Ezekiel 36:21: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel, but for mine holy names sake which you have profaned among the heather, whether you went.”
What is it that makes God great? Is it His great power, the fact that He is the creator, or that He is all powerful? Scripture seems to teach that God’s greatness lies in His Holiness.
That leads to an ever greater question. What is holiness? The word in the Hebrew is for holiness is kadushah. This word comes from Semitic root which has the idea of separation. This root word originated from a Canaanite word which is used for a prostitute. The reference is not to a prostitute as we know them today. This is referencing a sacred prostitute, such as Rehab from Jericho. The goddess Asherah or Anat had sacred prostitutes who where a sexual connection to the supposed goddess. Sexual relations with a sacred prostitute was considered an act of worship to this goddess. This is how the word kadushah came to be connected to a prostitute. When one entered into an intimacy with a sacred prostitute it was the symbol of entering into an intimacy with the goddess. You would then become one with the goddess and thus open the door to the power of the goddess. This sacred prostitute was to be held separate from all others and you did not approach her (or him) without following certain proper protocols. You may remember from the story of Rehab where the men came to her door. They did not force their way in as you would expect with a prostitute today. They showed her all due respect and courtesy. When she told a big whopper of a lie, they believed her. They believed her because she was a kadushah and to question the word of a kadushah would violate you standing with the goddess and bad things might happen to you. She was considered holy and thus subject to certain protocols. That is an aspect of holiness that we tend to overlook but is very much a part of the definition of kadushah which is separateness subject to proper protocols.
The greatness of God lies in the fact that He is worthy of certain protocols and to not follow those protocols is to profane his holiness. The goal of holiness is intimacy. You cannot enter into intimacy with God unless you follow certain protocols. Ultimately, God is sinless, that is what makes him separate or holy. To enter into an intimacy with God we must be sinless. That is why the law was given to show these protocols to enter into an intimacy with God. However, the finished work of Jesus Christ, that is His death on the cross we no longer need to follow these protocols of the law to be made pure and holy. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that makes us holy or pure enough to enter into an intimacy with God. So when God says He does not restore Israel for their sakes but for the sake of His holy name. He is saying that He does not restore Israel for their sake because they don’t want a relationship with Him, but he does it for the sake of His holy name or because He desires an intimate relationship with them.
When we sin, we violate or profane God’s holiness. The Hebrew word that is rendered as profane is a very interesting and difficult word to translate. It is the word kalal which really means to pollute. The best way to describe kalal would be this way. I recently read an article that said we must eat at least five apples today to receive the nutritional value of an apple that was grown fifty years ago. The reason is that with all the genetic modifications and pesticides used today to grow an apple it has lost much of its nutritional value. In a sense man kalal (polluted if you like that word) God’s perfect creation with a creation of his own to produce a great abundance of apples. He may have created a greater abundance of apples but at the cost of God’s nutritional input. That is kalal, to take something that is pure and lesson its value. I have been contacted by Harper Collins who is interested in purchasing to rights to my first three Word Study Books. My concern is kalal. If they secured the rights, they would edit the book as they feel pleased and I fear they may edit the heart and soul out of my books. The writings would no longer by my pure writings, but would have kalal or would be less than my pure writers for it would also have the writings of an editor.
Now let’s put kalal into a spiritual context. Let’s say I am tempted to sin, that is tempted to do anything which is contrary to the nature of God. What is my first thought when I face that temptation? In our Western culture it would most likely be, “If I do this God is going to be angry with me and He might not give me that blessing or answer that prayer that I have been pestering Him with.” It is true, you may not get that blessing or answer to prayer, but not because God is angry with you or punishing you for being bad. It is because you have kalal profaned His holiness. You made it impossible for him to respond because you have kalal that is violated or polluted His holiness to the point where you cannot share in His intimacy.
The word for holy is spelled Qof which represents holiness, Daleth which is a portal and Shin which represents the power and passionate love of God. The order of these letters in the word kadosh suggest that holiness is the doorway or portal into God’s power and experience His passionate love. When we violate or kalal God’s holiness we close the door to His power and His passionate love. In other words when we kalal or pollute his holiness with our sinfulness, he can no longer have an intimate relationship with us and it is that intimacy or holiness that births the answer to our prayers or releases the power and passionate love of God. Just like that apple that has been kalal through genetic modifications and pesticides still give nutrition, it cannot give the nutrition that it could before it was kalal.
Well, as always, Jesus put it best: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). Our primary task is to protect the holiness of God. When we do that through the blood of Jesus Christ we can enter into an intimacy with Him and by doing that, we can open the door to His power and we can experience the passionate love that He so longs to pour out on us. It is our choice, not His, He has already chosen to pour His love out on us, and we just have to allow Jesus to remove all the kalal.
p.s The picture above is a painting by Janice Van Cronkhite. I just love her work and you can check out her website at http://jvcartworks.com/galleryone.php (Laura)
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