The Lord is Holy. He wants us to know this always. He wants us to live our lives with His holiness in mind. He wants His people to be holy. Under the Old Covenant it was clear that there was no way people could achieve holiness. So He made a way for them to atone for their shortcomings. Under the New Covenant He made a way for us to be holy like He is holy. We have no excuse not to live holy lives. Jesus’ blood makes us holy.
God’s holiness is expressed in our lives and revealed in our lives by the way we treat others and the way we honor the Lord. Verses 1-4 read,
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.”
Our words betray our hearts. Our actions expose our souls. Our actions and our words should reveal our God to the world. Our submission to God manifests in love to the world. Verses 9-10 say,
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
What we sow, what we earn is from the Lord, our Sovereign and He is honored when we can share our harvest with those in need. We allow them to come into our field, our lives and gather the excess. We don’t have to take it all for ourselves. We don’t have to make sure that everything is ours or even that anyone know that some of our earnings go to people in need. Even we don’t have to be aware of those who reap the benefits of our obedience to the Lord.
What about the benefits of how we live our lives? Is there gain to others by our actions in love? Is Jesus Christ revealed through us? Do we keep all His love and profit for ourselves or do we share it with the wanderer and the person who doesn’t know Him? Verses 17-18 say,
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
We do not earn salvation by following the statutes God has given us. We obey God’s laws because we love Him. We actively and intentionally love God and love others because His Spirit is in us, making us like Him. God doesn’t love some people more than others. He doesn’t show partiality. We are not supposed to either. To love the poor more than the rich is to hate the rich. To love the free man more than the prisoner is to hate the prisoner. We love God, we love what God loves, we love who God loves. We love our brother, our neighbor, the lost, the prince, and the pauper. Verses 33-34 read,
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Under the Old Covenant the Sabbath was from Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown. Under the New Covenant we have entered into God’s rest and every day all day is the Sabbath. We keep it holy. We honor God by making every day all day holy. Under the Old Covenant the sanctuary was one part of the temple, the tent of meeting. Under the New Covenant we are the temple of the Lord. We are pure, we are holy. We are intentionally holy, sacred, and different from the world. We are God’s. Verse 30 reads,
“You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.”
Believer, you are holy! Be holy as our Lord, our God, our Savior, our Father, our King is holy.