Just as obeying the terms of consecration leads to tremendous benefits, disobeying the terms of consecration can lead to severe consequences. Throughout the scriptures, we are privy to the stories of people who followed through with the instructions God gave them in their consecration. On the other hand, there are stories of those who did not obey these instructions, and regardless of their background and affiliation to God, they still faced severe consequences for their actions. In the final part of this series, we will take a look at the consequences of not keeping to the terms of consecration.
Before we delve into this topic fully, I would like to talk briefly about “subjects of consecration”. This will answer the question, “what/who can be consecrated?”. Although I haven’t made the classification until this point in the series, allow me to state emphatically that human beings are not the only subjects of consecration mentioned in the bible. Especially in the Old Testament, we see the consecration of “things” as well. Which is very interesting because it makes one wonder why God will put so much value on objects. My initial response to this question is that God is uncommon (Holy) by nature therefore, any person affiliated to him and anything associated with Him must reflect his nature. This is why God often uses people or things that are consecrated unto him.
On the basis of what I have shared so far, I will be looking at the topic of the consequences of flouting the terms of consecration regarding,
Individuals can either disobey instructions given to them to keep or disobey instructions regarding the handling of things/people that are consecrated to God. In both cases, there are severe ramifications that we need to pay close attention to and learn from. We will take a close look at both instances throughout scripture in the following paragraphs of this piece.
Consequences of flouting the terms of personal or communal consecration
As has already been established throughout this series, God often gives specific instructions to individuals and groups of people that sets them apart from everyone else. This is what consecration is all about. Often, we are told the consequences that these individuals will face if they don’t obey the instructions God has given them. Some of the consequences are dire; in some instances it travels through generations.
In our anchor bible passage (Exodus 19:22 and 24), we see the emphasis that the LORD places on his children following the terms of their consecration to the letter. God gives specific instructions concerning the state the Priests should be in before they approach him. The Priests were an already consecrated group of people (Numbers 8:5-22) but for this particular event (in Exodus 19) the LORD was manifesting physically in their midst hence they needed to further consecrate themselves before they drew near to him.
What are the consequences for the Priests who flout this instruction?
God stated unequivocally that if any Priest draws near to him without being consecrated, he would break out against him. Basically, the instruction to the Priests was to consecrate themselves before they approach the LORD lest he passes a severe judgement that will lead to their destruction. The Priests did not face the consequences stated because they obeyed the terms of consecration. However, in the story of Samson, we see how he went against the terms of his consecration to divulge the source of his power to Delilah leading to his destruction. It is important for us to take the terms of our consecration very seriously. Sin is consequential. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and we cannot continue to sin that grace should abound. Aside from sin, we are told in the New Testament to walk worthy of the call upon our lives (Ephesians 4:1). This is incredibly important and needs to be given due attention. To walk worthy of your calling is to be in consistent remembrance of your calling and acting accordingly. Your calling determines your level of consecration, therefore if you are fully aware of it and never lose sight of it, you will be able to walk worthy of it.
Consequences of flouting the terms of handling or engagement with consecrated things.
In the Old Testament we are told of wars and the conquests of Israel’s enemies in Israel. Israel won some of its wars especially when they were living according to the will of God and they lost wars when they rebelled against God. One thing recurs often when Israel loses its wars: the enemies of Israel enter into the temple and carry away the vessels dedicated to God. Here are a two examples of the seizing of the articles in the House of the Lord by Israel’s enemies:
These vessels in the temple including the Ark of the Covenant are all sacred “items” dedicated to the God Israel. In fact, in 1st Kings 8:4 the vessels are referred to as “holy vessels”. Throughout this series, we have made the point that holiness is not necessarily sinlessness but being set apart for God or being “uncommon”. Therefore, it is safe to say the vessels were consecrated to God. Israel’s enemies who desecrated the vessels by making use of them like they would any ordinary vessel or in the case of the ark, placing it next to their god, faced some very terrible consequences. This is a typical example of what it means to desecrate a sacred or consecrated “article”. Treating a consecrated vessel as you would a regular one typifies desecration. Lets take for example King Belshazzar and his desecration of the vessels of the house of the God of Israel; in Daniel 5, he throws a party and requests for the vessels of the house of God so he, his lords, his wives and concubines could drink from them. The holy vessels of the house of God were reduced to ordinary party cups or wine glasses. They didn’t just drink from the vessels but also praised idols while at it. Almost immediately after this act, Belshazzar faced the consequences of his actions. He was killed that very night and another took his place. Again, in Exodus 19:12, the LORD orders Moses to set boundaries around Mount Sinai. This was to indicate uncommonness and separateness because the LORD would descend on the mountain to talk to His people. We can say that the mountain was consecrated unto the LORD in the brief moment that He descended on Mount Sinai. Hence, there were consequences for any person or animal that came close and touched the mountain. The penalty for flouting this rule was death by stoning. The man or animal that draws near to the mountain was not to be touched but stoned to death. Such a fatal punishment for touching a mere mountain it seems, right? However, the point is, when God attaches himself to anything it becomes consecrated and therefore there are terms of engagement that are set for everybody to follow, in this case, even for animals. This is what it means for a thing to be consecrated or set apart as holy to the LORD. This is what it means to flout the terms of consecration in handling consecrated items.
