What does it mean to be Holy?" By Tony Sanchez

In 1 Peter 1:13-16, Peter writes to believers, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;  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.” Peter is quoting from Leviticus 11:44 For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy,  and Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

What does it mean that God is holy?  Passages like 1 Samuel 2:2 “No one is holy like the Lord, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God and Isaiah 6:3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” are just two of many passages about God’s holiness.  God is high above any other and no one can compare to Him (Psalm 40:5 NLT O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.  Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal). God’s holiness pervades His entire being and shapes all His attributes.

What does it mean for us to be holy? When God told Israel to be holy in Leviticus 11 and Leviticus 19, He was instructing them to be distinct from the other nations by giving them specific regulations to govern their lives. Israel is God's chosen nation and God has set them apart from all other people groups. They are His special people, and consequently they were given standards that God wanted them to live by so the world would know they belonged to Him. When Peter repeats the Lord's words in 1 Peter 1:16, he is talking specifically to believers. As believers, we need to be "set apart" from the world unto the Lord. We need to be living by God's standards, not the world's. God isn't calling us to be perfect, but to be distinct from the world. 1 Peter 2:9 (see below) describes believers as "a holy nation."  We are separated from the world; we need to live out that reality in our day-to-day lives, which Peter tells us how to do in 1 Peter 1:13-16.

So, how can we become holy?  Holiness only results from a right relationship with God by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior.  If we have not placed our faith in God's Son alone to save us from our sins, then our pursuit of holiness is in vain. So, we must first make sure we are born-again believers (John 3:3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”).  If we truly are believers, then we recognize that our position in Christ automatically sets us apart from the world 1 Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.  We have a relationship with the living God!  Then we must daily live a set-apart our lives. We cannot "blend in" with the world dividing our loyalty with God (Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do James 1:8 NLT).  But instead living according to God's Word as we study the Bible, grow in it, and apply it to our lives.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.

Memory Verse: Leviticus 11:44 For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.

Healing in the Church Today

Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Although sickness is a reality that every human being will probably face and experience at some time in their life, it is a property of the sinful fallen nature of this world. Sickness is not a feature of the world as originally designed by our Creator. In His plan of salvation, God is reversing all of the effects of sin. It should be no surprise, therefore, to find that God has declared war on sickness as well as on sin.

Sickness in never a part of the perfect will and plan of God for any person’s life. Healing is an essential part of God’s plan of salvation and the Scriptures are very clear on this. 

The passage quoted from Isaiah, here, shows that when Jesus died on the cross He paid in full for every transgression and iniquity. These are our sins. This same passage of scripture, however, shows us that He also died for our griefs and sorrows. That is, He included every physical, emotional and spiritual hurt and pain in His provision for us on the cross.  Any doubt that this is what He intended is removed by Matthew 8:17 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses."  This commitment of the Lord to heal is often called the healing covenant.

The Bible is a book about covenant relationship. Covenant is an important concept to understand in the Old and New Testament of the Bible. One of the definitions of the word "testament" is covenant, and is defined as a covenant between God and Humans. So you could call the Old and New Testament the Old and New Covenant, as many people do. 

Old Covenant

The concept of covenant is important in receiving your physical healing through the Word of God. God states in the Old Covenant in the book of Exodus, For I am the LORD who heals you" (Exodus 15:26). King David instructs the believers to bless the LORD and not to forget all of the benefits or spiritual blessings of the LORD. David recognized the benefits provided in his covenant with God. One of the benefits identified is, "who heals all your diseases" (Psalms 103:2-3). 

New Covenant

Jesus established the New Covenant the night before his crucifixion. Jesus said to his disciples at the Last Supper, "this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28). Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).

Jesus at the same time gave thanks, broke the bread and said, "Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you" 1 Corinthians 11:24. "So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged (whipped) Him" [John 19:1]. "By whose stripes you were healed" 1 Peter 2:24. Jesus' body was broken so that your body may be whole. At the cross, Jesus' bones were not broken For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken” John 19:36.

IF forgiveness of sins, physical healing, deliverance, favor, provisional care, fruitfulness, and long life were spiritual blessings of the Old covenant; how much more are they in the New Covenant which has Jesus Christ the guarantor or surety of this better covenant? (Hebrews 7:22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant), (Psalms 103:1-3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases), (Exodus 23:26-27 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land), (Deuteronomy 7:15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases), (Psalms 91:6.…Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness). 

God’s Promise

God promises the Children of Israel in the Old Covenant that He would be their God, "if you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and laws, then I will not make you suffer the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you, Exodus 15:22, NLT. The same promise applies to the New Covenant.

Some religious folks say that God only wants to be the God who heals us spiritually. If God is only talking about spiritual healing why does he mention the words "disease or sickness" in these passages Psalms 103:1-3, Exodus 23:25, Deuteronomy 7:15, Matthew 8:17?

Now that we laid the ground work of healing in the Old and New Testament, what is the point of all this?  The point is:  Where is the healing in the church?  The masses are coming into church services with sickness and disease and going out of the church services with sickness and disease.

I traveled for many years and tried to find midweek service in the cites that I was in.  I viewed many services on television.  I visited many churches in the Denver area to get an idea of what they were teaching.  Too few were taking time to heal the sick before service, during service, or after service. 

Why have we left out such an important part of the Old and New Testament?  Why are we sick?  Is it because of our sin?  If the answer is yes and it should be, why are we ignoring what was such a huge part of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus came to “To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed” Luke 4:18.  Jesus came to heal!  Why are we not imitating Jesus?  Jesus in His instructions to the disciples in the Great Commission said “they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” Mark 16:18.  The church elders are called to do what? Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, James 5:14.  Are the elders making themselves available to pray for the sick?  Or is “Elders” just a title?

In a time of declining church attendance, is it hard to understand that deliverance, healing, and operating in the Holy Spirit may be a key to increasing church attendance?  The word spread when they heard of the healing Jesus was performing. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased, John 6:2. Matter of fact, 5,000 came to hear Jesus and hoping for healing, “Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand” John 6:10.  5,000 came to hear the Apostles preach the same message Jesus preached, “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand” Acts 4:4.  People want to be healed and they will go to a church who wants to heal them in the name of Jesus.

Let’s forget all the programs that have little effect on the flock.  Let’s “confess our trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed”, James 5:16 at the women’s tea parties, the men’s breakfast gatherings, and the youth groups.  It’s OK to have a speaker, but there should be time set aside to pray for healing.  The church service should set aside time for healing.  Put the altar team to work.  Have all the Pastors present to lead the prayer for healing.  When people humbly come to the altar with a repentant heart, the Holy Spirit will be present with all of God’s glory.

It is time for the church to come back and imitate the Apostles in first century church and carry out what Jesus instructed them to do in The Great Commission:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.   He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.   And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;  they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:15-18

Luke 9:57  Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”  It is one thing to say you will follow Jesus; it is another to see it through, even when the road is narrow, steep, and nearly impossible.  But, if we come to God, believe in God, diligently seek God, he will reward (heal) us.

In Jesus name,

Tony Sanchez, 1-21-15