Leviticus 19:2: “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, you shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Back in the sixties there was TV program known as The Man From Uncle. This was  TV’s answer to the James Bond spy fad.  I always enjoyed watching Napoleon Solo and his Russian sidekick, Illya Kuryakin,  walk into a quiet, turn of the century tailor shop with its 19^th century  antiquated décor. Then a slow elderly looking tailor would push a button just as the two U.N.C.L.E. agents entered a back room.  Sudden a steel door would open and give them access to the U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters,  a world of computers and high tech machines, in total contrast to the simple 19^th century  tailor shop.

The was sort of the feeling I got when I stepped from a quiet, sophisticated Christian seminary with its one dimensional Hebrew to English word for word translation into the dazzling display of esoteric 3,000 year old array of  Hebrew word studies and applications buried in the Orthodox Jewish communities and it’s libraries.

Suddenly a word like kodesh (holy) begins to vibrate with life and power.  Every letter of the word has a meaning.  The Qof  shows sacrifice as a preparation, the Daleth expresses a doorway or gateway, and the Shin represents the power, joy and peace of God.  This brings on new meaning to the words “You shall be holy.” Maybe you are content with the simple Christian rendering of holy as being separate.  I find it much richer to discover that it not only means to be separate but that this separation may involve a sacrifice  to prepare you to pass through a portal leading into the power, joy and peace of God.

I also discovered that the numerical value of the word kodesh is 404, which is the same numerical value for an almond which is a symbol of  fulfillment.   This explains why God commanded us to be holy.  Our holiness fulfills the holiness of God.

But wait, if holiness involves a sacrifice, then God is commanding us to sacrifice in preparation for Him as he sacrifices to prepare Himself to receive us.  Well, if you can hang on to your Christian roots, then you discover a hidden mystery or secret.  I wonder if the disciples thought of Leviticus 19:2 when Jesus said in John 14:2: “I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come again to receive you unto myself.”  Maybe Jesus was talking about kodesh (holiness) here.  He was preparing himself and His kingdom to receive us  as we are to prepare ourselves to receive Him. Such preparation involves a sacrifice.  Jesus sacrificed His life to prepare for that fulfillment with us. Yet, it works two ways, if Jesus was willing to sacrifice himself to fulfill Himself in us, are we willing to make a sacrifice to be in fulfillment with Him.

There is also another aspect to this idea of holiness as preparation.  I remember reading in Jewish literature that the Qof also represents receiving.  Holiness is a preparation to receive. The sages teach that God in His holiness sends us an answer to our prayers.  However, if we are not also holy or properly prepared to receive the answer, then we can take that answer to prayer and turn it into something evil.

That is how I discern from Leviticus 19:2 that when I pray for something, I must prepare myself for the answer to that prayer.  It may involve a sacrifice on my part.  If I do not prepare myself properly for the answer to prayer, I may end up using it for something evil, like feeding my pride or feeding my earthly passions rather than helping to fulfill God’s holiness.

Are you praying hard for something and the answer just does not seem to come?  Maybe you are not ready or prepared to receive the answer.  With the death and resurrection of Jesus, He is fully prepared and ready to answer our prayers.  However, we must be holy as he is holy.   We have not properly prepared ourselves for the answer to our prayers by dying to ourselves so that that answer will not be used selfishly. We may pray but if we do not prepared for our prayers with faith, can we really expect an answer?

During the 19^th Century, there was a drought that plagued the Ohio region. The community of farmers faithfully went to church, fasted and prayed for rain.  But no rain came.  They heard that the famous evangelist, Charles Finney, was preaching in a nearby town.  They sent a message to him asking him to come and pray for rain.  Surely God would hear the prayers of this great saint.

When Finney came to town there was a big celebration and the whole town gathered to hear Finney pray for rain.  There was not a cloud in the sky when Finney came walking into the town he was the only one to carry an umbrella. He prayed a simply prayer asking for rain, then opened his umbrella, and suddenly it rained. Finney came prepared.