God is Holy

Holy Holy Holy- Isaiah 6:3, 4

A most important quality to understand about God -He is holy. What does the word "holy" really mean? In the Biblical Hebrew, the word is derived from a term meaning "separate". In worship, "holy" applies to that which is separated from common use, or held sacred. Holiness, also strongly conveys the idea of cleanness and purity.

As "the Holy One of Israel," Jehovah describes himself as dwelling "in the midst of" his people, sinful though they were. (Isa. 12:6; Hosea 11:9) So his holiness does not make him distant. How then is he separate? In two important ways:

1. He is separate from all creation in that he alone is the Most High.

2. He is entirely separated from all sinfulness.

This is comforting, because everything about human Society alienated from God is polluted in some way, tainted with sin and imperfection. We all have a war against sin within us. Yes, each of us is in danger of being overcome by sin if we let our guard down. (Roman 7:15-25; 1 Corinth 10:12) Jehovah is in no such danger. He is completely removed from sinfulness, he will never be tainted by the slightest trace of sin. This makes him the ideal Father, for it means , he is completely reliable. Jehovah will never turn corrupt. His holiness makes such a thing impossible.

Holiness belongs to Jehovah.

He is the source of holiness. He can impart this precious quality to others, and he does so generously. For instance, humans can become holy in a relative sense, with God's help. An example is in the nation of Israel. God gave his people Israel the prospect of becoming a "holy nation" (Exodus 19:6)
He blessed that nation with a system of worship that was holy, clean, pure. Holiness is a recurring theme of the Mosaic Law. (Ex 28:36) A high standard of cleanness and purity was to distinguish their worship and their way of life. Jehovah told them, "You should prove yourselves holy, because I Jehovah your God am holy." (Lev.19:2). As long as the Israelites lived by God's council to the extent possible for imperfect humans, they were holy in a relative sense.

This holiness is in stark contrast with the worship of the nations surrounding Israel. Those pagan nations worshipped gods whose very existence was a lie. These gods were protrayed as violent, greedy, and promiscuous. They were unholy in every possible sense. The worship of such gods made people unholy. That is why Jehovah warned his servants to keep separate from pagan worshippers and their polluted religious practices.
(Lev.18:24-28; 1 Kings 11:1, 2.)

Jehovah's chosen nation of ancient Israel could provide only a dim reflection of the holiness of God's heavenly organization. There, millions of spirit creatures, angels who loyally serve God are referred to as his "holy myriads" (Duet 33:2; Jude 14). They perfectly reflect the bright, pure beauty of God's holiness. One spirit creature, above all else -the only-begotten son of God, Jesus is the highest reflection of Jehovah's holiness. Rightly he is known as "the Holy One of God" (John 6:68, 69)

Holy Name
God's name is sacred, set apart from all defilement. (1 Chron. 16:10; Ps 111:9)
His name Jehovah is to be held as holy, sanctified above all others. (Matt 6:9)
Disrespect for his name merits punishment of death. -Lev 24:10-19, 23; Numbers 15:30.

Holy Spirit.

God's spirit, or active force is also called holy. (Gen 1:2) Jehovah uses his force, his holy spirit to accomplish his purposes. All that God does, he carried out in a holy, pure, and clean way. So, his active force is well named holy spirit, or spirit of holiness. (Luke 11:13; Roman 1:4) Deliberately working against Jehovah's purposes is blaspheming against the holy spirit. (Matt 12:31, 32)

Jehovah our Holy God

Jehovah loves what is upright and pure. He hates sin. But he does not hate us. As long as we view sin as he does- hating what is bad, loving what is good.- and strive to follow in Christ Jesus' perfect foot steps, Jehovah forgives our sins. (Amos 5:15; 1 Peter 2:21)

We are made in the image of the holy God, we have moral qualities and the capacity for spirituality. (Gen 1:26) There is potential for holiness within us all. Jehovah is happy to help us. As we continue to cultivate holiness we draw closer to our holy God.

Jehovah is also described as "vigorous in power"- Isaiah 40:26. What can we learn about God's power to create, to destroy, to protect, and to restore?

Happy and Proud!

Zane gave his first talk in the Theocratic Ministry School.

He did very well with his Bible reading and it was a challenge!
Nehemiah 11:1-14 with many hard to pronounce names.
Very happy with his parents for taking the time to practice with him.
Very proud of the outcome

And a special visitor was here from Saipan.
This is Keith and his mother

And this is Keith's father. (Pam's brother)
They live in a little island in the pacific.
They were happy to see Zane's spiritual progress.

