There Shall Be Holiness

OBADIAH 1:17-18

“But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,
And there shall be holiness;
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau shall be stubble;
They shall kindle them and devour them,
And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,”
For the LORD has spoken.

Obadiah shows us here that deliverance precedes holiness, but that The Lord says that there shall be holiness. No ifs, no ands or buts. The matter is settled. The matter is where we are, or rather where we must be.

The place of holiness is described as Mount Zion, and that is where His deliverance is to be found — and then there shall be holiness. The Lord has allowed us to see that this holiness is when we are in a certain place… and that place is Mount Zion, God’s Holy Hill. The question then becomes, not am I delivered and holy, but ‘where am I?’ Am I on Mount Zion… or am I elsewhere? What is Zion? In the words of a song…

Zion is a place of singing.
Zion is a place of joy.
Zion is the dwelling of the Lord.
Zion is a place of worship.
Zion is a place of praise.
Zion is the dwelling of the Lord.

So let us climb the hill of Zion,
to the city of the living God.
To the city of the living God.
To the city of the living God.
So let us climb the hill of Zion,
to the city of the living God.
For the ark of the testimony is in our midst.

The most telling phrase to me is Zion is the dwelling of the Lord. The name Zion (or Tsijon) means ‘a parched place’. However, it comes from another word, siyun, meaning dry or solitary place in the sense of conspicuousness: a monumental or guiding pillar; a signpost or waymark. In other words, Zion is a beacon for the people of God — who are the spiritual Jerusalem — pointing the way to come higher — and it can only be seen as a guiding pillar by those touched by the Holy Spirit with the burning desire to know Him more dearly, more nearly. It is The Almighty inviting us to be with Him; to live and abide with Him.

This is a clear and confirming word that Our Lord desires a deep close relationship with Him. What better for us?

Study these words. Almighty God is the revealing of His desire that we come up higher. “Come closer; be nearer…” Our Lord says… Live with Me, abide with Me in My Holy Place. That is fulfilment indeed beyond anything we could imagine.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this we will do if God permits.
HEBREWS 6:1-3

CLIMB THE HILL TO ZION

A CLOSING WORD from DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION HERE...

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COMING NEXT … #547 LET US BUILD THE WALL OF JERUSALEM