Confident Faith in Yahweh-M’Kaddesh

The Lord Who Makes Us Holy

Scripture: Leviticus 20:8 NIV

Introduction

I desperately want to keep a perfect house. I want to have one of those super organized pantries that looks Pinterest-worthy. I want to decorate my mantle for every season. I want to toss things that don’t “spark joy.” I want there to be zero clutter—never any toys or schoolwork or sports gear visible, even in the areas that are specifically designed to hold those things. I want my bathroom to sparkle 100% of the time. I want my laundry room to look like it was pulled from a magazine, so I obviously don’t want there to be laundry in there! I want it to look like an Instagram filter is covering my house. The problem is my family refuses to live somewhere else.

No matter how hard I work, how often I pick up, how many times I wipe the same tiny fingerprints from the same surface, it is never good enough. In all my striving, I cannot accomplish perfection.

Often, as women of God, when we talk about holiness, our minds go right to all the things we need to do… and fix… and improve in order to accomplish this huge, impossible thing. The whole idea of holiness seems so daunting.

God’s Holiness

When you sit down to do some light Bible reading, I would venture to guess your fingers rarely flip to the pages of Leviticus. It’s an odd, complicated book, and honestly, there is only so much “long lobe of the liver” talk a girl can stomach. If you were to pull from it a to-do list on how to be holy, you may come up with a pretty strange list!

____ Don’t forget to salt your offerings (2:13)

____ Make sure good hairspray is part of your morning routine (10:6)

____ Keep cash on hand so you don’t have to wait until tomorrow to pay your babysitter (19:13)

____ Reorganize your vegetable garden (19:19)

____ Learn to bake unleavened bread (23:6)

However, to the Hebrew nation in that day, the book of Leviticus was a gift. God had chosen to dwell among this group of people and make them His chosen nation. The problem was that God was so glorious, so good, so powerful, that corrupt and sinful people would perish in the presence of that holiness. It was like standing near the sun. His majesty was simply too much for our fallen humanity. We see that repeatedly in scripture.

• Genesis 17: 1-5 – Abraham fell facedown at the sound of God’s voice.
• Exodus 3:1-5 – God told Moses through the burning bush to not come any closer.
• Leviticus 10: 1-3 – Aaron’s sons do not pay attention to the rules regarding entering God’s presence and are consumed.
• 2 Chronicles 5:13,14 – The priests could not fulfill their duties because God’s presence filled the temple.
• Isaiah 6:1-5 – Isaiah came undone in the presence of God. Even the Temple itself reacted to God showing up!

How then, can a sinful people dwell near a Holy God?

Leviticus: The Book of Leviticus introduced a strict set of rules and policies that would allow a tribe of imperfect people to dwell in the same camp with a holy God.

• A priesthood was established (8-10 & 21, 22). This small group of chosen people would work in even closer proximity to God and be allowed to come to Him on behalf of the whole community. With this great access came greater risk. The priests would be held to the highest standards of behavior and purity.
• Rituals were introduced (1-7 & 23-25). Offerings and sacrifices were instituted, some to show God gratitude for all He had done for Israel and some as a method of repentance and asking forgiveness. Feasts were also established as celebrations that reminded the Israelites of their role in God’s story (and God’s role in theirs!).
• Laws for purity were outlined.
  1. Moral purity (11-15) – God’s people were expected to live differently than those around them. So, while others may not have been practicing sexual integrity, compassion, social justice, the Hebrews were to live by God’s standard.
  2. Ceremonial Purity (Leviticus 18-20) – People were not permitted to enter God’s presence if they were “unclean.” Many different things could make you ritually unclean – touching bodily fluids or mold, being around disease or a dead body, all things associated with death. There were also food laws (what we would call Kosher laws today) established.

Becoming ceremonially unclean was not a sin.  It happened during everyday life. After certain rituals and washing, you could become clean again. What was a sin was coming into the presence of God flippantly, carrying these impurities with you.

Yahweh M’Kaddesh: None of the laws outlined in the book of Leviticus were a permanent fix to the great divide sin had left between God and us, nor were they designed to be. The promise of a Messiah was not a Plan B in case the law failed. The law was temporary. Remember when David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David in 2 Samual 6? He made a sacrifice every six steps! The benefits of the law did not last, and the law was not what made us holy.

Nestled in the middle of the book of Leviticus, God reminds us of that in 20:8, “Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” It is not the result of anything we do, it is the work of God in us.

Still today, my list-making, goal-crushing, always-striving sisters, you cannot make yourself holy. You can’t be good enough or work hard enough or deny yourself enough. Only God can sanctify you. And still, God is calling us to holiness. Thanks to the blood of Jesus, a sacrifice made once for all (Hebrews 10:1-10), we can come into the presence of God, asking Him to sanctify us and give us grace and strength for holy living.

Discussion:

• Why does the idea of holiness seem so overwhelming?
• What do you envision when you think about being in God’s presence?
• How was the book of Leviticus a gift to God’s people?
• Do you think we ever come into the Lord’s presence too flippantly?
• What does it mean to you that God is “Yahweh M’Kaddesh: The God who makes you holy?”

Further Resources –

God’s Holiness – https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/holiness/