Though the word “holy” is not found in Genesis, it or the word “holiness” is found more than 650 times throughout the Bible. It is the major theme of many Old and New Testament books. Mankind needed to learn about the holiness of God. The Mosaic Law began to teach men about the holiness of God and how God demands His people to be “holy as He is holy” (Lev. 11:44-45). God told the people He “consecrated” things. What made these “things,” these “symbols,” so to speak, “holy” or consecrated was that God said it. If God had not said, the “holy things” would have been no more than just gold, silver, wood, and stone. God sanctified, or set apart, these material things in order to teach mankind about the “holiness” and “sanctification” that can only come with Him.
Today in the New Testament dispensation, Christians are made holy and are to be sanctified because “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son . . .” (John 3:16). God who is holy because He gave His only Son for our redemption makes us “holy”. Because God wants Christians to be like Him, “holy,” let us each one be sure to live our lives, conduct ourselves in all of our affairs, be the kind of husband, wife, student, and employee that sanctifies us, yes sets us apart from a world which is profane. Can God call you “holy?” God demands it!!
–David McDonald; Lakeside church of Christ
