Holiness
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Revelation 4:8
And he said, Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Exodus 3:5
There are numerous verses on holiness. There are over 30 in Exodus alone. This is something that has been marinating for a while in my brain. What is holiness? How do I approach holiness? Most importantly, do I respect the holiness of God?
One of the songs we sang Sunday was the Revelation song by Philips, Craig, and Dean. One line of the song has been reverberating in my head for the last 24+ hours. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come, with all creation I sing, praise to the king of Kings, you are my everything, and I will adore you" I first heard this song around the time that my grandpa was in the hospital and nearing the end of his life. I remember we were practicing this in choir about two weeks before he passed away and I couldn't get through the song. I broke down. I mean big, ugly cry, sobbing hysterically, crying. Not little tears, but massive, can't breathe, sobbing so hard tears. You see, it hit me, HARD, that very soon, my grandfather was going to have the privilege of bowing before the King, worshiping Him face to face. He was going to have the joy of seeing our Savior face to face, standing on holy ground. Even though it has been over 5 years since Grandpa died, I still miss him, but even more, every time I sing that song, I feel as if I get a glimpse of heaven and the wonder and awe that is awaiting me.
Sometimes I think in this society, that we are quick to describe the love of God, but forget about the hugeness of God. According to Webster's, "holy" means having a spiritually pure quality. I don't even think that begins to describe this attribute of God. If Moses couldn't even have his shoes on the same ground that the presence of God was on, how can our finite minds even think to comprehend something so huge. We approach worship as something that happens Sunday morning during the songs. However, if we are in Christ, that means we are always in the presence of God. Our dirtiness can't be around Him. We need to take off our shoes and approach the throne with humbleness and awe. It shouldn't ever be taken forgranted, but appreciated and respected.
Whenever I sing "The Revelation Song", I picture what it is going to be like when we are with our Savior face to face. All the saints that have gone on before, gathered around the throne, singing Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Wow! If that doesn't give you chills...
And he said, Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Exodus 3:5
There are numerous verses on holiness. There are over 30 in Exodus alone. This is something that has been marinating for a while in my brain. What is holiness? How do I approach holiness? Most importantly, do I respect the holiness of God?
One of the songs we sang Sunday was the Revelation song by Philips, Craig, and Dean. One line of the song has been reverberating in my head for the last 24+ hours. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come, with all creation I sing, praise to the king of Kings, you are my everything, and I will adore you" I first heard this song around the time that my grandpa was in the hospital and nearing the end of his life. I remember we were practicing this in choir about two weeks before he passed away and I couldn't get through the song. I broke down. I mean big, ugly cry, sobbing hysterically, crying. Not little tears, but massive, can't breathe, sobbing so hard tears. You see, it hit me, HARD, that very soon, my grandfather was going to have the privilege of bowing before the King, worshiping Him face to face. He was going to have the joy of seeing our Savior face to face, standing on holy ground. Even though it has been over 5 years since Grandpa died, I still miss him, but even more, every time I sing that song, I feel as if I get a glimpse of heaven and the wonder and awe that is awaiting me.
Sometimes I think in this society, that we are quick to describe the love of God, but forget about the hugeness of God. According to Webster's, "holy" means having a spiritually pure quality. I don't even think that begins to describe this attribute of God. If Moses couldn't even have his shoes on the same ground that the presence of God was on, how can our finite minds even think to comprehend something so huge. We approach worship as something that happens Sunday morning during the songs. However, if we are in Christ, that means we are always in the presence of God. Our dirtiness can't be around Him. We need to take off our shoes and approach the throne with humbleness and awe. It shouldn't ever be taken forgranted, but appreciated and respected.
Whenever I sing "The Revelation Song", I picture what it is going to be like when we are with our Savior face to face. All the saints that have gone on before, gathered around the throne, singing Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Wow! If that doesn't give you chills...
I agree with this. One of the other things that overwhelms me about this song is the breadth of it in general...evangelical Christians tend to forget that humans aren't the only ones to be redeemed. ALL Creation will be redeemed. When we first sang it, I was overwhelmed at the thought of even my kitty singing praises for the redemption of all creation. Not only will He redeem us, but He will also redeem the innocent who/which suffered due to our own sin. I think we also miss the hugeness of God's redemption...it's on a grander scale than we can even fathom.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Katiekins:)