Holy ~ is not a word that God came up with to contrast with unholy.  Holy ~ expresses what God was before Satan ever rebelled taking a third of the angels and then taking mankind.

God was ~ holy ~ before there was unholy, and He was magnificent and attractive; but it seems that the whole expression and desirability of holiness has become so corrupted in our understanding that it is not generally considered attractive or desirable.  Why? We just don’t have much appetite for it, perhaps because we no longer know what it means~~or perhaps we never did.

In Hebrews 12:14 holiness is a means to an end, a pursuit:

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

In I Peter 1:15, 16 holiness is an imitation of and response to Christ:

…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

In II Peter 3:11 holiness is a characteristic motivated by information about “the day of the Lord (v. 10):

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.

In Isaiah 6:6, 7 holiness is a solution, when Isaiah discovers during worship that he is unclean:

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth with it and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”

In Colossians 3:12 (a) and Hebrews 10:10 (b) it’s a gift:

(a) Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

(b) By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

In I Peter 2:9 holiness is a cause, with a certain effect:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;…

In Psalm 24:3, 4 holiness is the criteria for ascending and standing:

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.

In Revelation 22:11 (a) and Hebrews 10:10 (b) holiness is a condition:

(a) He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righeous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.

(b) By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

In Luke 5:8, holiness is unbearable:

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Department from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

In Hebrews 10:14, holiness has happened and it is happening:

For by one offering He has pefected forever those who are being sanctified.

1. Has the default definition of HOLY become: God is (and we’re not) HOLY?

2. Has flawed application become default definition?

3. Has God’s holiness become a weapon we wield against ourselves just to show ourselves how awful we really are?

We will not be comfortable with God’s holiness or our pursuit of holiness unless we let the Spirit teach us what He means when He talks about it.   He’s speaks the truth when He says that His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways.

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Jesus purchased for us an entrance into the Holy of Holies.  The purpose of His death and resurrection was to reconcile us to the Father; not to protect us from the Father.

Hebrews 10:19-23

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Psalm 27:4

One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple.