Ezekiel 44: 19; 46: 19-20
And when [the priests] go forth into the outer court, the outer court to the [common] people, they shall put off their [holy] garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments--they shall not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.
After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.
Then he said unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meal offering; that they not bear them out into the outer court, to transmit holiness to the people.
This is part of the vision God gave to Ezekiel of the future Temple. There is extreme detail given concerning the size, measurement, structure, and layout of this future place of worship, described in six whole chapters.
What I am looking at is how God is so protective of His holiness that He will not permit the holy priests to transmit holiness to the common people.
God's holiness is sacred. It is very clear and emphatic that His priests in that Day, who minister to God in His holiness, must take careful precautions to separate the holy garments and the holy sacrifices from any contact with the common people, that they may not transmit holiness to the people!
There must be great danger concerning God's holiness upon common people. We must take the initiative to make ourselves holy; we would not be able to withstand God's holiness transmitted directly to us, any more than we can look directly into the Sun without destroying our eyes!
Yes, we are to be holy as God is holy, but not by gift or transmittal, but by desire, seeking, obedience, and working in the power and enabling God provides through His Holy Spirit in us.
We are still living in our mortal bodies, which are frail and very limited. We need to make the effort to care for our physical dwelling while we're here, even knowing that this mortal will put on immortality, in our Resurrection which will take place when Jesus returns and calls us out (called the Rapture, I Corinthians 15:53; see also I John 3:2).
We will eventually be living in bodies of Light, shining like the Sun (Matthew 13:43). But until then, we cannot even look at God without being destroyed (Exodus 33:20). Right now our corruptible, mortal, frail eyes cannot see what is Light without shadows to define what we're looking at, and God is pure Light, without any shadow of turning (James 1:17; I John 1:5), that would glare out our vision.
God's holiness is like that--we cannot withstand it directly. That's why we need to put forth the effort to be holy as I am holy.
O my Father, You are a God Who is so far above and beyond anything I can even imagine, and yet You see me, You know me, and You still love me more than I can know. You are faithful and trustworthy to always keep Your Word. You have designed and shaped all Creation according to Your will and desires, and everything operates just as You made it to.
And You have given us Your Manufacturer's Instructions to show us how to cooperate with how You made this Earth to work, to build our World upon it and love each other as You love us, in order to make our lives work as You designed them to. That's why all Your Law and Prophets have their foundation in Love (Matthew 22:37-40).
Father, You are Love (I John 4:8), everything You do You do in Love, even the things we might consider harsh or cruel. But we don't see the whole picture, we don't know the whole story. Eventually we will see and understand how everything You do is Right and True and Loving.
You alone are God. All Creation is Your imagination: If You were not thinking about us, we would not exist! So You will have all the thanks, all the praise, all the credit, all the glory, all the honor, all the worship for You have accomplished all Your purposes.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