All I’ve been trying to say in this post is that, there are consequences when you desecrate or treat a consecrated person (including yourself) or article as ordinary. There are consequences that can be fatal and sometimes even affect generations after you. Therefore, we need to be intentional and circumspect in the way we carry ourselves about as consecrated individuals onto the LORD.
]]>Consecration demands that you ‘desist from…’ and/or ‘indulge in…’ something. In the scriptures, God sometimes instructed his servants to either desist from things that were not necessarily sinful or to indulge in things that may appear to have no implications on holiness. Consecration goes beyond sinlessness. Instructions that God gives often form the basis of the individual’s consecration or what I have loosely called the ‘terms of their consecration’.
Let’s take for example the mighty judge, Samson. There was some mystery surrounding his birth indicating that he was going to be an extraordinary person. The Bible states that Samson’s parents had been without a child because his mother was barren. An angel appeared to Samson’s mother before his birth to instruct her to desist from eating anything unclean and drinking wine during the pregnancy. In Judges 13:14, the angel appeared a second time and met with Manoah, Samson’s father, and his wife to give an even stricter instruction. The angel instructed the woman not to eat or drink anything from the vine. The fact that she had to be instructed this way implies a few things, but here are 2 of them I noted:
The angel gave these commands because of the special seed the woman was carrying. An uncommon seed requires an unusual pregnancy. This basically sums up the truth about consecration: anything set apart for God should be treated as special.
Samson’s mother was not the only one given instructions to follow to ensure that Samson remained a consecrated individual to God. The angel told his mother that the boy would be a Nazarite to God from birth, which means that no razor should touch his head. Samson was expected to keep dreadlocks on his head not because getting a haircut was sinful but because Nazarites kept the locks of their hair to honour the covenant they had with God (Nazarite vow in Numbers 6:5).
In our walk with God, he may instruct us to desist from doing certain things that are generally not sinful and instruct us to indulge in things that may appear to have no implications on holiness. These activities will form the basis of our consecration and distinguish us from all other men. It is important to note that we don’t become consecrated by following specific and personal instructions God gives to others. Doing this may help us in our general Christian walk or actually prove futile and even detrimental to us. This is why a personal relationship with God is essential in everything we do. Once we develop a close walk with God, he sets us apart from all other men by giving us personal instructions to follow: things to desist from and others to indulge in.
Nobody should institutionalise the terms of their personal consecration as a doctrine in the church for others to practice. In establishing what is doctrinally good for the Christian walk, the bible recommends the word of God and the word of God alone. To this effect, Paul advises Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that all scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, correction, etc. Hence, nobody should expect what they deem as the terms of their personal consecration to become common Christian practice. Take, for example, a Pastor who has been instructed by God to desist from watching movies. Once this man of God heeds to this instruction, he is consecrated. However, if he makes it a doctrine in his church, it is very likely the entire church is slipping into sheer religiosity or legalism. Or if Samson gathered men in Israel and forced them to take the Nazarite vow of never cutting their hair. These men would have never been as strong as Samson because the Nazarite vow he took was the terms of his personal consecration. Therefore, his power was not in the locks of his hair but in the obedience to the personal instructions God had given him.
