Biblical Holiness – The Christian Exile

Now that we’ve established a clearer biblical understanding of holiness – that to be holy means being set apart by God’s presence and for God’s purposes – and clarified that Israel is not merely an ethnic group but a covenant people set apart by faith, let’s now turn our attention to the land God promised to Israel. What made that particular plot of land – the land of Canaan – holy in the first place?

A Land Promised by God

The idea of a “promised land” is rooted in God’s covenant with Abraham. In Genesis 12:7, God says, “To your offspring I will give this land,” referring to the land then occupied by the Canaanites.

Later, in Genesis 13:15-16, God broadens the scope of this promise:

For all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

Already, there’s a hint that Abraham’s descendants would extend beyond his physical lineage – anticipating the broader definition of Israel as a people who share Abraham’s faith (cf. Romans 4:16-17). While God’s promise to Abraham centered geographically on the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-7; 15:18-21), the full scope of the promise would ultimately extend to a people as numerous as the dust of the earth itself.

God’s Land, God’s Sanctuary

As the Israelites prepared to enter the land, God spoke through Moses in Exodus 15:17:

You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,
the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

Here, the land God was giving to Israel is described as God’s own dwelling place – His sanctuary. Leviticus 25:23 reinforces this point clearly:

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.

This is key: what made the land holy was not that it belonged to Israel, but that it belonged to God. Israel’s role was that of a guest. They were sojourners, even in the promised land. The land was holy – not because of who lived there, but because of the One who claimed it for His purposes.

Spiritual Geography

This concept of a geographical plot of land belonging to God himself can be traced back to Moses’s song in Deuteronomy 32, which we looked at briefly in the previous part of this study.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
Deuteronomy 32:8-9

Here we see that God assigned each nation its own allotted land, and with it, its own spiritual association. That is, the land was allotted according to the number of the “sons of God,” a phrase used in the Old Testament to refer to lesser spiritual beings (Job 1:6; 38:7; cf. Psalm 29:1; 89:6).

This divine allotment is the Bible’s explanation for why the surrounding nations came to serve other “gods” – it was part of God’s sovereign division of the land. From that vantage point, each geographical location had its own spiritual identity. Land is either holy, meaning the territory has been claimed by the one true God, where His presence dwelt and His covenant people loved, or the land was unholy, meaning the region was under the dominion of other spiritual powers.

This isn’t a denial of God’s omnipresence, but it underscores that geography itself has spiritual significance. The promised land was set apart by God’s claim on it. To live in the promised land was to dwell in the domain of the LORD; to leave it was to cross into the dominion of another spiritual power. (For a deeper dive, read “The Principalities and Powers” here.)

The Significance of Spiritual Geography

Clearly, David understood this. Have you ever noticed his lament when he fled from Saul into a foreign territory?

They have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, “Go serve other gods.”
1 Samuel 26:19

David wasn’t switching religions. He knew God was present everywhere (cf. Psalm 139:7-12). But he also knew that leaving God’s land meant stepping into regions associated with the domain of other “gods.” David understood that there was something special about the promised land. It was the place where the LORD had chosen to dwell. Meanwhile the land where he was driven was under the influence of other rebellious spiritual powers.

A similar awareness appears in the story of Naaman, the Syrian military commander healed of leprosy. After his healing, he offered a gift to Elisha. When Elisha refused payment, Naaman made what may at first sound like a very strange request:

Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD.”
2 Kings 5:17

Two loads of earth? Dirt? Why would Naaman want to carry loads of dirt?

It wasn’t because Israel’s physical dirt was somehow superior to dirt in the surrounding region. It was because Naaman recognized the holiness of the land. He wanted to take a part of that sacred ground back with him, because he recognized that the land of Israel had spiritual significance. It was the land that belonged to the true God as opposed to all the other gods who were served among the nations.

The Conditional Nature of the Land Promise

Although God did give the land of Canaan to Israel, it was never theirs unconditionally. We read in Joshua 21:43 that God gave Israel the land, just as he had promised:

Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it and settled there.

