Isaiah 57:11
For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Isaiah 37:16
LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Revelations 4:6 to 10
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures… Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy…is the Lord God Almighty,’who was, and is, and is to come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory… 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before throne. him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say….
The eternal God dwells between the cherubim. Seraphim hover over Him, and the twenty- four elders remain in close proximity to the throne. One of the reasons for that is these heavenly beings and elders are essential for God to fill the heavens and reveal Himself within them.
The seraphim crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy” for all eternity serves several profound purposes rooted in God’s eternal plan. Despite their own inherent holiness, the overwhelming revelation they receive of God’s holiness provokes a powerful cry from deep within their being. They cover their faces and feet because of the absolute splendor of His holy and glorious presence. Having had a firsthand experience of a holy God, their cry then manifests His holiness throughout the heavens, conveying it to the entire heavenly host. This is one of the primary purposes behind their creation.
As the revelation of God’s holiness goes forth through that heavenly cry, the twenty-four elders are so deeply impacted that they immediately fall prostrate, casting down their crowns before Him. This revelation then flows throughout the rest of the heavenly realm, profoundly renewing every heavenly host and all of heaven itself. This isn’t an one-time event but one that has been continuing throughout eternity!
Consequently, heaven stands purified by it, allowing God to dwell in intimate proximity, while remaining sovereignly exalted above it. Every work of God in His holiness as it relates to mankind, as diverse as it may be, flows from this place.
Now, when it comes to mankind, we have drifted so far from God that our very nature has been corrupted to the core; so much so that all of mankind stands stained.
God intends for all of His creation to hear, experience, and be cleansed and transformed by the heavenly cry of the seraphim. As creation begins to hear and resonate with this sound, He who is far off is brought near and He will dwell amongst it one day just as He does in the heavens now.
While there is much more to be said here, a few key related truths must be highlighted. God is supremely and transcendently holy. In whatever expression of His nature He chooses to reveal Himself to us, the splendor of His holiness is always manifest. As we respond to it, as God intends for us to, it becomes the very foundation for all that God desires to say and build upon further.
Now If God chooses to reveal Himself in glory, a greater degree of His holiness is manifest. When God manifests His holiness to that degree in a place where sin has not being dealt with, His consuming fire will inevitably devour it. It is primarily for this reason, out of His endless mercy and love that He keeps His distance from us, lest we be consumed. Yet, the Spirit yearns for us to turn toward Him fully, so that He may manifest Himself to us in His glory and abide with us.” We were created for this purpose.
God grants us numerous opportunities to change our ways so that He can purify us. He woos us through His endless mercy, grace, and love. At the very heart of all His goodness is the call to repentance, so that He who is holy can draw near to us and ultimately dwell among us.
However, if we continue along our own pathways, the longer sin prevails, the more deeply entangled we become. There remains a dangerous certainty that our hearts will grow altogether hardened to the work of heaven. We risk losing what little remains of Him amongst us, becoming entirely devoid of His presence, and forfeiting all that He has for us in Himself.
There is no scenario more tragic than the one where God choses to withdraw His presence altogether. After all, isn’t hell ultimately the reality of the absolute absence of God.
Today, we see a form of Christianity that is almost entirely devoid of the holiness of God; it is counterfeit on every level. Those who profess to know and experience God within such a setting are clearly deceived, as that lifestyle and ministry model stands in direct opposition to the Word of God. If a ministry’s emphasis does not include the essential need for progressing in holiness (becoming more Christlike by the day), we must exercise extreme caution before drinking from its wells. To ignore these warnings and drink anyway is to do so at our own peril, as our spirits could easily become stained.
Additionally, an overwhelming emphasis is placed on encountering God, seeing Him, and hearing His voice. Yet, this focus lacks one of the very foundations and paths that lead to that place of encounter: holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. If anyone claims to have an encounter with God apart from this foundation, they have been deceived
Not only that there is a cry for revival and a move of the Spirit, but it lacks a corresponding heart to be cleansed and purified. If anyone pursues God in such a manner, they are highly susceptible to deception.
Remember, brethren, one of the final exhortations given to us by the beloved apostle John before he talked about Christ’s coming in Revelation 22:11 is to continually progress in holiness. Are we progressing in holiness as we have progressed in other areas of our spiritual lives? Indeed, our growth in this virtue should have far exceeded our advancement in any other area.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse and work in us to the point where we are perfectly fine-tuned to the sound from above: “Holy is the Lord God Almighty”; where we resonate that sound onward everywhere we go, preparing the way for His glory to be revealed.
TO BE CONTINUED
