His Holiness. My response.

I love how the Lord uses repetition in many ways both in Scripture and in life. I love how the repetition He has been reminding me of is His holiness...which just so happens to be repetition in and of itself: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty!" I also love how I've been reading through Exalt You, O God by Jerry Bridges (I highly recommend!), and currently learning about God's holiness, then find that the sermon on Leviticus at church is all about reminding us that Leviticus isn't just about a list of crazy laws, but to remind the Israelites and us today that God is abundantly holy, we are not & we need some sort of substitute. The entire Bible, the entire purpose of life and history is about God being faithful to a sinful people.

So with all that said, here's a link to the sermon from yesterday on Leviticus (aka: God's holiness, our sinfulness) http://www.redeemerkansascity.org/resources/?sermon_id=144

And here are some thoughts in one of my favorite readings on God's holiness in Jerry Bridge's book (mentioned above):

"What makes Isaiah 6 so important to worship is that it sets forth both the holiness of God and our only appropriate response to it. We see not only God's holiness magnified by the threefold call of the seraphs, "Holy, holy, holy," but also Isaiah's deep humiliation in his cry, "Woe to me! I am ruined!"

Insert: Cross chart. While I have a tendency to be more aware of my sinfulness, Isaiah not only saw his sinfulenss, "Woe is me!...I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Yet, he also was fully aware of God's Holiness.

..."It was not just God's transcendent majesty, however, that caused Isaiah's cry of dismay. It was also the awareness of His blazing moral purity, revealing as it did Isaiah's own sinfulness. H. H. Rowley gives this reason for the prophet's response: 'It is not the consciousness of humanity in the presence of divine power, but the consciousness of sin in the presence of moral purity.' So it is with us: Our reaction to God's majestic holiness is a realization of our own insignificance; our response to His ethical holiness is an awareness of our sinfulness and impurity."

"The word unclean is significant. It's the word that was to be uttered by lepers who, as they walked along, must cry out "Unclean! Unclean!" (Leviticus 13:45 *see? love the repetition!*). Isaiah uses it again in Isaiah 64:6 when he says, 'All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.' Now in this encounter with the holiness of God, Isaiah uses it of himself. It leprosy typified sin, then Isaiah saw his sinfulness as moral leprosy."

*At the end of each daily reading, Jerry leads the reader through prayer that is completely filled with Scripture. This week, I had a dear friend/mentor from college call. At the end of our conversation, she prayed for me, praying everything through Scripture. His Word truly is living and active! In light of this, here are some excerpts from today's prayer on God's holiness:

"You are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel." You formed Your people for Yourself that they may proclaim your praise. Therefore I worship and praise You. 'Great is the Holy One of Isreal.'" Psalm 22:3; Isaiah 43:21; 12:6


"My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever." Psalm 145:21

"Almighty God, as I praise Your holiness, Your blazing moral purity, I cannot help being aware of my own sinfulness and impurity. Holy Father, I ask for Your help and power in pursuit of holiness, for only by Your help can I make progress in obeying Your command to be holy as You are holy. 'Look down from heaven and see from your lofty throne, holy and glorious.' 'I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God.'" 1 Peter 1:16; Isaiah 63:15; Psalm 70:5


Finally, here is an excerpt from one of the corporate prayers of confession we read together at church last night:
Forgive us for assuming you owe us anything good, and enable us to treasure as supreme the gift you have given us in Christ Jesus, who through His death and resurrection, makes it possible for us to receive favor from you. Amen.