(448) – THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL 4

As we have seen in study number one, holy means set apart, in other words, the holy does not get united with the unclean, or with evil, lies, darkness, crime, uncleanness, hatred, injustice, sin, wrong, guilt, etc.

Jesus is this Holy One, as we read in the letter to the Hebrews: “For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).

Jehovah, who declares himself to be holy (Lev. 19:2), and who declares that his name is holy, should fulfill all the requisites of holiness, that is to say, to be separate from all things of this world which are evil and unrighteous. John declares what this world is, saying: “Don’t love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

1.  Jehovah rules in this world, for it is written: “God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne” (Ps. 47:8). We conclude that Jehovah is not holy, for the works of this world are evil (John 7:7).

2.  Jehovah places the world in the hearts of men (Eccl. 3:11). Placing the world in the hearts of men, he places all the desires of the flesh and the pride of the world; therefore he is not holy.

3.  Jehovah is the one who makes the wicked for the evil day (Prov. 16:4); therefore he is not holy. Satan should be the one to make the wicked, not Jehovah; therefore Jehovah is not holy.

4. When someone does not turn to Jehovah he sharpens his sword and bends his bow and makes it ready with fiery shafts and prepares deadly weapons (Ps. 7:12-13). Therefore he is not holy, but vengeful and cruel.

5.  When Jehovah summons a simple man and he does not answer; when such a man finds himself lost and devastated, and distress and anguish come over him, and such a man cries out to Jehovah, this god mocks and laughs, and as much as this man may cry out, Jehovah does not listen to him (Prov. 1:23-28); therefore Jehovah is not holy, for he does not have pity.

6.  Jehovah, the holy one of Israel, oppresses his people, and he has delivered them in the hands of the plunderers; therefore he is not holy, for Satan is the one who oppresses (2 Kings 17:20).

7.  The holy one of Israel is a terrible politician, for he is the leader of those who are tyrannical and wicked: “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men” (Dan. 4:17; Jer. 27:6-8). Jehovah has never been holy.

8.  Jehovah is the contaminant. He affirms: “I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through [the fire] all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Jehovah” (Ezek. 20:26). Jehovah is a holy being that contaminates.

9.  The holy one of Israel is a tyrant: “As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you” (Ezek. 20:33).

10.  Jehovah corrupts the sinners’ children: “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. ‘If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,’ says Jehovah of Armies, ‘then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it’” (Mal. 2:1-3). Seed, in the Bible language is the children, the offspring. Besides corrupting children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Jehovah curses the blessings he gives. Whoever does that is far from being holy, for the holy one does not change, or corrupts innocents.

11.  Jehovah practices evil in his wrath and in his fury. He confesses: “For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good, says Yahweh: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire” (Jer. 21:10). Jehovah was overcome by evil; therefore he is not holy. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said: “Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

12.  The people sinned against the law of Jehovah, and then they were stricken with pestilences, plagues, and curses. Jeremiah prayed for his people, and this irritated Jehovah, who gave them the following command: “Jehovah said to me, ‘Don’t pray for this people for [their] good’” (Jer. 14:11). As Jehovah forbid Jeremiah to pray for good, this prophet began to pray for evil. Let us read: “Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed; let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed; bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction” (Jer. 17:18). Jeremiah says somewhere else: “Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men struck of the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, Jehovah, you know all their counsel against me to kill me; don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal you with them in the time of your anger” (Jer. 18:21-23). How can that be possible? Is a prophet of the stature of Jeremiah summoning curses over the people of God? Since Jehovah forbade Jeremiah to pray for the good of Israel, and since he declared that he had set his face against them for evil and not for good, Jeremiah cast curses against his brothers and sinned against holiness and love, but he pleased Jehovah, the holy one of Israel (Jer. 21:10).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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