Holiness vs. Haughtiness

This is another excerpt from my upcoming book.

³ “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
⁴ God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ God blesses those who are humble,
    for they will inherit the whole earth.
⁶ God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
    for they will be satisfied.
⁷ God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
⁹ God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
¹⁰ God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

¹¹ “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. ¹² Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

The blessings we receive outlined in the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) also serve as the balance we use to measure our walk of humbleness by which we grow in righteousness that leads to holiness because the nature of God and that of the devil are complete opposites. God’s children grow in levels of righteousness that lead to holiness. This was established by God when He called the Israelites out of Egypt and made a covenant with them on Mount Sinai saying  that they shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6). Also, because God continues to lead those He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9), He prepares us and sanctifies us (sets us apart) to be holy for He is Holy (Leviticus 21:8) to show that we belong to Him as we partake of His holy nature (Numbers 16:3-7). For this reason, we should not run from God’s chastening designed to remove filthiness that keeps us from displaying His character in us. (Hebrews 12:10).

Romans 6:16, 19 tell us, ¹⁶Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. ¹⁹Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy NLT.

This means that we must continually grow in levels of righteousness that leads to holiness which reveal the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-25, ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passion and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The opposite of righteousness that leads to holiness is pride that leads to haughtiness. The characteristics of a haughty spirit are, according to Galatians 5:19-21, ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  

In addition, God resists the proud because we are to walk in humbleness before Him. James 4:6 says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble because if pride is allowed to grow in a person’s heart leading to haughtiness, this person can start believing that he or she can be like God and will start behaving and talking in a defiant way, even mocking God.

One example of someone that was expelled from the presence of God because of pride that led to haughtiness is Lucifer—the Archangel who covered the throne of God with his worship. Isaiah 14:12-15 relates,

¹² “How you are fallen from heaven,

O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground,

You who weakened the nations!

¹³ For you have said in your heart:

‘I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation

(to be worshipped and take God’s place in the hearts of the people)

On the farthest sides of the north;

¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

(in the hearts of the people) I will be like the Most High.’

¹⁵ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,

To the lowest depths of the Pit. (Emphasis mine).

This spirit is concerned only with satisfying self at the expense of anything that stands in its way, even God. But God sees that when the cup of iniquity is full (Genesis 15:16), the full measure of His wrath is poured on them who are controlled by this spirit to the point of being cast out of the land (Isaiah 22:17-18). Proverb 16:18 also says that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. This is what happened to Goliath, the philistine giant who was defeated by the Spirit of the Lord which came upon David—a young man that was prepared by God, and who constantly lived before the Lord in righteousness. Goliath was a sorcerer who came against God’s people and defied God with arrogance thereby entering into an unacceptable and never tolerated territory in the sight of God. Goliath was a giant not only in stature, but also in his own mind, and in the minds of those who, led by the spirit of fear, were gripped by the tentacles of insecurity and inferiority and fell prey by believing the lies of this giant in the arrogance he showed morning and evening for forty days. By this time his cup of iniquity was filled, and the full measure of God’s wrath against him and his army was inevitable.

David said in 1 Samuel 17:26 “For who is this uncircumcised philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And in verses 45-47 ⁴⁵Then David said to the philistine “You come to me with the sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

Another example of an arrogant and haughty king that was removed from the land because of his relentless oppression of God’s people was the king of Assyria. The Scripture says that he was used by God for a season, but he thought he was invincible and better than God. Isaiah 10:12-14, 16-17 states,

¹²Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.”  

¹³For he says:

            “By the strength of my hand I have done it,

            And by my wisdom, for I am prudent;

Also I have removed the boundaries of the people,  

And have robbed their treasuries;

So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.

¹⁴          My hand has found like a nest the riches of the

people.

And as one gathers eggs that are left,

 I have gathered all the earth;

And there was no one who moved his wing,

Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”

¹⁶          Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts,

            Will send leanness among his fat ones;

            And under his glory

            He will kindle a burning

            Like the burning of a fire.

¹⁷          So the light of Israel will be for a fire,

            And his Holy One for a flame;

            It will burn and devour

            His thorns and his briers in one day.

When we learn who we are in Christ, and by communion with Him allow God to train us to defeat everything that would want to exalt itself against the knowledge of God in our minds (2 Corinthians 10:5) so our walk of humbleness is more evident, then we can defeat, as we are instructed by His Spirit, the haughtiness of the enemy and those who follow him to oppose the purposes of God in our lives and the lives of those we are called to influence. When our minds are stayed on God we can ascend in worship with clean hands and a pure heart because choosing to worship the Lord puts us in a humble position while we exalt him above all other things and people (Psalm 24).

Obadiah 17 explains,

¹⁷ “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,

And there shall be holiness;

The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

This corresponds to the spoils of the battle that the Lord is fighting for us. Choosing to worship God also puts us in a position of advantage in which we experience triumphal victory over the enemy. Satan seeks his worship in our hearts, and that is why he tempted Jesus in Matthew 4:8 when, after taking Him to the peak of a very high mountain which symbolizes worship, he showed Jesus the nations of the world and all their glory, and offered them to Jesus if He would bow down and worship him. But Jesus responded that only God is to receive our worship and hearts to serve Him. Jesus also knew that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. The world and everyone who live in it (Psalm 24:1); therefore from this point of victory Jesus could tell Satan who is really worthy of all praise—the Most High God through Him.

When we worship the Lord and choose to live a lifestyle that glorifies His name we are being perfected in holiness (Romans 7:1). Ephesians 1:4 admonishes that God has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. To Him alone be all the glory.

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