e indwelling God_ that He sanctifies His house, that He reveals
Himself as the Holy One in Israel, that He makes us holy too.

Because God is holy, _the house_ in which He dwells is holy too. This
is the only attribute of God which He can communicate to His house; but
this one He can and does communicate. Among men there is a very close
link between the character of a house and its occupants. When there is
no obstacle to prevent it, the house unintentionally reflects the
master's likeness. Holiness expresses not so much an attribute as the
very being of God in His infinite perfection, and His house testifies to
this one truth, that He is holy, that where He dwells He must have
holiness, that His indwelling makes holy. In His first command to His
people to build Him a holy place, God distinctly said that it was that
He might dwell among them: the dwelling in the house was to be the
shadowing forth of His dwelling in the midst of His people. The house
with its holiness thus leads us on to the holiness of His dwelling among
His redeemed ones.

The holy place, the habitation of God's Holiness, was the centre of all
God's work in making _Israel_ holy. Everything connected with it was
holy. The altar, the priests, the sacrifices, the oil, the bread, the
vessels, all were holy, because they belonged to God. From the house
there issued the twofold voice--God's call to be holy, God's promise to
make holy. God's claim was manifested in the demand for cleansing, for
atonement, for holiness, in all who were to draw near, whether as
priests or worshippers. And God's promise shone forth from His house in
the provision for making holy, in the sanctifying power of the altar, of
the blood and the oil. The house embodied the two sides that are united
in holiness, the repelling and the attracting, the condemning and the
saving. Now by keeping the people at a distance, then by inviting and
bringing them nigh, God's house was the great symbol of His own
Holiness. He had come nigh even to dwell among them; and yet they might
not come nigh, they might never enter the secret place of His presence.

All these things are written on our behalf. It is as the Indwelling One
that God is the sanctifier of _His people_ still: the Indwelling
Presence alone makes us holy. This comes out with special clearness if
we note how, the nearer the Presence was, the greater the degree of
holiness. Because God dwelt among them, the camp was holy: all
uncleannes