holiness of GOD – Larus Press

Genesis 2 begins thus:

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” (v 1-2)

What is Rest?

Preparing the Bride for GOD’s Story

How do we prepare as the Bride of Christ? One aspect is to learn GOD’S STORY. He created us in His image…. Piece by piece, and peace by peace, we learn to walk as He has walked. And we learn His perspective.

Why did GOD Rest?

We know that GOD worked six days to create the earth, everything in it and all that surrounds it. That’s what Genesis 1 tells us. Then He rested. But why? If GOD is GOD, surely He doesn’t sleep. Psalm 121:4 says, “Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Since Israel is GOD’s chosen people, it is He who “keeps Israel” — protects, watches over, counts the nation as His children.

So, what does Rest mean?

Firstly, note that Genesis 2:1-2 emphasises the completion of Creation by GOD. The work finished, He stopped working, creating. Instead, on the seventh day, He rested.

Rest is not working. Rest assumes stopping from work. But rest is so much more than relaxing, taking a vacation, ceasing from work.

It was the seventh day and it was the day of rest. It would become the Sabbath, the final day of the week, the day to keep holy. The seventh day, the first day after all of Creation was completed, marked the end of one week leading to the beginning of another. This would come to give structure to Mankind’s time.

Still Rest means even more

Leviticus 22:3 is one of many scriptures that refers to the Sabbath, “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”

It is a holy day, it is GOD’s day, it is a day of ‘solemn rest’. GOD takes this rest day very seriously.

In Psalm 95, the Creator is quoted,

“For forty years I was grieved with that generation,

And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,

And they do not know My ways.’

So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

This suggests GOD is ensuring the Hebrews suffer consequences for their disobedience.

Hebrews 3 reiterates this same consequence of rebellion, “So I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

What is the rest these rebels do not receive or enter?

Further study reveals What is Rest

Rest is intimacy with GOD. It is peace of mind. It is living in the anointing and covering of the Holy Spirit. Rest is freedom from anxiety, stress, fear or worry. It is a rest in the heart of Man as well as in the body. It is contentment, closeness with GOD. It is peace.

GOD’s offer

GOD supplies all our needs. He also offers us relationship. We can work to satisfy our need for productivity. And we can rest to enjoy the consequence of that productivity. And in that rest, we can commune with GOD. And that is the ultimate in rest. Hallelujah!

All this first expressed on Day 7 of His marvellous Creation!

Holiness is

The more dead to myself I am, the more filled I am with the Holy Spirit; the more surrendered I am, the more room there is for GOD to live in me; when the holiness of GOD is moving in and through me, the more holy is my life. Holiness is less of me and more of GOD.

1 Corinthians 3:17 says, “… the temple of GOD is holy, which temple you are.”

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The temple is holy. But what is holy other than GOD Himself?

As we walk near to GOD, through the Holy Spirit, with Jesus as our shepherd guide, we walk in holiness. But other than GOD-speak, what does that mean?

Holiness is Godliness, meaning GOD-likeness: purity, peace, power…. simply put, all that is GOD. We discover it, not through striving but through surrender.

In the context of Jesus’ Church

No opinion. No gossip, back-biting or envy. A stroll through Paul’s letters to Timothy shows us what the church must not be: not gossips (1 Timothy 5:13), not slanderers or lovers of self (2 Timothy 3:1-3), to site two examples.

Rather, we are to look in the mirror much more than we are to judge one another. Love is at the centre of all of our relationships and we celebrate for one another and mourn with each other. True intimacy is at the heart of Jesus’ church. Today, there are snapshots of this church but we have to mature a great deal to capture it entirely. We mature through surrender.

Back in March of this year, I posted about Holiness (https://laruspress.com/holiness/). At its heart is love, because at GOD’s heart is love. GOD is love. And perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). When we love perfectly, GOD is working in us perfectly, and we are perfectly Holy.

Jesus said, “… be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Perfection then is possible… through our surrender. Jesus did nothing other than what the Father asked him to do, said nothing other than what the Father led him to say. Jesus was perfect: a perfect servant, perfectly loving and perfectly holy. For those of us who take our walk with Jesus seriously, we too can become perfect: perfectly loving, perfectly holy, through our surrender to GOD.

Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)

When we walk in the holiness of GOD, and meet together as the Body of Yeshua/Jesus as his church, then the church will be holy and fruitful. Hallelujah. GOD has made a way.

All to the glory of GOD

We who are in Christ Jesus are saved from sin, and therefore we have access to the purity of Jesus, as we surrender as he did, to the Father. All things are lawful now, however, not all things are helpful or edifying (1 Corinthians 10:23). And so our behaviour is dependent not upon law but upon love.

I’d like to encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 10 with the view to relating it back to holiness of the church. By the grace of GOD and through the sacrifice of Jesus, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we are free.

But in that freedom, our action will not cause others to fall; will not act for self. Holiness points to Yehovah — our Father GOD. We are free and it is all for the glory of our Father, Creator of the Universe and Lover of Mankind. Our freedom points to GOD. Our holiness points to GOD. Our existence, our life, our church — everything now points to GOD.

This is all possible — not through our effort but by our surrender.

This is how Jesus’ church lives and breaths and ministers to a fallen world.