Being Holy: Biblical Perspective, Part 5

Reason number two, because God hates sin. Why you should pursue holiness? Because God hates sin. Sin is an affront to God’s holiness. God hates sin. Sin is an insult to God. Sin demeans God’s holiness and His authority. How much does He hate it? Listen to what God says of his anointed cherub, an angelic being in Ezekiel 28: 11-17, ‘Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground…”

This is the origin of Satan. He was perfect in all sense: being, wisdom and beauty. He was in the Garden of Eden, he walked on the holy mountain of God, he had many responsibilities, he was the anointed one, yet the moment he sinned, God threw him out of heaven. God hates sin in its entirety. As far as east is from the west, so far away is our God from sin. Sin has no place in heaven and no one who is tainted with sin can or will ever be able to make his/her way to heaven. God is serious about sin and does not push it under the carpet.