The whole revelation of the Old Testament Scriptures was fitted to teach those who lived in that dispensation that they had to do with a God of infinite holiness. The whole ritual of the Old Testament worship reinforced this view of the glory of God. In this respect there could be no confusion between the God of Israel and the gods which the heathen worshipped. He was holy but they were polluted. The nature of the worship of the living God was pure by reason of His holiness, while the nature of the heathen idolatry was impure and vile.
God revealed Himself to man as a holy God. None could deny this aspect of His character and glory. The song of Moses at the Red Sea declared: “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” At the burning bush Moses had already learned the lesson of the holiness of Jehovah when the Lord said to him: “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” At Mount Sinai the people were warned not to go up into the mount, or touch the border of it when the Lord was to come down upon it in fire. Isaiah in his day had a revelation given to him of the holiness of Jehovah when he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up and his train filling the temple. It was then that he heard the seraphims crying, one to another: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” Throughout all the pages of Scripture the same revelation is given of a God of holiness who as the infinitely holy One is the sin-hating and sin-avenging Jehovah. Because He is an infinitely holy God He is a consuming fire against sin. Before such a God sinners must tremble. In the light of such a revelation Job had to say: “Behold, I am vile,” and Isaiah had to acknowledge: “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”
Along with the revelation that God has given of Himself as the infinitely holy One, comes a call to men from God: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Under the ceremonial law a difference was made between what was clean and what was unclean, teaching the people of the separation there was between holiness and unholiness. “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy,” was the message of that dispensation and the message of the new dispensation was the same. “Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” the Apostle asked, and answered it with an unequivocal, “God forbid.” New Testament as well as Old Testament saints were called to a life of holiness or separation from sin. The very term “saints” implied that they were God’s holy ones. The Apostle Peter in reminding those to whom he is writing of the Old Testament injunction: “Be ye holy; for I am holy,” says to them: “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” They are a people then who are called to holiness of heart and life. In the epistle to the Hebrews the warning comes to all who profess His Name that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” The Lord’s people are bought with a price. They are not their own. Therefore they are to glorify God in their bodies and in their spirits which are His.
This call to holiness involves a putting off the old man and putting on the new, a crucifying of the flesh with its affections and lusts, a dying unto sin and a living unto righteousness. This cannot be achieved in carnal strength but only in the strength of grace received from above. The Lord alone can subdue our iniquities and enable us to live to His glory perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Let us then seek grace that we may serve the Lord acceptably with reverence and godly fear.