seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 99 1 The Lord reigns,
let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
let the earth shake.
2 Great is the Lord in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
he is holy.
let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
let the earth shake.
2 Great is the Lord in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
he is holy.
4 The King is mighty, he loves justice—
you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his footstool;
he is holy.
you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his footstool;
he is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.
Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.
8 Lord our God,
you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
though you punished their misdeeds.[a]
9 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.
you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
though you punished their misdeeds.[a]
9 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.
a. Psalm 99:8 Or God, / an avenger of the wrongs done to them
Explaining Holiness is hard to do. It's a concept I just can't wrap my mind around. No matter how much I try.... I can't be "Holy".... I'm human.... I am immortal because I have given my heart to the Lord but I'm not Holy by any stretch of the imagination. So this poem is inspirational to me.....
This is from Bible.org.
There is probably no attribute of God which needs to be taught and recognized more in our day than His holiness. David Wells emphasized this in God in the Wasteland [Eerdmans, 1994], his analysis of how the modern culture has infected the church. He observes (p. 114),
We have turned to a God that we can use rather than to a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill all our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves. He is a God for us, for our satisfaction—not because we have learned to think of him this way through Christ but because we have learned to think of him this way through the marketplace. In the marketplace, everything is for us, for our pleasure, for our satisfaction, and we have come to assume that it must be so in the church as well. And so we transform the God of mercy into a God who is at our mercy.
He goes on to argue that the modern church is infatuated with the love of God and embarrassed at his holiness. We are more enamored with the therapeutic and psychological “uses” of God to provide us with inner peace, than we are with the fact that He is holy and therefore, we must be holy. And if we do not revere God as holy, then He rests lightly on us. We take Him or leave Him to the degree that we find Him useful. Wells later writes (p. 136), “Holiness is what defines God’s character most fundamentally, and a vision of this holiness should inspire his people and evoke their worship, sustain their character, fuel their passion for truth, and encourage persistence in efforts to do his will and call on his name in petitionary prayer.”
Back when this was written.... the people of Israel had a king like the nations around them.... but they only had one God..... and He was in charge. It was a Theocracy with a figurehead king. God knew it wouldn't work.... He warned them.... but they persisted and they wanted a king....
I am reminded this morning of the kids who aren't allowed to watch certain movies or listen to certain songs...... Those kids want to be like the others.... when they get to school and they're sharing sandwiches in the lunch room.... when their friends all talk about the latest kids show on Nick..... kids who are being raised in "Christian" households are left out..... holy but not part of the people.....
There is a show on Prime.... it's a series called "Good Omens". It's a far out take on Revelation..... the story line is loose but fun.... I felt irreverent enjoying it.... but in their defense.... the plot did twist and Armegeddon was averted so it was just a series.... about powers, principalities, and humans..... I figure it's like a lot of the sermons being preached in a lot of churches these day..... based on fact... turned to fiction..... we just don't understand "Holy".....
