The human brain is the most magnificent computing machine ever conceived. But it is no surprise that this mere three pound mass of neurons is woefully unable to understand the God who created it as well as the cosmos and everything in it. We are simply not equipped to understand how holy and exalted the Living God truly is, but in the bible we see examples of just how serious this matter can be. Even those who have been called to directly serve Him are not allowed to take liberties when it comes to honoring and preserving God’s holiness.
Not long after God leads the Israelites out of Egypt, He lays down regulations that must be followed by the priests when they approach His presence, and . . . He is deadly serious about them. When Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, approach God with their censers using profane incense, He strikes them dead and forbids them being mourned (Lev. 10:1-3). Why? Because honoring and preserving the holiness of God is a deadly serious matter. (This is especially a challenge with the people of Israel who are a mass of grumbling, unfaithful,
rebellious, idolatrous, malcontents.)About four hundred years later King David learns the same lesson while he is relocating the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Instead of carrying it by poles on the priests’ shoulders as specified by God Himself, David puts it on an ox-cart and has the priests walk beside it. Because the ark bore the very presence of God, they were not to look at it, nor touch it. But when the oxen stumble, Uzzah, one of the priests not only touches it, he reaches out and takes hold of it! And . . . he is stricken dead on the spot! (1 Samuel 6:1-7) Why? Because honoring and preserving the holiness of God is a deadly serious matter.
About four hundred and eighty years later something similar happens in the city of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king conquered Israel and took all of the paraphernalia from the temple of God in Jerusalem back to his personal treasury. God humbles him and convinces him that the God of heaven is the true king over all the earth. But when his son, Belshazzar, succeeds him on the throne, he crosses the line and pays the price. He throws a lavish party:
King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. 2Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. 5Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. (Daniel 5:1-5)
Belshazzar calls for God’s prophet, Daniel, to read and interpret the writing. Daniel reminds him of his father’s experience with God and then he rebukes him and interprets the prophecy:
And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
Finally we read:
That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Why? He dishonored God, and sullied the holy vessels from the temple of God. Again we see that honoring and preserving the holiness of God is a deadly serious matter.
And that brings us to the New Testament. Part of the transaction that takes place when a person is converted and becomes a disciple of Jesus is the reception of the Spirit of God. This is both promised and essential:
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
And the apostle Paul adds:
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)
This is not figurative language and neither are its implications. Paul exhorts the Christians in Corinth:
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19Or 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, 20for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:15–20
Let’s bring this home:
Men, even though you live in world that daily assaults you with sexual temptations, you must take this seriously. Why? Because our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit, and honoring and preserving the holiness of God is a deadly serious matter.
Women, we know that feminine fashions have moved further and further away from modesty. It’s hard for a woman to find modest apparel on the clothing racks anymore, but you must take this seriously. Why? Because our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit, and honoring and preserving the holiness of God is a deadly serious matter.
But for the sake of proper balance, we must close on this positive note: The holiness of God is not all danger and warnings. It is indeed a grave responsibility, but it is also the highest calling and privilege imaginable to personally bear and honor the holiness of the Living God before our dark and fallen world.
The holiness of God: a perilous responsibility and a glorious privilege!