Be Holy to God, For He is Holy

“And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” (Leviticus 20:26 NKJV)

Who can violate the Law of God and live? The answer is no one. However, many a people stubbornly resist believing the fact that they cannot live without God, even a second. What happened to Adam when he violated the commandment of God? He hid himself from the face of God. What happened to King David when he committed the double crime of adultery and murder? He confessed in the thirty-second Psalm, saying “When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.” (Psalm 32:3-4 NKJV)

What happened to the second son of a father in the parable of prodigal son when he deserted his father’s home and squandered all his possessions with prodigal living? He ended in a pig feeder and starved to death because no one gave him anything, even the swine pods. What happened to the woman who committed adultery? She was dragged by the people who had stones in their hands and brought to Jesus.

What happened to Jacob who deceived his brother Esau and his father? He became a fugitive and deserter, even being deceived by his uncle Laban. Since he fled to a foreign land, he never saw his mother again. What happened to Judas Iscariot who betrayed his Master? No need to answer that. What happened to you when you indulge in pornography? Sheer guilt and shame overwhelmed you, didn’t you? What happened to you when you slipped the words of anger and bitterness out of your mouth? Filth and despair immediately swallowed you up, didn’t you?

If you wanted to test that you can live without God, stop breathing for a moment. No one can live without being fully submissive to the Law of God. God has planted the law in our hearts and mouths. We cannot escape from the law even a moment. Either abide in the law or die. The problem is that no one can keep the law. What a wretched man, says Paul. No purest desire and commitment work at all. That’s the agony of humanity from the beginning.

What is the remedy of God? God planned to sacrifice His begotten Son in the place of the sin of the world. God killed the animal to clothe Adam. The father killed the fattened calf to celebrate the return of the second son. Jesus Christ died for the sanctification of Jacob, of the woman caught in adultery, of King David, and of all who violated and will be violating the Law of God. God made the Son of Man sin in our place. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV) That’s the plan for the redemption and restoration of humanity.

It is impossible for us to make ourselves holy. But the blood of Christ can cleanse and wash away our sins and make us holy and blameless in His sight. We are not born to be holy and blameless but have been made so through the blood of Christ. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7 NKJV)

Christ is the way to abide in the Law of God in perfection. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5 NKJV)