Have you considered how evil our evil is? From God’s perspective we are truly evil in our original fallen condition. In Psalm 50, a Psalm of Asaph, he says beginning in verse 16, “But to the wicked one God says, ‘What right have you to tell of My statutes and to take My covenant in your mouth?’” He goes on to list their evil, and then arrives at verse 21 and says, “These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you.” That identifies a major issue between us and God. Not only are we corrupt in our sin, and with our deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9), but we are also so engulfed in sin that we are hardened and blind to it and cannot comprehend the infinite differences between ourselves and our holy God.

When I was doing a study on Revelation and came to the last two chapters which describe the eternal state of those redeemed by Christ, the emphasis God places on righteousness stands out. In Revelation 21:7 He states, “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be His God and he will be my son.” Then he goes on and says in verse 8, “But the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” The sins listed here cover what we may think of as lesser including “cowardly” to the greater of “murderers.” The list is extensive showing us that sin in any form will not be tolerated or possible in the eternal order. These define who we were by nature prior to our conversion. The Lord is saying in our glorified state we take none of this with us.

Later in chapter 21 He describes the new holy city of Jerusalem and the reality that we will be entering bringing the glory and honor of the nations into it. He goes on to state, “And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Later, still in chapter 22 beginning in verse 14 He makes a contrast between, “Those who wash their robes, so that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” Then He says in verse 15, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murders and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

We are into the season of politics. I don’t think anything illustrates the sin of lying like many who are engaged in politics. Somehow, the nature of trying to gain political office has become a nest for all manner of lying and deception. This of course is within the nature of man to do. Mankind excuses his lying based on what he thinks is a higher calling to get himself elected or re-elected to office. Politics is no different than everyday life in the fallen world. Most are doing whatever is necessary to promote what they believe is their happiness and well-being by whatever it takes. God says, “You thought I was just like you!” You will notice again by the emphasis in the coming place of glory that God will not tolerate sin in any form. He is a holy God. We that belong to Him are to be a holy people. The phrase and command, “Be holy” is found numerous times in Scripture. Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written; you shall be holy, for I AM holy.”

You may recall that it was Peter in Luke 5:8 who after Christ performed a miracle of filling his nets with fish that Peter recognized the greatness of our Lord by falling down at Jesus feet saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Our Lord’s greatness is infinite in every way, but never forget that He is holy. He is righteous and good and we by nature and actions are not. Just as Peter, our first step is to fall down before Him. All glory belongs to Him. All forgiveness and future hope is in Him. The only righteousness that is acceptable to God is His righteousness as our substitute. As those who follow Jesus, holiness should hold a top priority in our life and thinking. We are to be holy because He is holy. Holiness is not only our privilege, but it is a wonderful state of which none of us have ever experienced. One of the inconceivable joys of glory is that we will be holy. If we apply this understanding to our lives today, we will make it our prayer and practice to walk in a manner worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus. We will pursue holiness without which no man will see the Lord.