Psalm 24:3-4—Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
When I was a sophomore in high school, my journalism class took a trip to Columbia University in New York City to attend a three-day journalism convention and to do some sight-seeing in the Big Apple. Back in those days I wasn’t very studious and I wasn’t particularly interested in the academic portion of the trip, apart from trying to meet some college girls. (But what my sophomoric mind failed to realize was that our trip coincided with spring break and there wasn’t a single college girl left on the campus.) Well, at least I got to see the Statue of Liberty.
During that trip we spent a whole afternoon meandering through the Museum of Modern Art. Now maybe some of you understand or even like modern art, but I was personally baffled by the outrageous exhibits that they classified as art. But there was one piece of real art in that museum that I wanted to see: Vincent Van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night. Other than The Mona Lisa, it was the only painting in the world that I would have recognized. My art teacher had taught a unit on Van Gogh and I genuinely liked the deep blue colors in painting and was fascinated by an artist who would cut off his ear and mail it to a brothel.
When I finally found the infamous painting, I was astounded by how exposed and unprotected it was. It was simply hanging on the wall at eye level with only a narrow rope forming a flimsy perimeter around the precious piece and a little sign hanging on it that bore the words “Do Not Touch.” As I stood alone gazing into The Starry Night, I was overcome by a malevolent desire to break the rules and touch it. I wondered what would happen if I did. The possibility of sounding an alarm or getting apprehended by the NYPD only added to the excitement. After contemplating this for a while, I looked around to make sure no one was watching and I gently leaned over the rope and pressed my pointer finger into the lower right-hand corner of the masterpiece.
I didn’t hear any alarms or footsteps coming at me, but as I walked away I could feel my stomach sinking into the pit of guilt. Just like Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden, I had touched something that was never meant to be touched. My selfish act marred something that was pure and beautiful. Even though I didn’t get caught, I immediately regretted what I had done. I didn’t have clean hands and I definitely didn’t have a pure heart; I was unholy!
Maybe you have never illegally touched a famous painting before, but I am quite sure that all of you have acted in an unholy manner at some point in your life. Perhaps you made a selfish choice that marred something or someone who was pure and beautiful. Maybe you engaged in some immoral behavior or committed some malicious act.
I have never met anyone who doesn’t have any regrets. We have all had enough impure thoughts, spoken enough wicked words, and done enough depraved deeds that we can confess the words of the late British author E.M. Forster, who said, “I’m a holy man minus the holiness.” The Psalmist asks the question, “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?” The answer is “he who has clean hands and a pure heart.” The problem is that none of us has clean hands or a pure heart. Therefore, we cannot stand in his holy place!
God’s Holiness
The definition of holiness is to be separated from all sin and evil. True holiness means to be absolutely morally perfect. When we see God’s attribute of holiness, we realize just how unholy we are. That is exactly what happened to the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 6:1-7, he explains his divine vision:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
The Bible is filled with passages that assert and describe the holiness of God, but this one is paramount. It is one of only two places in the Bible that uses the tri-repeated formula “holy, holy, holy” (the other one is found in Revelation 4) to intensify God’s attribute of holiness.
What an incredible vision! Isaiah saw God seated on the throne in heaven. He saw six-winged seraphs (angels) hovering above him echoing antiphonic affirmations of God’s holiness and glory. The power of their collective voices shook the doorposts and thresholds of the temple. Even this small glimpse of God’s holiness was enough to cause Isaiah to recognize his own sinfulness. He openly confesses, “Woe to me! I am ruined! I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…”
Matthew Henry, the notable 17th century biblical commentator once said, “No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.” It is true, when we consider God’s holiness, his moral purity and perfection; every ounce of our self-righteousness is stripped away. When you look into a dirty mirror you can’t see the dirt on your face, but when you look into a clean mirror, you see your face for how it really is. Likewise, when we look at God’s holiness, we see just how impure and imperfect we really are. Have you looked into the mirror of God’s holiness lately? He is “holy, holy, holy”; we are “sinful, sinful, sinful!” Guilty human beings cannot be in the presence of a holy God. Like Isaiah, we stand guilty before God’s holiness and are in great need of atonement.
Jesus Fulfills our Lack of Holiness
Thankfully, there is one human being who did live a holy life and who was worthy to grant us atonement. Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, was the only human being to ever live a truly holy life. He experienced all of the same temptations and pressures to sin that we do, but he maintained his moral perfection. Hebrews 4:14-15 says:
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Furthermore, Jesus sacrificed his perfect life on the cross to pay the penalty for our moral imperfections. When he shed his blood and died, he gave his holiness to the unholy so that God would remember our sins no more. Reflect on Hebrews 10:10-22:
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Do you see what this text is saying? It is impossible for us to be holy by trying to be holy! The only way we can become holy is by receiving Christ’s holiness that he offers to us through his death on the cross. When Jesus becomes our priest and mediator, we become positionally perfect in God’s sight and we begin the process of becoming practically holy in our lives. This is the greatest news in the world! Jesus fulfills our lack of holiness!
When God looks at you, what does he see? Does he see someone who is pointlessly striving for personal holiness or someone who has been made holy by Christ’s incredible sacrifice?
God’s Holiness is a Model for Our Holiness
Now after a person has received Christ’s positional holiness through genuine faith, the proper way to express gratitude is by using God’s holiness as model for our holiness. Notice what it says in 1 Peter 1:13-16:
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Because of the grace and holiness that we have received through Jesus Christ, we should prepare our minds for action, be self-controlled, set our minds on Jesus’ return, avoid evil desires, and work to be holy in all we do! We should use God’s holiness as a model for our own lives!
Well, as I conclude, let me return to the Psalmist’s question: Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He (or she) who has clean hands and a pure heart! I hope that today you have learned that none of us has clean hands or a pure heart, but when we place our trust in Jesus Christ, he gives us his clean hands and pure heart. And we show him our gratitude by modeling our lives after God’s holiness, even though we know that we will never attain it in this life. But let us do our best to be holy because he is holy!