In Deuteronomy 14, the Lord makes a list of clean and unclean animals; clean animals being the ones that the Israelites were allowed to eat and the unclean ones being the ones they were to desist from eating. The list was made across various kinds of animals: 4-legged animals, birds, and fishes. I am not going to highlight the details of the lists but rather focus on a statement the LORD made twice in the same chapter (in verses 8 and 10). In the two verses, after God listed unclean animals he ended the instruction like this ‘…is unclean for you’. This statement implies that this instruction was not for everybody on earth but specifically for the children of Israel. People from other nations could very much eat ‘unclean’ animals and it wouldn’t necessarily be a sin in the eyes of God because he did not give them this same instruction. This statement affirms the point I have been making so far: certain things could be clean for everybody’s consumption but unclean for you. While reading Deuteronomy 14, I wondered why God expected his people to eat some animals and not others. The answer is in verse 21 when the LORD instructed his children not to eat any animal that had died naturally. He said, “for you are a people holy to the LORD your God”. As a consecrated group of people, the LORD expected the Israelites to eat specific animals, desist from eating others and abstain from eating animals that died naturally.
In Exodus 19, we see God issue some instructions to the children of Israel through Moses. The first of these can be found in verse 5:
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
Exodus 19:5 ESV
For the Israelites to become God’s treasured possession, set apart from all other tribes and nations of the earth, the LORD expected them to obey his voice and keep his covenant. This is similar to the instructions Paul gave Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:20-22 indicating that if anyone desires to become a vessel of honour in the master’s house, he must cleanse himself from that which is dishonourable.
To conclude, I would like to take us back to Exodus 19, to the story of the consecration of Israel before the LORD descended on Mount Sinai to deliver the law to Moses. In verses 10,14 and 15 the LORD gave the following instructions to the people through Moses:
God expected them to wash their garments, desist from having sex and stay ready or remain in earnest anticipation of the meeting with him. The Israelites were expected to follow these instructions for 2 days before meeting with God on the third; God called it consecration.
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]]>We certainly cannot talk about consecration without making a single reference to cleansing. Consecration involves the purification and cleansing of an individual, a group of people, artefacts etc. at the Lord’s command or request. The cleansing process could be a ritual or an actual washing of the person in question to make them fit for the Lord’s presence or an assignment.
When we say an individual is being consecrated, we are saying the person is undergoing a purification process which will produce holiness. Holiness is a command therefore we must subject ourselves to the process that allows us to carry out this command. God commanded the Israelites through Moses in Leviticus 19:2 saying “you shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy”. Apostle Peter echoes this command in 1 Peter 1:16. Holiness connotes sacredness, uncommonness, and being set apart or distant from that which is mundane and profane. To be holy is to be like God in character, conduct and deed. It requires putting off the old nature and its demands and putting on the new man which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (Colossians 3:10). Believers all over the world are undergoing this same process of being made perfect and holy. This is what consecration is all about.
When it comes to cleansing during consecration, the bible often talks about it in two ways: physical cleanliness and cleanliness of the heart. There is an emphasis on the former in the old testament and an emphasis on the latter in the new.
In the anchor bible passage for this article, God commands Moses to consecrate the children of Israel in preparation for his meeting with them. The terms of this consecration required the Israelites to wash their garments (Exodus 19:10). This indicates the necessity of a clean appearance before the LORD which is similar to the purity laws outlined in the book of Leviticus. Therefore, the LORD’s command to the Israelites to wash their garments before meeting with him is very consistent with his character. He is holy hence anybody who wants to draw near him must cleanse themselves from filth. Without holiness, it is impossible to see God (Hebrews 12:14). When God manifests physically in a place, your physical appearance and the cleanliness of the environment are very crucial. This idea is evident in the verse below:
“You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. Deuteronomy 23:12-14
The above passage builds a bridge between the cleanliness of the environment and holiness. Prior to this command, it seems the Israelites eased themselves within their camp. This is an environmental problem that could have led to outbreaks of diseases and whatnot. However, the LORD addresses this problem as a spiritual one that has implications on the holiness of the people and his closeness to them. God says, because he walked in the midst of their camp to deliver them and give up their enemies before them, they must be holy. In this case, their environment must be clean.
Wherever you intend to host God must be clean and devoid of filth. That includes physical locations like temples and prayer rooms. However, in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 6:19), we are told that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are expected to keep the temple (our bodies) as sacred as possible and homely for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
This leads me to the next point…
God is very much concerned about the state of the human heart: how sinful it is or how hungry it is for righteousness. God who is Spirit outlined several purity and hygiene laws in the Old Testament because he walked in the camp of the Israelites and in some cases he manifested himself physically to them. In whatever space God chooses to appear, it is our responsibility to make that space clean and habitable for him. Be it a physical space or in the heart.
