The rarest type of diamond is said to be a Type 2a, which is means these types of diamonds are lacking in impurities and color. One of these diamonds is called the Regent. It is 140.6 carats and is worth upwards of around 73 million dollars. The legend behind the diamond is that it was mind in India in 1687 by a man who was enslaved. When he found the diamond in its raw state, he knew it was worth the risk of taking. So the man placed the diamond in an open wound he had and smuggled it to the coast. There he met an English sea captain and told him he would split the sale of the diamond for passage on the captain’s ship. But instead, the captain killed the man and took the diamond for himself. He then sold it to a merchant, who sold it to a local English governor named Pitt. Pitt then, in 1702, smuggled the diamond to England in the heel of his son’s shoe. It took two years for the diamond cutter to shape the piece into its current form. In all Pitt had spent about 4.3 million dollars in the endeavor.
Eventually the Regent diamond was sold to a French Regent, hence the same, and was placed in the French Crown in 1717. Both Louis the 15th and 16th wore it, as did Marie Antoinette. During the French Revolution it was stolen, but was eventually recovered, and since 1887 has been on display in the Louvre.
It’s amazing how much we will spend on a piece of mineral. We will spend money and blood, to purchase something that is shiny. And the purer it is, the more we’re willing to dole out the cash.
It’s this idea of purity that brings us back to our series on God in the manger where we’re looking at the attributes of God and seeing how those appear in the Christmas story.
In our first week we looked at God’s limitless nature. He is the God of the omni’s, the all-powerful transcendent God. Yet in order to open the door to salvation for humanity, God the Son, the Word of God, a fully divine person of the Trinity, limited himself for a period of about thirty-three years. Still possessing the fullness of deity, he limited himself to walk with his creatures. He allowed his creatures to then crucify him, all for the purpose of providing infinite forgiveness for all those who put their trust in him as Savior.
This purposeful action led us into our second week. Where we looked at how God is personal. He’s personal in that he showed purposeful intent to bring about salvation. He showed intent in that he was working out a plan that began even before the first humans walked the earth. He proclaimed this purposes to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds via his angels. We also saw God is personal because he has care and compassion for people. He cares that we are fearful, he cares that we are lost. Because of this, God isn’t seeking to deal with us harshly, nor is he indifferent to our sin situation. God has compassion on us, and through his purposeful action, the Son of God descends to take on human flesh and stand in our place, that we might not be condemned by our own sinful actions.
With that in mind, we turn to one of the most talked about attributes throughout all of the Scriptures: that God is the pure one, the set a part one, the holy one.
The first time the word is used is in Genesis 2:3, where the writer notes, “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
In Exodus, Moses would learn that where God was, that place was considered holy ground (Ex. 3). As the Israelites entered into covenantal relationship with God, he told Moses, “5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation … (Exodus 19:5-6a)’”
The reason for them being a holy nation is because “26 You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. (Leviticus 20:26)”
The people of God recognized the holiness of God. In the book of Job we’re told, “Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. (34:12)”
The prophet Habakkuk proclaimed, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong …(Habakkuk 1:13a)”
In the New Testament James wrote, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. (1:13)”
And when a man who thought he was good came to Jesus, and addressed Jesus as good, Jesus replied with, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18)” The implication is, the man didn’t understand what the holy goodness of God was, nor that he was indeed speaking to the holy God.
The holiness of God is where his goodness in rooted in. He is pure and perfect. No sin can touch him, nor can he engage in sinful activity.
This is where the Christmas story picks up. In Isaiah 9:6, a song of restoration is sung, and we’re told, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This song proclaims that the holy God is coming to restore. He will enter into his creation to bring about his holy purposes.
Later in Isaiah, in another song, we are told how this restoration will be inaugurated. The 53rd chapter, starting in verse 4 reads, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all … And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. (v. 4-6, 9)” The holy God-child, who will become a holy God-man, will commit no wrong, yet take on the wrong of all people. He will be beat and killed, not for his own sin, but for the sins of his creatures.
Paul would write about this in 2 Corinthians 5:21, telling us that Jesus, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Seeing Jesus’ sacrifice as a holy act of a priest interceding for people, the Hebrew writer states, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (4:15)” That same writer would then later write, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.(7:26)”
Jesus is the holy God, who became the holy God-child, who became the holy God-man, who lived out his holiness among his creation, so that he could take the place of sinful humanity as an infinite payment for their sin. He understands our sins because he lived along side of them, yet he never succumbed to the allure of sin. He kept himself holy.
This was seen by his closest disciple, and because of that sinless life, Peter would later write, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ( 1 Peter 2:22-24)”
The Christmas story is that the holy God, who calls his people to be holy, descends to an unholy creation to redeem them and make them holy. The pure enters into the impure to make them pure. Paul would proclaim that the presence of the holy God dwells in everyone who trusts in Jesus as Savior. Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)”
Through this indwelling God is working to bring about holiness in us. Paul writes to the Roman Church, “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (8:28-30).”
God’s purpose has always been to make people holy. He made all creation good when he spoke it into being. He blessed the Sabbath as a holy day for his creation to rest with him. But with the fall of humanity, holiness was seemingly lost. But God pays the price for sin, thereby opening the door to his holiness once again. That door is Jesus himself. The fully God fully man who lived a sinless life, to pay for the sins of all who would accept the payment on their behalf. The holy God now indwells his people and is bringing them closer to his holiness in this life, and fully into that holiness in eternity.
The Christmas story is that God’s holiness becomes our holiness, through the holy Redeemer and Savior Jesus. Because of his work, Jesus’ doesn’t call his disciples sinners, but rather, saints. Which comes from the Latin word sanctus, which is translated from the Hebrew word holy. Those who have placed their trust in Jesus are his holy ones. And if the holy God calls those whom he has redeemed holy, then we need to walk in that holiness.
So my challenge for you this week is simple. Start your day off, with reciting the words of God from 1 Peter 1:16, “since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” Then make your first request to God for the day, “Lord let me see, more today, the holy work that you have and are accomplishing in my life. I want to be holy as you are holy.”
Let us be saints who walk in the holiness of God so that others might see the mighty work of God in us that is founded in the Holy God, who became the holy God-man to redeem humanity from its sin. Amen.
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