Holy Nation ג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ

We are in chapter nineteen of Exodus with our word for today, which is a phrase. ג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ holy nation. It is used just this one time in our chapter in the Old Testament. Our phrase is the third part of the three benefits God lists from obeying his voice and keeping his covenant that we have looked at over the last couple of days. If we remember agreements are entered into because it benefits both groups. This third benefit listed sounds like it is just for God. The reality is the best thing that can happen to any one of us is that we are a holy nation for God. Exodus 19:5-6 If you keep my covenant...you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples...and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests וְג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ and a holy nation. Over the past few days we saw that God gets us out of this agreement in that we are his treasured possession and he gets a kingdom of priests and today a holy nation. Even though the phrase is just used this one time we find the words together in a few other passages conveying the same thought. Leviticus 20:26 You are to be קְדֹשִׁ֔ים holy to me because I, the Lord, קָד֖וֹשׁ am holy, וָאַבְדִּ֥ל and I have set you apart מִן־הָֽעַמִּ֖ים from the nations to be my own. Deuteronomy 26:19 He will set you...high above all הַגּוֹיִם֙ the nations he has made and that you will be a people קָדֹ֛שׁ holy to the Lord your God. Isaiah 55:5 Surely you will summon גּ֤וֹי nations you know not, וְג֥וֹי and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the וְלִקְד֥וֹשׁ Holy One of Israel.” 

So in what ways were God’s people in the Old Testament a holy nation? Some interesting ideas would be this idea of the temple being not just for God’s people but a house of prayer for all the nations (Isaiah 56:7). Also the very fact that God himself has a special relationship with his people which we have already looked at over the last few days with the idea of covenant (Deuteronomy 4:7). We know that in the Old Testament God’s people were holy in the sense that they were set apart from other nations in two specific ways. When we let the Holy Spirit interpret the Old Testament for us we can be confident this is the sense that God means Holy Nation. So the Spirit speaking through Paul says this about God’s people being different or special apart from all other nations. Romans 3:2 The Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. Did you catch that? God used his people in the Old Testament as a holy nation in the sense that he entrusted the Bible to them and he brought his son the chosen Christ into the world through them. That is really amazing and special. We also see the Holy Spirit drawing this conclusion through Peter. God takes what is said here in our chapter today and applies it to the work of the church. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Believers in Christ are to be used by God as a royal priesthood which is another way to say a kingdom of priests to help people connect to God through Christ. And we are a holy nation in that God has made us like him and given us his spirit that is more powerful than our own sinful desires so we can be more like him. And so we can be an example to those around us who are still in the kingdom of darkness. We can show them how to come into the kingdom of light that God has delivered us from. I’ll close with this great passage that ties a lot of this together. Colossians 1:12-14 Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.