and Jesus personally embraces the crowds in His sermon on the mount. Doxology, however, is when we bless God.
Praise God fromwhom all blessing flow.
In Christ Jesusdoxology becomes the sweet water of God’s love flowing towards us from our Father in heaven and the tree of eternal life.
Throughout the Bible faithful men praise the LORD, ‘Blessed are you, O Lord’ and the LORD also blessed them of His chosen ones.
Scriptures
I will not quote all Books from both the Old and New Testaments. So here I will mention just a few favorite quotes. Perhaps my favorite is the warm personal greeting of Paul and Timothy to Corinth and their praise of God.
2 Samuel 6:18
Psalm 34:8
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Timothy, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Maybe a Saint or Pope? Perhaps an angel? How about a Priest or holy man dedicating their life to God? And what about holy men and women of other faiths? WHO CAN BE HOLY?
No question about someone’s preaching or teaching is more important than, “What do you mean by that?”
So as I begin this series addressing various doctrines, please allow me to address what I mean by three terms in this first doctrine: God, Isand Holy. (What do I mean when I preface my teaching on the Bible by saying, ‘God is holy?’)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..
gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God
also (plural intensive – singular meaning) i.e. the true God
We cannot exhaust all of the words used for ‘God’ here as we speak of doctrine, but we must look at one additional (and somewhat ambiguous) synonym, ‘Lord.’
28 One of the Torah-teachers came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He [the Messiah Jesus] had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”
‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
Mark 12:28-29 from NASB & CJB
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘.. The Lord is our God, the Lord is one..’
Holy, Holy, Holy
I remember from early days of my childhood growing up ‘in church’ hearing a cappella worship and the ethereal lyrics of ‘Holy, Holy, Holy.’ The ‘otherness‘ feeling of these moments of worship transported my soul to a higher undefinable place. It was worship I would not come to understand until until I received the Holy Spirit many years later in this mortal life.
Although we cannot even approach the heights and depths of the doctrine of Trinity in this brief look at holiness, I offer you, beloved fellow believer, this one insight:
You may have heard of the Trinity before, but it will not impact your faith until you receive the Holy Spirit.
Awe becomes a most humbling reaction to the Holy presence of Almighty God!
We witness mortals experiencing this holiness in Moses and many others. Take the reaction of the prophet Isaiah for instance:
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
“God is not a man, that He would lie, Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good.
This Latin expression from early church fathers describes God’s holiness as the “tremendous, tremor-inducing and awe-inspiring, mystery,” a reverence for the Lord rarely present in 21st century worship by the church.
God is Other Plus
Can man pursue Other?
God IS other, but God is also more than Other. The LORD is above all His Creation plus in it as well. The Personal God of the Bible made Himself known to those He chose; that is, Moses, Elijah and the Prophets, David and others.
Although we hallow God (and we must), our awe and fear of the LORD draws us to His love that conceived each of us in His image as body, mind and spirit.
Again, returning to a description by Otto, who secular philosophers accuse of pursuing the irrational, it is better to say “supra-rational.”
God is NOT other than rational just because man cannot understand a God so ‘other’ than mankind.
Theologians seek to study “that rational aspect of that supreme Reality we call ‘God.”‘ Although the Holy trembles the hearts of men, the pursuit of God’s holiness draws us to the other supra-rational being who out of His own love pursues us.
God defends HIS HOLINESS!
Scripture records that God has met up with some brash men and responded. (So have we.) Some sought answers from the Lord while others offended God by bold disrespect or by profane ignorance of the Almighty.
Secular ambivalence to God denies that which is holy, while cultural inclusion of that which is not holy diminishes the Divine Authority of He Who IS other and above all creation.
GOD defends His holiness and His Holy Name.
Roger@talkofJESUS.com
The Lord’s defense of His holiness is sometimes subtle and gentle, yet at times severe and final in execution of His judgment.
Scriptural Defense of God’s Holiness
“Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” – Exodus 3:5
“You shall be holy people to Me, therefore.. – Exodus 22:31a
..the ground that was under them split open..
So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. – Numbers 16:35
.. Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly overturned it. But the anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him because he had put out his hand toward the ark; and he died there before God. – 1 Chronicles 13:9b-10
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
.. and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.” – Luke 3:22
In the synagogue [at Capernaum] there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all.. – Luke 4
A Rebuke of the Church
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
I know your deeds..
A plea of grace
Are you, dear saint of God, looking to the holiness offered to sinners — undeserved holiness by grace from the Perfect Other Son and Sacrifice –Jesus Christ — Who was and IS and will be — judge of all living flesh and judge of each dead saint or sinner?
He knows your deeds — your works for the Lord, as well as every impure act in thought, word and deed.
Hear the cries of the souls of the saints beneath the Altar of Heaven:
“How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”
Are these not souls like ours crying out to the Lord God for Justice?
How long, O Lord, can it yet be in these last days of this 21st century?
Do you, my fellow saint, recall what follows in John’s apocalypse from Jesus Christ — what response to God’s holy refining of heaven and earth?
And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth..
The sky was split apart .. and every mountain and island was removed from its place..
excerpt from the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 6:12-14
The LORD God: Father, Son and Spirit: are ONE and ALL are Perfectly HOLY
Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder…
..and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
..day and night they do not cease to say,
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, who was and who is and who is to come.”
Revelation 4:8b NASB20
Let those with ears hear what the Spirit says — GOD IS HOLY!
Golden Lampstands with flames from flickering faith
Darkness dominates a cold place behind the veil of the Holy of Holies – an unseen flickering faith of worshipers of the LORD.
The Temple had been Jerusalem’s replica of a former glory now departed – a white-washed façade of cleansing since the broken covenant of its faithless shepherds.
