Songs In The Night

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” – Isaiah 6:1-3

In his classic, The Existence and Attributes of God, the Puritan Stephen Charnock devoted over a hundred pages to the holiness of God.  Fine print by the way!  Quite a daunting task, but how does one know when he has exhausted the topic?  More importantly, how do sinful men living in a fallen world begin to grasp the concept of holiness?  We were conceived in sin.  The moment we took our first breath our lungs were filled with contaminated air.  Purity is beyond the realm of our existence and experience.  God’s holiness places Him so far from us that comprehension of His holiness seems unattainable.  When it comes to understanding it, what hope do we have?  Christmas!!

Silent Night.  Holy Night.

In His humility, Christ exchanged His heavenly throne for a dirty manger.  The “exact representation” of the nature of God brought divine holiness to earth.  He was not conceived in sin as we are, rather He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Although sinless, in baptism He identified with lost sinners.  The angels that adored Him in Heaven, announced His birth on earth.  The shepherds left their post to worship the Lamb.  At His consecration, righteous Simeon held his Salvation and was content to die in peace, while faithful Anna beheld the redemption of Israel.   The three wise men traveled far to pay reverence to the King.  As instructed, Mary named Him Jesus, but Isaiah told us His name is Holy.

Holy Encounters

Holy encountered Evil in the desert, and although tempted, He never sinned.  He called sinful men to follow Him, but He never entered into their sin.  When the scribes and Pharisees brought the adulteress woman to Him, the stones they held in their hands were no match for His holiness.  Their hypocrisy was exposed and the woman was forgiven.  Jesus would dine with sinners and tax collectors (a special class of sinners apparently) but would always remain pure.  The great Physician came to call the morally sick, but He was immune to their disease.  Christ’s flesh may have veiled His holiness for a season to prevent humanity from being consumed, but His nature was always pure.  On the Mount of Transfiguration, His inner circle got a glimpse of what Christ’s flesh was covering.  A purity that no launderer could duplicate.

Holy Works

Jesus touched and healed lepers.  He commanded and raised the dead.  He rebuked and cast out demons.  He restored the sight of the blind.  He opened the ears of the deaf and loosened the tongue of the mute.  The Truth had come to set men free.  Heaven’s Light came to dispel Hell’s darkness.  Holiness came to earth so we could relate to it.  We may not completely comprehend it, but Christ has revealed it to us nonetheless.  Holiness wore our flesh.  He breathed our air.  Human blood flowed through His veins.  He made weddings and ruined funerals.  He walked with us.  He talked with us.  He slept with us.  He shook our hands.  He kissed us.  He held our babies.  He shared our laughter.  He cried with us.  He was tempted like us.

He NEVER sinned.  Holiness never can.

Christ shared in our humanity, but He did not share in our sin.  Instead, he went to the cross and took the punishment for our sin.  Even in His “trial”, the verdict was always the same, “I find no fault in this man.”  No one ever could.  He was holy, holy, holy.  And forever will be.

Holy Lesson

Jesus was prepared for His death with perfume.  His body was cleansed and covered with myrrh, aloes, and spices.  He was laid to rest in an unused tomb.  It is good to be clean, but it is better to be pure.  As Jesus taught His disciples, holiness is not external.

²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” – Mark 7:20-23

Defilement comes from within, not without.  Jesus was never defiled because unlike us, He had no evil within.  There is an old adage that says, whatever is at the bottom of the well will eventually come up in the pail.  Jesus’ well was pure.  Nothing but holiness ever came up in the pail.  His thoughts, words, and actions always revealed His holiness.  How can sinful man possibly grasp the holiness of God?  Because of Christmas.

Beholding Holy

Cling to the cross.  For our Holy One is high and lifted up.  He inhabits eternity, and His glory fills the earth. O Holy Night.  O night when Christ was born.

Who could have guessed the baby in Bethlehem’s manger could reveal the holiness of the Creator of the universe?  This Christmas take time like Simeon to behold your Salvation and join the angels in singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”