Leviticus 19:1-18
Monday, 1 August 2022
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” – Leviticus 19:2
The subject of the book of Leviticus is holiness. A nation brought out from slavery is being transformed to be a people qualified to be called as God’s own possession. Soon after Israel was brought out from Egypt, God revealed His plans about them in Exodus 19:5 & 6 “ … you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
When we understand the fact that these people, have been in an alien land for 430 years (Ex.12:40) and have forgotten who their God is (Ex.3:13), we can fathom how difficult a task it was to transform their identity to be a people of God! Also that understanding will help us perceive the determination of God, when He sets His love upon somebody! Deut.10:14,15: “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.” This tells us something about God’s choice, His love for the chosen and His plans to establish His identity in those whom He chooses to love!
In the book of Romans Apostle Paul explains this principle of God through the lives of Esau and Jacob and then Paul concludes in Romans 9:16 “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”
In Revelation 22:11 it says “…. The one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” The Greek word for holy is “hagios”, which means “set apart,” sanctified, consecrated. This means to withdraw from fellowship with the world by first gaining fellowship with God. The fundamental ideas of hagios are separation, consecration, devotion to God, and sharing in God’s purity and abstaining from world’s defilement.
In Leviticus 20:8 it says: “I am the LORD who sanctifies you,” which is again stated in Exodus 31:13 – this reveals the character and name of God: Jehovah M’Kaddesh. The word M’kaddesh appears around 685 times in the Old Testament, which emphasizes the fact that God Almighty is all out to help His chosen ones attain His standard of purity! So when God loved the world to the extent of giving His own Son to be sacrificed on the cross (John 3:16), He wanted that “we may share in His holiness.”(Heb.12:10). See it written in Romans 8:29 that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ! The idea of sanctification (be holy, be set apart) includes both separation from evil and devotion to God’s own glory. (Lev.20:26)
John 17:11 says that we are in the world, but John 17:14 says we are not of the world. However John 15:19 explains that we are not of the world because Jesus Christ chose us out of the world. It is the firm plan of God to love us, set us apart for Him and finally make us holy to the extent of becoming like Jesus Christ.
God’s goal in setting us apart is not about taking us out of the world, but taking the world out of us!
1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification
Hebrews 10:14 – By one offering, He has perfected for all times those who are sanctified.
You are the focus of God’s love; He wants to make you holy and make you His own!
Will you come to Him to be sanctified and allow the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse you? Will you willingly remove everything that separates you from Christ and His Holiness – whether thoughts or actions?
Thought for the Day: “If you think you can walk in holiness without keeping up perpetual fellowship with Christ, you have made a great mistake. If you would be holy, you must live close to Jesus.” – Charles Spurgeon
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