Then like a Light in the darkness their Messiah unexpectedly appears among God’s chosen. And His Sacrifice substitutes as the Passover lamb — the Lamb of forgiveness which takes away the sins of the world.
A flickering flame of hope is now the shining star of David as Scripture had proclaimed. And Jesus returns once more in Body and Spirit — in victory over death!
The Light of Life stands within the Tabernacle of this world and offers Himself as its Sacrifice.
The Son now rules from above in the Temple of Glory!
The Prophets told of His coming.
Jesus’ Disciples preached His Gospel of Light.
And now His Church must shine as a brief candle lifted into the throne room of Christ’s glory.
Revelation to Churches with Flickering Faith
Even prior to the end of the first century A.D. faith in the Church flickered in the winds of the world. And the love of the saints sometimes extinguished in false gospels of darkness.
As it was before the incarnation of Christ Jesus, so it was after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension.
Yet a risen Christ Jesus lifts the dead from their graves.
And discouraged disciples of these last days stand as brief candles in the darkness looking upon the eternal Light of glory.
a Vision from the Lord
While the world stumbles in the darkness of sin, a Personal love of God Almighty shines into the darkness (as the Prophet Isaiah had said).
And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will assault the elder, And the contemptible person will assault the one honored.
Isaiah 3:5
“Make the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes blind, So that they will not see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
Isaiah 6:10
Exhortation from Peter
After the Lord’s resurrection and ascension the Apostles all proclaim His death, resurrection and returning again. He is the Light of the world, they preach in their letters to a growing Church as every Apostle exhorts the faithful.
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
Sound familiar?
James and Jude, brothers of Jesus also write similar loving greetings to the church in their letters.
Before we continue in Christ’s revelation to John, hear just a bit more of what the Apostle Simon, ‘the rock’ on which Jesus promised to build His Church had to say in his second letter:.
.. For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty..
And like Isaiah and the Prophets Peter assures the church:
And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
Message to the Seven Churches
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw seven golden lampstands..
As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
“I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne,
and you hold firmly to My name,
But I have a few things against you,
Remember:
each ‘Church’ is plural,
while every single ‘saint’ is accountable to Christ
you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam,
Doctrine is more than your ‘church vision’ taught, but not applied
Teaching among claimants of Christ may mislead others.
who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel..
In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching.
(Nicolaitans, that is “destruction of people” in your gathering, are those who listen to your teaching (preaching or doctrine) yet are easily tempted to follow false teachings they prefer.)
(Note: the root name, nikolaos, may refer to a proselyte of Antioch and one of the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem. His name Νικόλαος means “victor of the people.”)
Christ Jesus is our ONLY teaching, for He alone is victorious over death. And from the Throne of glory Jesus warns the church:
Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly,
and I will wage war against them with the sword of My mouth..
“‘I know your works. You have[a name] the reputation of being alive,
{go ahead, substitute Your Church Name, here & see how you receive Christ’s admonition.}
but you are dead.
Wake up,
strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die;
{Some works yet to do in your church?}
for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
{My fellow saint, our Lord Jesus says we have incomplete deeds yet to do.}
Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly.
Repent and turn to me again.
If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly..
The general exhortation is for all, yet some not in need of repentance Christ encourages specifically.
You have a few names even in Sardis .. [who] shall walk with Me in white [unsoiled garments], for they are worthy.
The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
Revelation 3:7a – note the definition of angel of the church could include any of its ‘messengers,’ as its ‘saints‘ – a most holy thing – could include any of its faithful.
He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
The Revelation [3:7b NASB] of Jesus Christ to John – to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia
“I know your works.
See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it;
for you have a little strength,
have kept My word,
and have not denied My name.
Behold, I will make those.. who say that they are [ __ ]
Jesus calls them worshipers of Satan as the Lord refers to some Jews, BUT
could HE fill in the [ __ ] with ‘christians’ who gather in the church of the world?
and are not, but lie—
I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.
The Lord Jesus assures His friends and brothers in Philadelphia.
Because you have kept My command to persevere,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial
(Christ’s covenant with the faithful!)
which shall come upon the whole world,
to test those who dwell on the earth.
Behold, I am coming quickly!
Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
Flickering faith transformed into Pillars of Worship
The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore..
Revelation 3:12 NASB
.. and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Flickering Faith in the winds of the world
Suppose the letter to you arrives by messenger from Patmos.
Jesus’ Apostle John still resides there and occasionally Rome allows a letter from him to depart for your Roman-ruled city in a distant province of Asia.
Your own church community suffers in its own isolation, because most of your neighbors, merchants, fellow workers, Roman government officials and even some fellow worshipers seem caught up in the life of other things in your city.
NOW, as you gather for worship, a leader of your church reads a letter. (Messengers have previously brought guarded precious Good News from Mark, Luke, Matthew and even John.) You puff up a bit as your pastor begins:
This is the only time Christ uses it in Scripture, as the last warning to the last of seven churches — (to become warm, liquefy, melt)..
The Gospel which heated your faith, the cold water of your baptism which refreshed you — these no longer satisfy and Jesus is a Name seldom seen in the places where you dwell.
Lukewarm – metaphorically, of the condition of a soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor —
If Jesus is your Lord, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see His love — then receive Christ’s correction and discipline while your candle yet flickers with so little faith.
“Look! I stand at the door and knock.
If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne,
just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.
The Revelation of Jesus 3:20-21 NLT
AND for the 21st c. church..
“Anyone with ears to hear ..
must listen to the Spirit and
understand what he is saying to the churches.”
Revelation 3:22 NLT
ANYONE, my fellow saint of this 21st c. A.D., anyone with ears to hear Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
NOT only seven churches — not some other church — not even a flickering excuse of a saint in your own church. YOU, dear Christian — you with ears to hear what JESUS is saying to you and to His Church.
