This morning, I cannot stop thinking, and inwardly weep, about the lack of reverence for our God. What tragedy that the church of Jesus Christ hardly recognizes this character of our God. Why..how... have we lost sight of the God who is Holy, Holy, Holy?
I remember hearing Eric read this bit from Jewish Literacy in the lesson, "Consecration" and it gripped me then and still does now. Ohh how I wish Christians would hold such an understanding and view of holiness..
God's world is great and holy. The holiest land in the world is the land of Israel. In the land of Israel the holiest city of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the holiest place was the Temple, and in the Temple the holiest spot was the Holy of Holies...There are seventy peoples in the world. The holiest among these is the people of Israel. The holiest of the people of Israel is the tribe of Levi. In the tribe of Levi the holiest are the priests. Among the priests, the holiest was the High Priest...There are 354 days in the [lunar] year. Among these, the holidays are holy. Higher than these is the holiness of the Sabbath. Among Sabbaths, the holiest is the Day of Atonement, the Sabbath of Sabbaths...There are seventy languages in the world. The holiest is Hebrew. Holier than all else in this language is the holy Torah, and in the Torah the holiest part is the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments the holiest of all words is the name of God...And once during the year, at a certain hour, these four supreme sanctities of the world were joined with one another. That was on the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and there utter the name of God. And because this hour was beyond measure holy and awesome, it was the time of utmost peril not only for the High Priest but for the whole of Israel. For if in this hour there had, God forbid, entered the mind of the High Priest a false or sinful thought, the entire world would have been destroyed.
Oh, Lord, give us the correct view of You. May we tremble in fear of Your complete and otherly Holiness... and yet still long to be intimately close to you.
Ohh, may we not take lightly verses like 1 Corinthians 6:19 - "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own"
