What Makes a Saint Holy?
7/11 Reading Portions: Joshua 14-15; Psalms 146-147; Jeremiah 7; Matthew 21
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
7/11 Reading Portions: Joshua 14-15; Psalms 146-147; Jeremiah 7; Matthew 21
Joshua 15:53
But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
PRESENCE
In the days of Abram, the city was called Salem (Gen 14:18). In the days of Joshua and in the days of Israel’s judges afterward, the city was called Jebus because of the Jebusites who inhabited the city (Judge 19:10-11). The Jebusites were finally conquered by David and the city would forever be known as Jerusalem (1 Chr 11:4-9). Jerusalem is the holy city (Isa 52:1), where God has placed His name forever (2 Chr 33:4). We are commanded to pray for Jerusalem’s peace (Psa 122:6). So, what makes Jerusalem so special? Why is Jerusalem called the holy city?
What makes Jerusalem the holy city of God is that God declared it to be so. Yet He doesn’t do so willy-nilly. He declared it based on the eternal truth that His only begotten Son would be circumcised and named Y’shua there (Luke 2). Jerusalem is holy because it is the city where Jesus would observe the feasts of the LORD with His disciples (Lev 23). Jerusalem is holy because Christ taught in the temple. Jerusalem is holy because the Lord Jesus instituted the communion there. Jerusalem is holy because Christ Jesus was crucified there. Jerusalem is holy because the Lord of glory was buried there. Jerusalem is holy because the Messiah rose from the dead there. Jerusalem is holy because Jesus of Nazareth ascended into heaven from there. The only reason Jerusalem is holy is because of what Jesus Christ did there.
We are commanded to be holy because God is holy (1 Pet 1:15-16). Yet this is the open secret: the only thing that makes you and me holy, as redeemed sinners saved by grace, is the presence of the person of Jesus Christ. It’s not what we think, know, do, say, or where we are that makes us holy. Certainly, as we grow more intimately with Jesus Christ, those things will grow in the beauty of holiness; however, it is Christ alone, by God’s grace alone, that makes us holy. May we endeavor to crucify the flesh daily and live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave His life for us (Gal 2:20). Hallelujah! What a Savior!