." Life is in the grain of wheat, but there is a shell, a very hard shell on the outside. As long as that shell is not split open, the wheat cannot grow. "Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die . . ." What is this death? It is the cracking open of the shell through the working together of temperature, humidity, etc., in the soil. Once the shell is split open, the wheat begins to grow. So the question here is not whether there is life within, but whether the outside shell is cracked open.

The Scripture continues by saying, "He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal." The Lord shows us here that the outer shell is our own life, (our soul life) while the life within is the eternal life which He has given to us. To allow the inner life to come forth, it is imperative that the outward life be lost. Should the outward remain unbroken, the inward would never be able to come forth.

It is necessary (in this writing) that we direct ourselves to that group of people who have the Lord's life. Among those who possess the life of the Lord can be found two distinct conditions : one includes those in whom life is confined, restricted, imprisoned and unable to come forth ; the other includes those in whom the Lord has forged a way and life is thus released from them.

The question thus is not how to obtain life, but rather how to allow this life to come forth. When we say we need the Lord to break us, this is not merely a way of speaking, nor is it only a doctrine. It is vital that we be broken by the Lord. It is not that the life of the Lord cannot cover the earth, but rather that His life is imprisoned by us. It is not that the Lord cannot bless the Church, but that the Lord's life is so confined within us that there is no flowing forth. If the outward man remains unbroken, we can never be a blessing to His Church, and we cannot expect the Word to be blessed by God through us!

The Alabaster Box Must Be Broken

The Bible tells of the pure spikenard. God purposely used this term "pure" in His Word to show that it is truly spiritual. But if the alabaster box is not broken, the pure spikenard will not flow forth. Strange to say, many are still treasuring the alabaster box, thinking that its value exceeds that of the ointment. Many think that their outward man is more precious than their inward man. This becomes the problem in the Church. One will treasure his cleverness, thinking he is quite important; another will treasure his own emotions, esteeming himself as an important person ; others highly regard themselves, feeling they are better than others, their eloquence surpasses that of others, their quickness of action and exactness of judgment are superior, and so forth. However, we are not antique collectors; we are not vase admirers; we are those who desire to smell only the fragrance of the ointment. Without the breaking of the outward, the inward will not come forth. Thus individually we have no flowing out, but even the Church does not have a living way. Why then should we hold ourselves as so precious, if our outward contains instead of releases the fragrance?

The Holy Spirit has not ceased working. One event after another, one thing after another, comes to us. Each disciplinary working of the Holy Spirit has but one purpose : to break our outward man so that our inward man may come through. Yet here is our difficulty : we fret over trifles, we murmur at small losses. The Lord is preparing a way to use us, yet scarcely has His hand touched us when we feel unhappy, even to the extent of quarreling with God and becoming negative in our attitude. Since being saved, we have been touched many times in various ways by the Lord, all with the purpose of breaking our outward man. Whether we are conscious of it or not, the aim of the Lord is to destroy this outward man.

So the Treasure is in the earthen vessel, but if the earthen vessel is not broken, who can see the Treasure within? What is the final objective of the Lord's working in our lives? It is to break this earthen vessel, to break our alabaster box, to crack open our shell. The Lord longs to find a way to bless the world through those who belong to Him. Brokenness is the way of blessing, the way of fragrance, the way of fruitfulness, but it is also a path sprinkled with blood. Yes, there is blood from many wounds. When we offer ourselves to the Lord to be at His service, we cannot afford to be lenient, to spare ourselves. We must allow the Lord utterly to crack our outward man, so that He may find a way for His out working.

Each of us must find out for himself what is the mind of the Lord in his life. It is a most lamentable fact that many do not know what is the mind or intention of the Lord for their lives. How much they need for the Lord to open their eyes, to see that everything which comes into their lives can be meaningful. The Lord has not wasted even one thing. To understand the Lord's purpose, is to see very clearly that He is aiming at a single objective: the destroying or breaking of the outward man.

However, too many, even before the Lord raises a hand, are already upset. Oh, we must realize that all the experiences, troubles and trials which the Lord sends us are for our highest good. We cannot expect the Lord to give better things, for these are His best. Should one approach the Lord and pray, saying, "Oh, Lord, please let me choose the best?" I believe the Lord would tell him, "What I have given you is the best; your daily trials are for your greatest profit." So the motive behind all the orderings of God is to destroy our outward man. Once this occurs and the spirit can come forth, we begin to be able to exercise our spirit.

Yes, when you are born again you are covered with the Blood and are washed white as snow...holy. Your witness as you grow is your "light"...the "living water" that will determine how heaven "bears witness."
⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.


So when we fulfill "the Word" Heaven will witness our position that we will see God. Hebrews 12 14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. 


God will only see the Blood of Jesus covering you by "The Light of his WORD!"


Initial salvation according to the word... fulfilling the covenant with him concerning the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandment. 






So our quest for "Holiness" is not in what we don't do in sin of 'commission' but rather the sin of 'omission'...it is in what we do to further the Kingdom that dictates whether we were faithful servants robed with his light of Holiness ...Matthew 25: ³¹When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

 ³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

 ³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

 ³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

 ³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

 ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 ⁴¹Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

 ⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

 ⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

 ⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

 ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

 ⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.


Too many believers 'major in the minors' and miss the mark. If we truly follow after Jesus, we will be too busy with what's right... to think about what's not right. 


Worrying about what others think about you instead of keeping your eyes on Jesus and lifting him up proves you still need to die to pride of life and the love of the world.

All else will be in vain...if we do not appropriate his Holy Love and Compassion within us...and release it...when we do, that is HOLINESS!