The Pre-requisite for Holiness

The first requirement of man is to be Holy as God is Holy (Leviticus 19:1-2).  From Christian upbringing, I was given to understand that to be Holy is to be sanctified or set apart; to be blameless and righteous and pure. But while researching on what the word “Holy” exactly meant, I came across many words that are synonymous to the word Holy, some of which are adored, among the angels, consecrated, divine, enthroned, glorified, inviolable, redeemed, resurrected, revered, rewarded, sacred, sacrosanct, saved and unprofane.

The one word that caught my attention is the word “resurrected“. This means that to be Holy is to be resurrected. Every one needs to be spiritually resurrected in order to fulfill the very first requirement of God. The good news is that everyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creature, resurrected to walk in newness of life, relinquishing the ways of death. The prophet Obadiah writes that upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness (Obadiah 1:17). Only those who are washed pure by the pure blood of Jesus, are those who are delivered from the power of the devil and the fear of death, and are resurrected (Holy) to eternal life. Without deliverance (from the bondage of sin), there can be no holiness. The pre-requisite for Holiness is Deliverance, i.e., belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for him whom the Son (of God) delivers (sets free from the bondage of death) is resurrected (Holy) indeed (John 8:36).

Obadiah 1:17 (KJV)
¹⁷ But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.