Post Script to Incoming

Postscript to Incoming: Some may interpret this vision of God to be an overbearing, “my-way-or-the-highway” bully. He has this impossible vision of everyone being perfect and holy and when people do not measure up, He thunders punishment and damnation. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Now it is true that God is holy, and, as mentioned before, that everyone who comes before Him must also be holy. Leviticus 11:44 declares, “Be holy for I am holy.” And if He required us to meet that standard in our own ability, we would fail. Here we appeal to the Names of God for help.

YAHWEH-M'KADDESH is a name that we find in Leviticus 20:8. It means, "The Lord Who Sanctifies, Makes Holy." The Holy God also makes us holy. And further, He also gives us His righteousness. YAHWEH-TSIDKENU , or "The Lord Our Righteousness” is found in  Jeremiah 33:16. The perfectly holy God makes us holy and gives us His righteousness. We can meet the standard of Leviticus 11:44.

This is illustrated in the parable Jesus told about a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. The invited guests failed to appear, so he brought in guests from the highways and byways to celebrate. And, when he inspected the assemblage he noticed a guest who did not have proper  wedding garments. He was obviously out of place because everyone else had the proper attire.

When questioned as to why he was not properly dressed, “he had no answer.” That is because the host provided the proper clothes for every guest when he or she arrived. This guy had refused to accept the offered clothing. This was both and affront and an insult to the host and to his son. (Matthew 22:3)
Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This was not arbitrary or capricious. The host had provided the proper dress and he had insisted on wearing his own clothes. They were unworthy and dishonoring to the host and his son.
The guest had no right or ability to stay. In the same way, God has provided what man needs to be in fellowship with Him, and to spend eternity with Him in heaven. If someone refuses to accept that covering, the righteousness of Jesus, he will have no place in heaven. Just as Nadab and Abihu refused to accept the proper fire and insisted on using their own, wearing our own clothes will be an affront and an act of disobedience to God.

The Name, Jesus, means Savior. He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) The proper clothing is provided, just as the proper fire was available to Nadab and Abihu. They made the wrong choice.

We are faced with the identical choice. Obey and live. Why would anyone want to choose the alternative? Choose life.