The word “holy” is not found in the book of Genesis. The first time this word is used is in Exodus. In a sense, man in Genesis was still not brought into God. It was in the book of Exodus, not in the book of Genesis, that God began to have a dwelling place on earth, and to bring man into the Holy of Holies. No matter how high were the spiritual experiences of those in Genesis, there was not on earth the Holy of Holies for man to enter. But in Exodus something extraordinary took place: on earth among men there was a place called the Holy of Holies, and God was there. Men could go to that place and meet God. There in the Holy of Holies, God spoke and administrated. Because such a place is not to be found in Genesis, the word “holy” is not used in that book. When God came in to charge His people to build the tabernacle with the Holy of Holies, the word “holy” began to be used.
The first mention of this word is in the calling of Moses in Exodus 3. As Moses was shepherding the flock, he saw a bush burning in the wilderness. When he turned aside to see why the bush was not consumed, God spoke to him out of the bush, saying, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exo. 3:5). This indicates that wherever God is, that place is holy. Remember, only God is holy. If you have nothing to do with God, then you are not holy, no matter how sinless or perfect you may be. You may be sinless and altogether perfect, but if you are not related to God, you are not holy. But once you are related to God, you immediately become holy.
Any place, any thing, any matter, and any person that is related to God is holy, for whatever is both of God and for God is holy (Lev. 20:26; Num. 16:5; Neh. 8:9; Exo. 30:37).
Furthermore, when the Spirit of God reaches us, He is holy (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:20; 28:19; see Rom. 1:4). This is the reason that the term “Holy Spirit” is not used in the Old Testament. (The occurrences of this term in Psalm 51:11 and Isaiah 63:10 and 11 should be rendered “the spirit of holiness.”) This term was first used when the Lord Jesus was about to be conceived in Mary (Luke 1:35). This signifies that holiness brings God to man and man to God. To go further, it also means to bring God into man and man into God. When God gets into us, we are holy. When we get into God, we are more holy. But when we are mingled with God, we are most holy. Thus, we become holy by having God in us, we become more holy by being in God, and we become the holiest by being mingled, soaked, and saturated with God.
The book of Ephesians calls the believers saints (1:1). Everyone who has believed in the Lord Jesus is a saint. But some saints are holy, some are holier, and some are the holiest. There is no doubt that we all are holy, but it is open to question whether or not we are holier or the holiest. For example, during your time with the Lord in the morning, you may be under the process of being soaked and saturated with Him. But then your wife may say something to offend you and you lose your temper. Thus, after breakfast you go back to your room and pray, “O Lord, forgive me. I was being saturated with You, but one word from my wife caused me to be apart from You. Lord, bring me back to the soaking. Lord, how I praise You for the cleansing blood!” The purpose of this illustration is to point out that when we are in touch with God, we are holy, for then we are under His saturation. But when we are away from God, we are not holy. I repeat, to be holy is not to be perfect or sinless; it is to be one with God. When we are saturated and soaked with God, we shall be the holiest.
We have seen that holiness is God Himself. The first time the word “holy” was used was when God began to have a people on earth among whom He might dwell and who might come into His presence in the Holy of Holies. From that time onward, this word is used again and again in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So many things found in these books are called holy because in these books God has come among man and man has been brought to God; thus everything related to the tabernacle and the priesthood was holy. Everything related to God’s ordination in the Old Testament was holy because it involved the meeting together of God and man.
We have pointed out that the term “Holy Spirit” was used the first time when the Lord Jesus was conceived in the virgin Mary. This was something far greater than God’s dwelling in a tabernacle among men. The tabernacle was God’s dwelling place. But Christ’s incarnation was God’s tabernacling among men. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” This began when Christ was conceived within the womb of Mary. His conception was not only a matter of holiness, but also a matter of the Holy Spirit. Although many things in the Old Testament were holy, there was not anything that was of the Holy Spirit. Only in the New Testament time, when God came into man and became man, do we have something that is of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20).
In the Greek text of the New Testament many times the expression “the Spirit, the holy” is used (1 Thes. 4:8; Heb. 3:7). I have not yet found an adequate explanation of such an expression in Greek. Some explain it as merely being a Greek idiom, but I doubt that this explanation is adequate. According to my spirit, I believe that the reason for this is that in the New Testament the emphasis is not only on the Spirit, but also on holiness. The Spirit is holiness. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Spirit, the holy. Where the Spirit is, there holiness is also.
Today, the Spirit is not only in us; He is making Himself one with us and us one with Him. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” Therefore, holiness actually means to be saturated with God, to cause a common person to be fully saturated with the Spirit. When God came to dwell among men, the word “holy” was used the first time. When God came as man, the term “Holy Spirit” was first mentioned. In order for an article of furniture in the tabernacle to be holy, there was no need of the Spirit. Once the furniture was placed into the tabernacle for God, it immediately became holy. We are not like furniture that is for God; we are living people with the Spirit of God in us to make us one with Him. This is not merely to be holy, but to be saturated with the Holy Spirit. To be holy is firstly to be separated to God; secondly, to be taken over by God; thirdly, to be possessed by God; and fourthly, to be saturated with God and one with God. Eventually, the issue of this in the Bible is the New Jerusalem, which is called the holy city, a city that not only belongs to God and is for God, but a city possessed by God, saturated with God, and one with God. The New Jerusalem is a holy entity belonging to God, possessed by God, saturated with God, and one with God. This is holiness.