Holy......

"Holy, Holy, Holy 
Is the Lord God Almighty 
Who was, and is, and is to come. 
With all creation I sing 
Praise to the King of Kings, 
You are my Everything 
And I will adore You." 

The words are from the Book of Revelation and have been written as a song, "Revelation Song", recently sung by Philips, Craig and Dean and others. Holy... Holy is not only a word used to describe God, but it’s one of His Names.

Elohim Kedoshim -Holy God.

“Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy”. Leviticus 19:2
“He is a holy God..” Joshua 24:19

Not only is He a holy God…but He makes His people Holy.

YVHV M’Kadesh - “The Lord who makes us holy”.
“The nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy.” Ezekiel 37:28

What does it mean to be holy? Webster's Dictionary defines it with words like: 

saintly 
pious 
devout 
religious 
inspiring fear, awe. 

None of those words are quite big enough to describe God, do you think? I don’t think of God as pious, or religious, or saintly…although He does inspire fear and awe.

Strong's Concordance uses words like...

Sacred   
Hallow 
Consecrated    
Sanctuary

All good words…none of them big enough for God, but probably the best we can do with our limited vocabulary. But….sanctuary? That one fascinates me.

What do you think of when you hear the word “sanctuary”. A small room with stiff, wooden bench pews and hardwood floors with a few windows that are open in the summer for a warm breeze and sealed shut in the winter to keep out the icy wind? Or maybe an old stone cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows? Perhaps it’s a lovely, big room with a balcony, full of cloth covered seats with icy cold air conditioning blowing down the aisles? (I sometimes use a lap blanket on Sundays…shhh don’t tell anyone)
But what if a sanctuary is a safe place? A haven…a hiding place. A place to run to when you are scared; a place to hide when the enemy has come at you so strong that you have lost all your strength and just need place to rest. A place to sit and regroup and make a new battle plan. Psalm 91:2 says, “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

My sanctuary…

Holy…. 
Sacred,
Hallowed, 
Consecrated,   
Sanctuary! 
  “In the center around the throne, were four creatures…Day and night they never stop saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’”
Revelation 4:6,8