God is concerned about purity at all levels and in all aspects of a person’s life. Be it in their thoughts, actions, appearance etc. God commands all of us to be holy as he is holy: without spot, without blemish. God wants us to be pure, without any impurities existing in us. In 2 Timothy 2:20-22, Paul makes an illustration that puts the responsibility of becoming an honourable vessel in the LORD’s house on the believer. He put it this way:
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
There are many vessels in the master’s house; some are honourable, others are dishonourable. If anybody would put in the work to cleanse themselves from dishonourable activities, the master will set them apart as holy and use them for every good work. When the Apostle speaks about being cleansed from that which is dishonourable, he isn’t referring to physical appearance here. He is referring to sin and in some cases mundane activities. That which is common among men is usually unholy or unlike God. In the New Testament, appearing physically clean and honourable is good, however, being clean in your heart should be the top priority to us all. Jesus made this clear when he rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 in what is popularly known as “the 7 woes”. Between verses 25 and 28 Jesus rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees in this manner:
The Scribes and Pharisees appeared most righteous among all men. They put in a lot of work to appear clean (kindly read Matthew 23). They put a lot of effort into physically distinguishing themselves from the average person. But they paid very little attention to the cleanliness of their heart. There was greed, self-indulgence, hypocrisy, lawlessness and all manner of uncleanness in their heart but they focused on their appearance before men. They cared very little about their appearance before God. This was the reason why Jesus rebuked them sharply. There are lessons here for all of us: we need to put a lot more effort into cleansing ourselves from that which is dishonourable and indulge in that which is honourable. It is only then that we will become vessels set apart for honourable use.
How do we cleanse ourselves from that which is dishonourable as New Testament believers? The answer is in what Jesus told the Pharisees: First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, so that the outside also may be clean. Although, physical cleanliness is important the priority should be the cleanliness of the heart. Once we start from the heart, it will be projected on the outside. The Scribes and Pharisees had it in reverse; they thought being physically clean would make them more acceptable to God.
To be consecrated is to be conformed to the image of God. Conformity is a proximity issue. You are more likely to conform to the image of the closest person to you. Therefore, in all our pursuits, we need to be deliberate about pursuing God and drawing close to him on a minute-to-minute basis. Jesus made a statement in Matthew 23:17 that captures this thought perfectly. He said the gold in the temple is made sacred because it is in the temple. Gold is valuable in and out of the temple. But gold is only regarded as sacred or holy when it is within the 4 walls of a temple. Where you are and who you are close to determines whether you will be successful at living a consecrated life or not. Choose to draw close to the Holy one and he will expose the uncleanness of your heart and grant you grace to cleanse yourself from that which is dishonourable.
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]]>In the bible, consecration is revealed as the setting apart of an individual, an artifact, or anything at the LORD’s request or command. Setting apart means to separate something and make it special or distinct. It can also mean being distant or separated from the crowd. When God commands that a person be set apart for him, it means he has a special assignment for them. Therefore, he will require the individual to operate with a different mindset from that which is common among men and to be unique in values, conduct, and deeds. Not all men enjoy the privilege of receiving assignments from God hence the one who has been set apart for a specific assignment should know that he will journey on a road not common to the ordinary man. Anybody who is destined to journey on a road less traveled must be prepared to be different from the average person.
The concept of “setting apart for special use” is present in the everyday life of the average person. For example, people often reserve nice, costly, or flamboyant clothes for special occasions. These clothes could hang in the wardrobe for days, months, or even years until there is a special occasion that befits the wearing of such clothes. This very much typifies how God sets people apart for special use. He first chooses them, then separates them from the lot and prepares them, often behind the scenes, to be used for special assignments. It is one of God’s observable ways of dealing with his children both in the Old and New Testaments of the bible as shown below:
| Old Testament reference – Numbers 8:14 | New Testament reference – Acts 13:2 |
| “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. | While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. |
In the first verse, God commands Moses to separate or set apart the entire tribe of Levi from among the people of Israel for the LORD. Before God made this statement, he instructed Moses to perform some purification rituals to cleanse the Levites. God, after he struck down the firstborns of the Egyptians, consecrated for himself all the firstborns of Israel. In effect, every firstborn Israelite belonged to the LORD. But on the occasion of commanding the consecration of the Levites, God replaced the firstborns of Israel with the tribe of Levi (v 18). The Levites, on this day, were set apart from their brethren, to belong to the LORD and to perform the special assignment of doing “the service for the people of Israel, at the tent of meeting…”. From that day forward, the Levites were tasked to take care of the tent of meeting and also to make atonement for the people of Israel that there may be no plague among them (v. 19). In this story we can see the theme of “setting apart for special use” clearly illustrated.
