The children of Israel were overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and awe. They had just witnessed one of the most dramatic miracles of all time—the Red Sea literally opening up and providing them a highway of escape from their captors! Not only had God brought them through the midst of this mighty body of water without so much as getting their feet wet, He had then closed the waters over the pursuing Egyptian army!
The Israelites were in a festive mood as they celebrated their deliverance from Egypt. Only a week earlier they had been slaves in Egypt ready to begin their exodus. Now, on the seventh and final day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they stood on the eastern bank of the Red Sea singing the Song of Moses. This was only the beginning, however.
Over the next weeks, Moses led the people farther and farther into a desolate wilderness area en route to Sinai, the mountain of God. After several days the people began to worry about where they would get water and food. In spite of their griping and complaining, God performed miracles to give them a flowing stream of water out of a rock and to give them manna to eat. In the course of providing manna, God also performed a weekly miracle that made clear which day He had sanctified as the Sabbath. An eventful six weeks elapsed as they made their trek to Sinai. Finally, on the first day of the third month, they arrived. The literal Hebrew in Exodus 19:1 shows that they arrived on the day of “the third moon.” The expression “the same day” in that context means the day that the third moon—or month—began.
Preparations began to be made for the God of Israel to address His people from Mount Sinai. Over the next few days, Moses went up and down the mountain to receive God’s message, convey it to the people, and then bring their response back to God. Finally, on Sunday, the sixth day of the third month, Moses had all of the people assemble at the foot of the mountain. This was the first celebration of the day that we call Pentecost, known as the Feast of Weeks in Old Testament times.
A cloud settled on the top of the mountain, lightning flashed and thunder rolled. Then the whole mountain suddenly began to quake, as smoke and fire ascended up from the top. As the people stood awestruck and trembling at the foot of the mountain, a great voice boomed out. “I am YHVH your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,” the voice began. During the following minutes, each of the Ten Commandments was thundered to the people below. God was preparing to enter into a special covenant with the people whom He had delivered, and He was stating the terms of that covenant to them.
His sparing of their lives and subsequent deliverance from Egyptian slavery had been only a prelude. Israel had now come to Sinai, the mountain of God, to meet with their Creator and Savior. The relationship into which they were then entering had been offered to no other people. It was being offered to them because of the special relationship established between God and their ancestor, Abraham.
Understanding the purpose and the demands of the Sinai Covenant is important to Christians today. Just as the covenant at Sinai was an extension of the covenant which the Creator had established with Abraham centuries earlier, so also the New Covenant, which Christ came proclaiming, is an extension of both. The relationship God offered to Israel of old is a type of the relationship that He offers to spiritual Israel today. As we look at what God demanded of them, we will be better able to understand what He desires of us.
Called to Be Holy
In Exodus 19:6, the Eternal told Moses that He intended Israel to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What is holiness, and what does it mean to be holy?
Understanding the answer to this question is fundamental to understanding all of God’s covenants. It is also vital not only to understanding the relationship that God has chosen to establish with us, but also to understanding what our response to God’s initiative in our lives must be. Herein lies much of the real meaning of Pentecost.
The essence of holiness is that it is an innate quality of God. “Holy and reverend is His name,” we are told in Psalm 111:9 (KJV). God is holy and where God chooses to place His presence becomes holy. The Hebrew word for holy is q’adesh and, according to The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, the elemental meaning is associated with separation. It refers to something that is separate from the secular mundane sphere, but rather is reserved for God Himself. This is apparent when we look at the terms used as antonyms for holy in the scripture. In Leviticus 10:10 we find that the priests are to make a distinction between “the holy and the common” (Jewish Publication Society translation). Ezekiel 22:26 uses a similar expression in indicting the priesthood for profaning God’s holy things by failing to put a proper “difference between the holy and the common” (JPS). Clearly the opposite of holy is that which is not separate and distinct, but rather is treated like everything else around.
Further evidence of this meaning is shown in examining other scriptures. In Leviticus 27:28 we are told, “…every devoted offering is most holy to the LORD.” Speaking of those individuals specially devoted to God under a Nazarite vow, Numbers 6:8 enjoins, “All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD.” Another aspect of this is brought out by the injunction to the priests in Leviticus 22:2–3: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel… [because whoever] goes near the holy things which the children of Israel sanctify to the LORD, while he has uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the LORD.” We learn two things here. One is that something becomes holy by being devoted, consecrated or set apart for God. Secondly, we learn that uncleanness and holiness do not mix. What is devoted to God must be kept away from what is impure.
Through the various ritual washings and ceremonies that Israel was to observe under the Levitical administration, God sought to emphasize the importance of respecting the things that pertained to Him. Clearly, purity or cleanness is an important aspect of holiness. That which is consecrated to God must not be polluted by the unclean, or treated in a common manner. By making a distinction between those things that are common and those that are devoted to God, we are showing reverence to the Creator.
Understanding some of what holiness entails makes more meaningful such passages as Leviticus 19:2 where Israel is commanded, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” This point is reiterated in numerous other places. Notice Leviticus 20:26, “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” God called His covenant people into a special relationship with Him. The essence of that relationship is that they were to be different from the surrounding nations. They were to have an access to the Creator that others were denied, but in order to retain that access they must be clean—and indeed their entire lives must be devoted to God.
