We have seen that when we enjoy the divine nature, we mainly enjoy God as Spirit, love, and light because these are the three main constituents of the divine nature. Spirit is the nature of God’s Person, love is the nature of God’s essence, and light is the nature of God’s expression. To partake of the divine nature is to partake of the divine Spirit, the divine love, and the divine light. When we touch the Spirit this issues in the Person of God. When we touch God as the super, nobler, and higher love the issue is that we are made distinct and different. If we never touch the love of God, we are all people who have “the same feathers.” The human community can be described by the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Human society has been “darkened” by sin. In this respect, everyone in the human race is basically the same. The high officials, the professors, the people from different cultures, the modern people, and the backward people are all the same, of the same feathers. When someone gets saved, however, and they contact the Lord daily, remaining in the fellowship and cooperating with the inward divine operation, they are filled with God as love. This inward love makes them different. They become distinct in their school, in their homes, and among their relatives, colleagues, and classmates.
The real meaning of the word holiness is separation and distinction. Among billions of material things in the universe there is one item that is distinct and uncommon—gold. Gold typifies God in His divine nature. God is distinct, which means that God is holy. The opposite of the word holy is common. Gold signifies the “golden God” or the holy God, the very God of separation. Our God is separated and is a God of separation. To be holy is to be set aside, to be separated, to be made distinct, just as God is.
After reading this, do not make up your mind to be distinct or to make yourself different. If you remain in the divine fellowship to enjoy not only what God gives or what God does for you but also what God is as love in His essence and as light in His expression, you will be bathed in the love of God. You will become not only a man of love, but you will become love itself. This love makes you distinct. If you are a married brother, the first one to realize that you are different and distinct is your wife. If you would remain in fellowship with the Lord for a length of time, both your wife and your children will have the realization that you are different after this fellowship. The issue of remaining in the fellowship is that you become someone who is not common but holy. In your office all your colleagues realize that you are different. In your school the teachers realize that you are different. Among your relatives you are a different person and they realize it. You are holy, which means that you are different from all the others. You are different, separated, and uncommon. God is distinct and separate from all the material things in the universe, and the New Jerusalem is a golden mountain, a distinct entity in the entire universe. Also, every local church as a golden lampstand is distinct and different.
First Peter 1:15 and 16 indicate that we must have a holy manner of life because our God is holy. He is called “the Holy One.” This means that since our God is golden, we have to be golden. Our God is a big piece of gold, so we have to be small pieces of gold. First Peter 1 also refers us to love. Verse 22 of chapter one tells us that we have to love the brothers with an unfeigned love. Our experiences tell us that the genuine holiness, the consummation of the Christian holiness, is the issue of the enjoyment of God as love. This love makes you holy, makes you different, makes you distinct, makes you separated from being common. In Peter’s first Epistle, we see holiness with love.
Love is the nature of the divine essence. Note 101 of Hebrews 12 (Recovery Version) tells us that holiness is God’s nature. We must realize, however, that holiness is God’s nature in its separation and distinction. Holiness is not an element but a condition, a manner. Love is God’s nature in His essence, light is God’s nature in His expression, Spirit is God’s nature in His Person, but holiness is not God’s nature in some element. It is God’s nature in its condition, and the condition is separation and distinction.