Made Holy
Exodus 29:43, “I will meet the people of Israel there, in the place made holy by my glorious presence” (NLT).
I stumbled across this verse the other day and I was struck by the thought. In a world where we Christians fall so quickly into the trap of trying to become holy by our own strength, God reminds us: Our holiness comes from Him.
When Jesus breathed His last and gave us His life for us on the cross something incredible happened. The veil in the temple that separated the common people from the holies of holies—the resting place of the Spirit of God—was torn in two.
Because of Christ, we are allowed into the presence of God. Or rather, because of Christ we have made clean in God’s eyes so that He may inhabit us with His Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Ephesians 1:13 says, “And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago” (NLT).
At the moment of salvation we receive God’s Holy Spirit into our own being, and simultaneously we are made holy. And because our salvation is brought about by the Holy Spirit and the presence of God in us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we don’t have to live afraid of condemnation.
When Jesus touched the hurting people in the New Testament they were healed. I think especially of the woman who had bled for twelve years and was deemed unclean. She touched Jesus’s robe and instead of her touch soiling Him (as was always the case in the law), His nearness made her clean.
How beautiful that our cleanness and our holiness does not come from us or our striving. It is given to us. It is placed inside us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of the Living God. And we cannot undo it. We are sealed. We are safe.
Isaiah 59:20-21 says, “’The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,’ says the LORD. ‘And this is my covenant with them,’ says the LORD. ‘My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!’” (NLT).
This Redeemer: Our Jesus. These transformed people from whom the Holy Spirit will never leave? Us. The moment we turn from our sinful paths and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Question: Have you found comfort in knowing you have been made clean by Christ and the presence of His Holy Spirit living in you?
Romans 8:9-10, "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God" (NLT).
Acts 10:15, "But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean" (NLT).
2 Corinthians 5:18, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (NIV).
Philippians 2:13, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.