Ancient Israel showed, over and over, its failure to maintain the special covenant relationship with the Holy God. This covenant relationship was likened to a marriage. God pictured Himself in the role of husband, while Israel was the wife. In Jeremiah 2:2–3, the prophet writes: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the LORD, the firstfruits of His increase.” Later, Jeremiah quoted the Eternal as saying, “‘But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me,’ says the LORD” (Jeremiah 3:1). A little later God inspired Jeremiah to record: “‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the LORD;
‘for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion’” (v. 14). Though God was faithful to His marriage to Israel under the Old Covenant, the nation simply did not have a heart to obey (cf. Deuteronomy 5:29)!
What is the answer to this dilemma? Very simply, God proposed to make a new covenant with Israel, one in which He would give the people a new heart. Jeremiah records God’s promise in Jeremiah 31:31–34: “‘Behold the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the LORD. ‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: after those days, says the LORD, will I put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’”
Notice the three aspects of the New Covenant as it differs from the Old. The law will be written by God’s Spirit in the hearts and minds of the covenant people. Secondly, all who are part of this covenant will personally know God, not simply hear about Him from others. Thirdly, the New Covenant offers forgiveness of sin to those who share in it. Under the administration of the Old Covenant, animal sacrifices gave a reminder of sin (Hebrews 10:3), but it was not possible for them to actually pay the penalty for sin (v. 4).
In introducing the New Covenant, there is nothing said about changing the law or the righteous requirements of a holy God. Rather, God sets out to change and transform the people, beginning in the heart and mind. Notice how the prophet Ezekiel describes the results of the New Covenant that God promised: “Then will I sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you… I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25–27). The purpose for which God offers His Spirit is to enable His people to truly keep His law. Clearly, the New Covenant does not do away with the commandments of God!
Holiness in the New Testament
The Apostle Peter explained that God’s Church has a similar calling under the New Covenant to that of ancient Israel under the Old. “But you are a chosen generation,” Peter wrote, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We have been called out of this world by Almighty God to be different and distinct as His people.
Peter explained this concept further. We are to be, he wrote, “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:14–16). Holiness clearly involves the way that we live as Christians. Our conduct, once we have entered into a covenant with our Creator at baptism, is to be markedly different from the way we were before, when we lived in ignorance of God’s great plan and of His ways.
The Apostle Paul also wrote very forcefully about what our being a holy people under the New Covenant entails. Notice what he said: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?… For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.’ Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 6:14–18, 7:1). Again, in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, we see that purity and separation from the world are important aspects of holiness.
How do we as individuals become holy under the New Covenant? Initially we were cut off from God, estranged and alienated by our sinful thoughts and ways. However, God took the initiative to redeem us—to purchase us for Himself. He did this by offering His uniquely begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sins. We were reconciled to God by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and we shall be saved through His life (Romans 5:10). His payment on the stake for our sins was only the starting point of Christ’s redemptive ministry. After three days and three nights in the tomb, Jesus Christ was resurrected through the power of the Father. He ascended on high to sit at the right hand of the Father and to serve as our mediator and High Priest. Part of this role involves coming into the lives of Spirit-begotten Christians to live His life in them (Galatians 2:20).
Just before His death, Christ explained to His disciples that it was expedient for them that He would go away. If He went, He explained, He would send the Helper—the Holy Spirit—which would lead and guide them (John 16:7). Ten days after His ascension into Heaven came the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). His disciples were suddenly empowered with the Spirit and then proceeded to preach to the multitudes how they also could receive the same power. “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” Peter declared, “and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Through the cleansing and life-changing effect of the Holy Spirit, offered as a gift upon the condition of our responding to God with faith and repentance, we can share in the New Covenant.
We are sanctified, set apart as holy, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2). God’s mercy and grace are freely offered, but we are admonished not to receive that grace in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). We are to respond to God’s call by believing His message and unconditionally surrendering our lives to Him, turning from our ways to His. This is repentance. Being justified (made innocent before God) is pictured by the Passover. The Days of Unleavened Bread show our part in God’s plan of salvation. Pentecost pictures our being made holy.
Understanding the importance of our being a holy people is what explains the Christian life and why God’s people must be different from the world around us. We must love the people in the world and be willing to help and serve them. However, we must uphold different values and priorities than those who do not know the true God. Holiness should be reflected in all areas of our conduct. For instance, the entertainment we choose and the way in which we relax should not reflect the empty and decadent values of this society. The way we pursue dating and marriage is to be carried out in holiness and honor, not in lust and immorality like it is in the world around (1 Thessalonians 4:3–5). The way we live our lives, as men and women, is to reflect the values of chastity, modesty, and discretion in our dress, demeanor and speech. This reflects reverence for God and the pursuit of holiness (cf. Titus 2:1–8).
As Christians we must reject the uncleanness of a world built upon lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life (1 John 2:16). The Apostle Paul taught us that, “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).