Holiness
This week's goodness is on Psalm 93, the whole thing:
I opened up to these verses while I was having lunch, and I was given a really intense picture of God's holiness, like why sin is such a problem and why God grieves so much over it. It was absolutely heartbreaking and my only consolation was in how short the Psalm was, given how long my Bible studies have been lately.
You see here in this Psalm, which is basically a song about God so people can remember stuff about him more easily, that God is all powerful, eternal, and holy. Holiness is like being completely incorruptible, clean without blemish, of a single substance, not diluted or messed up in any way. It's more than perfection. It's like something that can't even change its nature because of how perfect it is. It can't contradict itself. God is mightier than anything, and he lasts forever. The problem of sin is a problem of us. And here's how God showed it to me:
Imagine you were a judge or a king and you'd made some laws and set men up to enforce them. To make sure they'd be impartial, you set them up with full authority and told them that not even you can contradict their enforcement. The laws all had a penalty of death for breaking them, so that people would take them seriously. Some of them were things like "don't kill people" and some of them were things like "no stealing the royal scepter" etc.
One day your little five year old boy takes your scepter and goes outside to play with it. You hear the soldiers and realize that your edict has sentenced the little guy to death. That sucks because he's only five and he doesn't know any better and you love him. He's already in the custody of the guards and they're taking him to the place where the firing squad is. You can't contradict yourself as king, or the kingdom will fall apart. But you don't even want anything bad to happen to your kid, not even a bruise or a bad day, let alone death by firing squad. But you have to say goodbye to him as he's led away, and hand him his teddy bear and pat him on the back like everything is going to be OK, so that he doesn't freak out. And then all you can do is stand there and watch him get led away, and hold your breath waiting for the sounds of gunfire.
That's just one of us, innocent and naive, committing a sin that God's holiness doesn't allow. Imagine whatever billions of people that came before Jesus and God feeling that sorrow and helplessness each time, over and over. Imagine God begging them not to do it, giving them the ten commandments and law and stuff and just watching as they did it anyway. And then having to just sit there as they lived out the rest of their lives in their little boy pants, happy like everything was OK, until the final judgment when they'd get tossed into the lake of fire for eternity.
And so imagine that pain and sorrow, and him sacrificing Jesus to make it all stop. Imagine him going up to us, little and stupid as we are, kneeling down and taking hold of us and saying "Look, see? I made it easy for you. All you have to do is believe and repent and you won't get in trouble!" And even after all of that, people just thought he was joking and went with the soldiers to their death anyway. Like not only did it not help some of these billions of people he cares about, but it almost made it like he sacrificed Jesus for nothing, like nobody wanted his precious gift. It's really sad. It puts the joy of salvation in perspective. Imagine the joy of plucking the doomed child to safety before it's too late. If only we could do that, but the kid gets to make his own choices. And that's God's sorrow.
I wonder if this is the sort of mourning for sin that Paul described in last week's study. Like imagine a bunch of kids standing around laughing and saying "Ha ha lookit jimmy he's got daddy's scepter" and Paul, being a bit older running in and saying "What are you doing?! No! Make him drop it and run to Jesus before it's too late!" It's tragic like kids playing with an unattended handgun is tragic. Their small minds have no idea that things could be so complicated, that an innocent mistake could cost so much.
The world and God's throne were established long ago. His statutes stand firm and holiness adorns his house. Meditate on that, and think of what that means for him and for us. Holiness is necessary for the universe to be uncorrupted. Jesus' sacrifice was a very costly way of blasting a hole in that incorruptible law, the only thing that would have done it. Imagine God's sorrow if we abandon that and go to our deaths. If you're not a Christian, give it a try. Pray a bit. If you are a Christian, be good and behave yourselves. Keep an eye on each other and tell people about God.
The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.
The seas have lifted up, Lord,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days.
I opened up to these verses while I was having lunch, and I was given a really intense picture of God's holiness, like why sin is such a problem and why God grieves so much over it. It was absolutely heartbreaking and my only consolation was in how short the Psalm was, given how long my Bible studies have been lately.
You see here in this Psalm, which is basically a song about God so people can remember stuff about him more easily, that God is all powerful, eternal, and holy. Holiness is like being completely incorruptible, clean without blemish, of a single substance, not diluted or messed up in any way. It's more than perfection. It's like something that can't even change its nature because of how perfect it is. It can't contradict itself. God is mightier than anything, and he lasts forever. The problem of sin is a problem of us. And here's how God showed it to me:
Imagine you were a judge or a king and you'd made some laws and set men up to enforce them. To make sure they'd be impartial, you set them up with full authority and told them that not even you can contradict their enforcement. The laws all had a penalty of death for breaking them, so that people would take them seriously. Some of them were things like "don't kill people" and some of them were things like "no stealing the royal scepter" etc.
One day your little five year old boy takes your scepter and goes outside to play with it. You hear the soldiers and realize that your edict has sentenced the little guy to death. That sucks because he's only five and he doesn't know any better and you love him. He's already in the custody of the guards and they're taking him to the place where the firing squad is. You can't contradict yourself as king, or the kingdom will fall apart. But you don't even want anything bad to happen to your kid, not even a bruise or a bad day, let alone death by firing squad. But you have to say goodbye to him as he's led away, and hand him his teddy bear and pat him on the back like everything is going to be OK, so that he doesn't freak out. And then all you can do is stand there and watch him get led away, and hold your breath waiting for the sounds of gunfire.
That's just one of us, innocent and naive, committing a sin that God's holiness doesn't allow. Imagine whatever billions of people that came before Jesus and God feeling that sorrow and helplessness each time, over and over. Imagine God begging them not to do it, giving them the ten commandments and law and stuff and just watching as they did it anyway. And then having to just sit there as they lived out the rest of their lives in their little boy pants, happy like everything was OK, until the final judgment when they'd get tossed into the lake of fire for eternity.
And so imagine that pain and sorrow, and him sacrificing Jesus to make it all stop. Imagine him going up to us, little and stupid as we are, kneeling down and taking hold of us and saying "Look, see? I made it easy for you. All you have to do is believe and repent and you won't get in trouble!" And even after all of that, people just thought he was joking and went with the soldiers to their death anyway. Like not only did it not help some of these billions of people he cares about, but it almost made it like he sacrificed Jesus for nothing, like nobody wanted his precious gift. It's really sad. It puts the joy of salvation in perspective. Imagine the joy of plucking the doomed child to safety before it's too late. If only we could do that, but the kid gets to make his own choices. And that's God's sorrow.
I wonder if this is the sort of mourning for sin that Paul described in last week's study. Like imagine a bunch of kids standing around laughing and saying "Ha ha lookit jimmy he's got daddy's scepter" and Paul, being a bit older running in and saying "What are you doing?! No! Make him drop it and run to Jesus before it's too late!" It's tragic like kids playing with an unattended handgun is tragic. Their small minds have no idea that things could be so complicated, that an innocent mistake could cost so much.
The world and God's throne were established long ago. His statutes stand firm and holiness adorns his house. Meditate on that, and think of what that means for him and for us. Holiness is necessary for the universe to be uncorrupted. Jesus' sacrifice was a very costly way of blasting a hole in that incorruptible law, the only thing that would have done it. Imagine God's sorrow if we abandon that and go to our deaths. If you're not a Christian, give it a try. Pray a bit. If you are a Christian, be good and behave yourselves. Keep an eye on each other and tell people about God.
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