In the second verse, we see Paul and Barnabas being set apart for a special assignment. According to the story, there was a group of Teachers and Prophets who were fasting and worshipping God in the church at Antioch. While doing this, the Holy Spirit instructed them to separate Paul and Barnabas for the work which he had called them to do. This is quite similar to the instruction given to Moses about the Levites. In this case, the special “ritual” that was done afterward was the laying of the brethren’s hands on Saul and Barnabas, after which they were sent off to go and execute the task the Lord intended for them to do. Right after this, they went to Cyprus to preach the word of God and perform miracles.
In the anchor verse for this article (Exodus 19:23), we are made to understand that in consecration, boundaries are set around the consecrated thing and little or no access is given to it. I will explain. God scheduled a meeting with the children of Israel. As you would know, the characteristics of all physical meetings include the venue, date, time, and the individuals involved. In this case, the venue was the camp of Israel, the date was three days after the meeting was scheduled, and the attendees were God and the entire congregation of Israel. God, being the “chairperson” of this meeting told Moses that he would “…come down on Mount Sinai”. This means that during this meeting, God would be “seated” or “stationed” on Mount Sinai. God is holy, hence, anywhere he dwells must be treated as such. “Anywhere” here includes the hearts of men. He gave Moses clear instructions as to how his “seat”, Mount Sinai, should be treated during the meeting. God expected his “seat” to be consecrated and the attendees of the meeting to be consecrated as well. He commanded Moses to consecrate the children of Israel for two days by washing their garments (v 10) and by staying away from sex (v.15). About the mountain, he said in Exodus 19:12:
And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.
One interesting fact about this instruction is that even animals would be put to death if they touched the mountain. Having direct access to the mountain was such a grievous act that the person or animal that did it would not be touched but stoned to death.
In verses 21 and 22, the LORD elaborates on this instruction by telling Moses to warn the people not to penetrate the limits Moses had set around the mountain. He also instructed the priests to consecrate themselves before they came near the mountain lest the LORD breaks out against them. In this passage, we understand that the mountain had been consecrated unto the LORD therefore he permitted little or no access to it. Why? Because he was going to be stationed on Mount Sinai. It is very important that as a consecrated individual you set boundaries around you. Not everybody should have access to you nor should you be influenced by any thought, philosophy, idea, or way of life. You must learn to set boundaries around you. Imagine how Samson’s life would have turned out if he had a strong principle against going near Philistine women or allowing them to have access to him. Who or what has access to you is very important in your consecration. The following are a few thoughts I noted down on this sub-theme:
In conclusion, as a person who is undergoing consecration, you must learn to keep the terms of your consecration. Carry yourself with dignity and respect. Just as Moses treated Mount Sinai, do the same with yourself. For the Holy Spirit of God is domiciled in you (1 Corinthians 3:16). Walk in this consciousness and do not indulge in unholy things and overindulge in the mundane. Set boundaries all around you. Not everybody is supposed to have access to you nor are you supposed to be influenced by any and every person. You are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, act like it.
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]]>The simple dictionary definition of consecration is “the action of making or declaring something, typically a church, sacred”. To declare something sacred is to enshrine it as a hallowed thing. Anything sacred isn’t common or ordinary. A sacred temple isn’t a place you can walk into without obtaining permission and/or observing the proper protocols. All throughout scripture, we see God command his children to consecrate themselves or consecrate certain things to him. These are always people or things that he claims ownership of. They belong to the supreme being of the whole universe therefore they cannot be ordinary or like every other created thing.
