Holiness

Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5

This week’s attribute may seem like a contradiction to last week’s friendly, sociable, genial qualities. Yahweh is both sociable and holy–set apart. Holiness is separateness. He is set apart from sin and set apart to moral perfection. How can He be both? By His mercy and grace.

Ann Spangler says it so well:

In his holiness, God exists above and apart from the world he has made.

The kicker is this:

How can a holy God who can have no communion with sin have anything to do with us?

Jesus.

Jesus, fully God and fully man, gave us access to the throne of grace.

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:4

But:

By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. Hebrews 10:10

When Jesus gave up His Spirit, the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom. It’s a physical affirmation that there is no longer any barrier between us and a holy God so long as our sins have been atoned for by the blood of Jesus.

If we know Him, we are partakers of His set-apartness, separated from sin and separated to righteousness.