One of the things that concern me on occasions is the loss of our sense of God’s holiness.  I expect to see that a little from people who have no regard for God but Christians know that God is not just holy but three times holy (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8) and therefore is deserving of proper respect and reverence.   In the OT, God’s people were often reminded of God’s holiness.  For instance, Moses in Exodus 3:5ff; the nation of Israel at Mt Sinai (Exo 19); the process the High priest had to go through to enter the Holy of Holies in the temple to offer the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16).  On occasions, people became disrespectful of God’s holiness and the consequences were devastating.  Here are just a few examples.  Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorised fire before the LORD and were consumed and died.  Eli’s sons showed disrespect towards God’s holiness by treating the LORD’S offering with contempt and they both died on the same day while in war (1 Sam 2:17, 1 Sam 4:3). Uzzah was struck down and died after being irreverent towards God by touching the Ark (2 Sam 6:7).  King Uzziah was struck down with leprosy after assuming he could burn incense on the altar of incense (2 Chr 26:21ff). 

Thankfully, we now live in NT times and the writer to Hebrews encourages us as God’s people to enter the throne room of grace with boldness because of what Christ has done for us (Hebrews 4:14-16).  The Great High Priest has, through his death and resurrection, caused the curtain of the temple to be torn from top to bottom, indicating that we no longer need a priest to enter the ‘Holy of Holies’ on our behalf.   We can now enter for we are clothed in the righteousness of our Saviour.  Similarly, in Hebrews 10:19-25, the writer reminds us that because of Jesus’ once and for all time sacrifice we can now have the confidence to enter the Most Holy Place.   More than that, he calls on us to persevere and to spur each other on toward love and good deeds, and not to neglect meeting together but all the more as we see the Day approaching. 

However, after that great encouragement, the writer immediately reminds us that our greater privilege does not give us license to keep on sinning (Heb 10:26-31).  On the contrary, since we know about our forgiveness through the preciousness of the sacrifice given by God in His Only Son, we need to be more careful not to sin.  In fact, carelessness in this area may mean we are treating this precious sacrifice with contempt, trampling the Son of God underfoot.  Doing so would mean we are regarding the blood that was shed for us as an unholy thing and insulting the Spirit of grace who not only quickened us to life but lives within us. No wonder the writer of Hebrews warns us that it would be a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God if we would be deliberately sinning in a way that shows what He has done for us as unholy.

It is a sure thing that Jesus is our friend and brother, but He is also God and His holiness does not change.  He is now seated at His Father’s right hand.  So, let us not be like Nadab or Abihu or Eli’s sons or Uzzah or Uzziah for that matter.  Let us not be flippant about God’s holiness.  Yes, we have been redeemed and we can approach the throne room of grace with confidence but let us not lose perspective.  God is still three times holy and we are still sinners, albeit forgiven sinners.  JZ.