The theme of consecration can be broken down into so many sub-themes that come together to give a good picture and understanding of what the concept truly means. In this series, I am going to explain these sub-themes and how we can apply them to our lives. The first sub-theme of consecration to be discussed borders on being chosen by God from the lot. To be consecrated is to be chosen. This idea is evident in both the Old and the New Testaments as shown below:
| Old Testament verse: Exodus 13:1-2 | New Testament verse: John 15:16 |
| The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” | You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. |
From both verses, we see God selecting a certain group of people among the lot. It is very important that we realize that consecration is initiated at the command of God. No man out of his own volition can consecrate himself or declare himself sacred to God without God giving him express instructions as to how to go about it. In the words of Jesus, “you did not choose me, but I chose you…”. In the scriptures, we see two kinds of consecration. I have loosely termed them as Group Consecration and Individual Consecration.
Group Consecration
There are special groups of people that God consecrated to himself in both the Old and the New Testaments of the bible. In the Old Testament, we see God ask Moses to consecrate firstborns, the priests, the Levites and in some cases the entire congregation of Israel. Sometimes it is a lifelong commitment, other times it is momentary for a specific activity or event (Numbers 6:5). Take for example the consecration of the Levite tribe of Israel, God told Moses specifically to “take the Levites from among the Israelites and ceremonially cleanse them” (Numbers 8:5). Prior to this, God had consecrated to himself all firstborns of Israel. He did this on the day that he struck the firstborns of Egypt in the last plague. But later on, he consecrated the Levites to himself as a replacement for the firstborns of Israel.
The nation of Israel was consecrated to God among all the nations of the earth as well. God consecrates groups of people. He claims ownership of them by choosing them from among the lot.
In the New Testament, we see groups of people being consecrated to God as well. The apostles were chosen by Jesus and he affirmed this in John 15:16 (posted above). Salvation is a form of consecration as well. On this side of the cross, I believe that salvation is the first experience of consecration that anybody can have. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day”. No one becomes a Christian unless God draws the person. The entire family of believers around the globe has been specially handpicked by God to be conformed to the image of his dear son.
Individual consecration
All throughout scripture, God works with and through individuals. He chooses them among a great number of people and uses them to achieve some amazing feats. We will take a look at two such individuals who were chosen even before their birth.
To be consecrated, you are chosen first among the lot, set apart, then told what to do and/or what to desist from. You don’t ‘do’ to become, you are first chosen before you can act on the terms of your specific consecration. You will see that the terms of the consecration of different groups and individuals in scripture are not the same. Compare the consecration of the priests to that of the Nazirites, they are completely different. That is why it is always important to walk closely with God and find out what he expects you, as a believer, to do or desist from to fulfill the terms of your consecration. We have been chosen by God as consecrated individuals, appointed to perform specific tasks on this earth. We must endeavor to fulfill our part of this gracious experience by following the instructions given to us by God, and he will also honor his part.
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Many people believe that there is an inherent evil dwelling in the heart of all men. Christians would like to call it “The Original Sin”: the sinful nature we inherited from Adam. By this, we were sinners before we could even speak. One man’s sin, brought a curse unto all of creation. One doesn’t have to comb through a pile of newspapers to find a story on a heinous crime perpetrated by the most unassuming person. There is bad news everywhere. In the midst of it all, the bible calls Christians Holy People. It is more than a tag; It isn’t like a honorary doctorate degree either. For an honorary doctorate degree is given to someone in recognition of his excellence in a particular field. The Sainthood of the New Testament believer is a mystery that can only be described in one word, Grace.
Before we proceed, I would like to lay the foundation of this truth: we are holy by being Christians. Our holiness was not achieved by anything we did, but purely by our faith in Jesus Christ – especially in his finished work on the Cross. Therefore, when a person becomes a Christian, apart from his conduct, there is no physical evidence of his newly found faith. All the difference and tremendous transformation take place in the spirit. Hence, it is referred to as being born again. Literally that is what happens. Heaven discards all past records of the said individual and so he doesn’t have a past. The bible says, *Eph 4:24 KJV* And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”. The new man that you become (spiritually) after accepting Christ has righteousness and holiness preinstalled in him. It is just like upgrading the operating system on your computer – same device but new operating system. In Christ, you remain the same physically but there is a total transformation on the inside of you.
