In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus started things off with, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed (holy) is your name.” but what does it mean to declare the Father’s name holy?
Holy or kadosh in Hebrew refers to God being set apart from all of His creation, He is without sin being perfect and righteous, there is none like Him. Such is God’s holiness and righteousness that He is unable to tolerate even a single sin in His presence and He is an all consuming fire when it comes to sin and those who carry its mark.
“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” -Deuteronomy 4:24
To be honest such a description reminds me of the first Indiana Jones movie when the Nazis had their faces melted off before being reduced to ash because they removed the lid of the ark.
Yet, that is not far from the truth though as the fledgling nation of Israel found out when the Lord moved from His place atop Mt. Sinai to the tent of meeting. The glory of the Lord descended upon the tent of meeting with such presence that Moses himself could not enter.
When the two sons of Aaron attempted to offer their own variation on the incense recipe given by the Lord, they were consumed by fire of God’s wrath. The question remains, “How do you approach an all consuming fire such as God?”
The answer is found in the sacrifice, no not the sacrifice of bulls and sheep, but of obedience. After all, sin is disobedience to God, right? It would only make sense that it is obedience that pleases God.
And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.” – 1 Samuel 15:22-23
Of course, there is a problem. Namely, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now, it may be that you have heard of the solution but not so fast, we should not so quickly bypass the fact that the Lord is an all-consuming fire.
If we desire spiritual breakthrough in our lives, and I know you do, then we must honor the holiness of God.
When we start our day by declaring God’s name to be holy, we are changed by it. The bible tells us that true wisdom, life changing wisdom comes from the fear or reverence of God, that we should not fear the one who can take our life but the One who can take our life and our soul.
Consider that there is nothing that can withstand the consuming fire of God, not your boss, not your parents or your siblings nor your worst enemy. In fact, not even the devil himself can stand in the presence of God without fear and trembling. With such knowledge now yours, do you really have reason to fear anything in life if God has become your Father?
Now, back to that solution. Because no one is able to attain the glory of God because of disobedience we needed someone who could do it for us. Enter Jesus. Jesus who is equal with God because He is God was solution to approaching an all-consuming fire.
Only God can approach God, but here is where it gets good. God did not lower His standard and become permissive to sin, He instead extended His righteousness to us when we agree to admit our sins, accept His sacrifice and walk in His ways.
This is the first step to changing your life forever by recognizing the holiness of God.