We encourage our children to enroll in the Theocratic Ministry School
as soon as they are able. Zane is 7 years old.
The Theocratic Ministry School is free of charge,
open to the public at your neighborhood Kingdom Hall.
The curriculum is the same world wide.
All ages attend, there is no graduation as there is always more to learn.

"Congregate the people, the men and the women and the little ones and your alien resident who is within your gates, in order that they may listen and in order that they may learn..." Deut 31:12

What does Thing 2 do...

when Thing 1 is at school?

He plays with his friend.

The neighbor's cat comes over every day to see him.

They really enjoy each others company

We call him 50/50
Can you guess why?

Cheerful

Yes, Cheerful!
That's what I think when I see Daffodils.

My yard is not the most well cared for,
But when the Daffodils bloom it does look inviting.

Next it will be the Iris's turn to bloom!
And the strawberries are already hitting the market.

"And I have made your name known to them

and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them." -Jesus in prayer to his Heavenly Father. (John 17:26)

When God commissioned Moses to return to Egypt to the deliver the Israelites from slavery, Moses asked, "...Suppose...I say to them (sons of Israel) the God of you forefathers has sent me to you and they do say to me, "What is his name? What shall I say to them? " -Exodus 3:13 (Ex 3:1-12)

Yes, God has a name. One of the saddest and most reprehensible things done in the name of religion is the removal of God's personal name from many, many Bible translations and replacing it with titles, such as "Lord" or "God". Why?

When you first meet someone the first thing you learn about the person, is their name. God is not a nameless, distant entity, beyond knowing or understanding. Although he is invisible, he is a person and God wants us to draw close to him. (James 4:8; Isa 55:6) He wants us to know his name.

Moses was really asking about the person represented by the name. Moses wanted to know what he should tell the sons of Israel, that would build up their faith in the God of their forefathers and convince them, this God was really going to deliver them from slavery.

God's answer to Moses, "I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be." -Ex 3:14 Some Bibles read, "I am that I am." Jehovah literally means "He causes to become". Yes, Jehovah would cause himself to become, whatever was needed in order to fulfill his promises. What ever the situation or need...God would "become" the solution to that need. Within the framework of his own perfect standards, there is nothing he cannot become in order to care for his earthly children in the best possible way. Jehovah invites us to think of him as the best Father imaginable (James 1:17)

Moses and the faithful Israelites soon learned that Jehovah is true to his name. They were eyewitnesses as he caused himself to become an unbeatable Military Commander, the Master of all natural elements, a peerless Lawgiver, Judge, Architect, Provider of food and water, Preserver of clothing and foot gear. -and more. (Gen. 13:18, 21, 22; 15:8; 20:1-17; 21:-22:31; 25:1-27:21; 16:45, 11-14, 26,27,31; 15:23-25;)

Yes, God has made his personal name known, has explained it's meaning and has demonstrated the meaning is true. Moses wanted to draw close to God and get to know him intimately, as his heavenly Father. In contrast, Pharoah was haughty, he cynically dismissed the God of Israel as being unimportant or irrelevant. (Ex 5:2) This attitude blinded the Pharoah to an important truth.

Jehovah is Sovereign Lord. -2 Samuel 7:22.

Jehovah is unique as the Creator -Rev 4:11.
He is King of Eternity - 1 Timothy 1:17; Rev. 15:3.
He has no beginning and no end. -Ps 90:2
So he is rightly called, "the Ancient of Days" -Daniel 7:9, 13, 22.

Jehovah is a spirit being, invisible to human eyes. -John 1:18; 4:24; Ex 33:20
He is not an abstract, impersonal force, or vague "First Cause"
Jehovah is a God with personality! He has four outstanding qualities, namely:
Power, Justice, Wisdom and Love.
His dominate quality is Love.

Jehovah has feelings, both strong and tender. He is "hurt at his heart" when his intelligent creatures violate the guide lines he provides for their well-being.(Gen 6:6; Ps 78:11, 41). But when we act wisely according to his Word, we make his "heart rejoice". -Proverbs 27:11.

How though can mere humans draw close to the Sovereign Lord of the universe?

By reading his word the Bible.
Examining our heavenly Father's qualities, and imitating all his ways.

The next few Thursdays I will be thinking about and posting my findings on God's four outstanding qualities. But first, what does it mean when the Bible says God is Holy? I hope you will join me.

SuperBowl 2011

Dennis and his party!
The group!

I thought these were the" love birds"

Until I saw these two!

My cooking buddy, He brought his smoker, tri-tip and chicken.
Mmmm goood.

Yep it is good!

Sadly the Steelers lost:(

but Dale and Sheena were happy, those cheese heads!

Good Morning!

And Good Morning to you!

May we land in your Yard?

Of Course!

Thing one is a very big help.

Who was in the balloon?

A Happy newly engaged Couple!