What next? You are holy, so what? Does it mean you must fold your arms and go to sleep? Well, not so at all. This is where the Mirror Effect comes in. In the bible, both God and his Word are referred to as mirrors. The interesting thing here is, only God and his word can change the condition of the heart of a man. David said “thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you”. James admonished us to be doers of the word and not just hearers, for any man who hears the word and doesn’t practise it is like a man who stares intently at his image in the MIRROR, walks away and forgets what he looks like. Interesting analogy there. It means, the definition of ourselves we are privy to in the Word of God should of a necessity be visible on us in our conduct. God has made you holy and righteous not to amuse himself but so that it will reflect in your works. Remember, God calls the things that be not as though they were… and they become. It is also said that we are God’s workmanship (inventions), created unto good works. God wanted to invent a ‘device’ that is holy and righteous… so he created you. He created you and called you holy so that you can be holy. In Christianity, we don’t work to get rewarded, we work because we are rewarded. It is in reverse. We don’t do holy deeds to attain holiness, we are first holy so we can do holy deeds. It is very easy to act out your nature than to act outside your nature to attain a certain status. That is the stress in the Old Testament. They were sinners who were trying to attain holiness by following a bunch of rules hoping their deeds would be pleasing to God enough. That is stress!
Christians sin. Yes we sin. If God is holy and never sins, and we are also as Holy as Christ is, then why do we sin? The walk with God is really a matter of who we are and not merely what we do. It is a matter of which camp you belong to and not just actions. That is why no matter the good deeds of Cornelius, God still required him to be saved, hence he sent Peter to preach to him. This doesn’t mean our deeds mean nothing, just walk with me and we will arrive at the truth together. I would like to outline a few things first:
Our holiness is service to God
God has made us holy and expects us to present ourselves to him holy and acceptable. Just like the parable of the Talents, the master will one day come and ask what we did with what He gave us graciously. Therefore scripture says:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, HOLY, acceptable unto God, which is your REASONABLE SERVICE. Romans 12:1
Perfecting Holiness
Perfection is not acquisition. You can only perfect that which you already have. So the bible says, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, PERFECTING HOLINESS in the fear of God (2 Cor7:1)”. It only means we are holy already but need to perfect it. Back to the operating system analogy, when you are more comfortable using Windows XP on your computer, upgrading to Windows 10 is a huge difference. Therefore, though you may have a new operating system there is the need to perfect how to use it. You may still want to do things the Windows-XP way and get stuck or realize it isn’t the way things are done on the new operating system. This is what happens with Christians and our holiness. We were once sinners, but we were transformed instantly when we accepted Christ. Therefore, we need to perfect this new life we have received. The verse above says, it can be done only in the fear of God. So hear me loud and clear, when a Christian sins, he is betraying his nature. A Christian betrays who he is when he sins. That is why 1 John 3:9 says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
How do we perfect holiness?
I am not preaching the law here. I am not saying there are a bunch of things we need to do to attain holiness. We are holy; we do holy deeds because we are. The flesh is in a constant battle with the spirit. The spirit wants to please God, the flesh doesn’t. This is why we need to perfect the act of making the spirit win everytime. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, it says But we all, with open face beholding as in a MIRROR the glory of the Lord, ARE CHANGED INTO THE SAME IMAGE, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Once again, we see the Mirror Effect here. Basically, we are glorious beings. But when we keep our eyes on God, we will be transformed from glory to glory… from our level of glory to his level. This is what it takes to perfect holiness: keeping your eyes on God. It sounds like an easy task but really, it is a lot more than gazing at an image. It involves praying, reading the word, fasting etc. consistently. These are all deeds that stimulate the spirit in you to win the battle against the flesh.
You may be wondering what relationship holiness has with glory because of the verse I quoted above. Well, the truth is, holiness has a very strong relationship with glory. Glory is the visibility of holiness. Isaiah 6:3 says And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory. In Isaiah’s visions, the Seraphim called God “holy” and said that the whole earth is full of his holiness? No! They called him holy and proclaimed that the whole earth is full of his GLORY.
Holiness is the highest level of intolerance for sin. Most people think the bible referring to us as holy and the righteousness of God means we should fold our arms and go to sleep. Indeed it is a status conferred on us by grace, but it is a duty too. We are the righteousness of God. Meaning, when the world is looking for a righteous God, God won’t have to come down again to show himself, we are his righteousness so we need to show up on the scene. To me, this is a responsibility and not merely a title. Only Grace can empower us to do this perfectly. Grace got us here, Grace will keep us. Therefore, be ye holy because the LORD your God is holy and He has made you Holy.
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