But the land remained God’s possession. Israel’s right to dwell there was based solely on their faithfulness to the LORD. In Exodus 19:5-6, God makes this crystal clear:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Their inheritance was never automatic. In Leviticus 20:22, God warns,

You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

The prophets repeatedly echoed this truth. If Israel ceased to be faithful to God’s covenant, they would be expelled (cf. Amos 7:7; Hosea 9:2-3; Jeremiah 3:19-20). Perhaps the most sobering warning comes in Jeremiah 17:3-4:

Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I give you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.

To live in the land was to fully embrace loyalty to God’s covenant. Security in the land was never about national strength – it was about faithfulness to the LORD.

The land was a gift, but a conditional one. It was never given to Israel as a piece of real estate to own apart from submission to God’s rule. It was Holy Land because it was God’s land – and He alone determined who could dwell there.

With this, we’ve now explored what it means for something to be holy (Part 1), the true identity of Israel as God’s covenant people (Part 2), and why the promised land was holy (Part 3). This groundwork prepares us to examine how the land promise finds its fulfillment in light of the gospel.

But before we do, we must address a common concern: the charge of “replacement theology” – the claim that the church has replaced Israel in a way that nullifies God’s promises to Israel. To be clear, I do not believe in replacement theology, as it lacks critically important nuance regarding the significance of Israel in the Bible. In the next part of this study, we’ll take that objection seriously with careful biblical reflection.

When people hear the phrase “The Holy Land,” their minds often turn to the modern-day region encompassing Israel, Palestine, and parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. This land is revered by millions, walked by countless pilgrims, and woven throughout the pages of Scripture. This is the land that was given to Abraham’s family, was the home of David’s kingdom, and it is the land where Jesus Himself walked the earth.

But did you know that this territory is referred to as “holy land” only one time throughout all the pages of Scripture? In Zechariah’s prophetic vision of Israel’s restoration after the Babylonian exile, he writes:

And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
Zechariah 2:12

In the New Testament, the phrase doesn’t appear at all.

So where does that leave us? Is this region in the middle-east sacred? What does it mean for something to be called holy in the first place? This article launches a five-part series exploring the biblical concept of “The Holy Land,” beginning with the essential question: What does it mean to be holy?

What Does “Holy” Mean?

The word holy might evoke thoughts of moral excellence. For instance, think about the phrase “holier than thou.” If someone is accused of being “holier than thou,” they are being accused of having a self-righteous attitude that looks down on others for their imperfections. But in Scripture, holiness is first and foremost about separation and dedication. In Hebrew, the word is qadosh, and in Greek, hagios. Both words mean that something is set apart from the ordinary or profane and devoted to God’s purposes.

At the core of this concept is the understanding that the LORD God Himself is holy. He is utterly distinct from His creation and from all other gods. He is not merely powerful or majestic, but He is unique in His role as creator. This is the cry of the seraphim in Isaiah 6:3, later echoed in Revelation 4:8.

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!
Isaiah 6:3

In the context of Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the Lord “high and lifted up” on a throne, communicating God’s majesty, authority, and separateness from all other powers. Even the seraphim cover their faces in his presence because they cannot bear to look directly at his glory. He is categorically different – utterly set apart. Isaiah found himself terrified to be in His presence, because he realized that nothing impure can remain the presence of the holiness of God. Because God is holy, anything that is closely associated with Him must also be set apart.

Holiness is closely connected with moral purity. Psalm 24:3-4 stresses this point.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not sweat deceitfully.

Here we see that holiness demands moral living. But even so, there’s more to holiness than simply living morally. Holiness is ultimately about proximity to God’s holiness. As an illustration, consider the way the tabernacle was structured in ancient Israel.

The closer one got to the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence dwelled above the ark of the covenant, the greater the degree of holiness required. The outer court was accessible to all Israelites. The Holy Place could be entered only by priests. But the Most Holy Place – the very heart of the tabernacle – could be entered by only one man, the high priest, and only once a year, and even then, only with the blood of a sacrifice (Leviticus 16).

We can think of holiness as nearness to God. Objects, people, and places were considered “holy” not merely because they were morally superior on their own, but because they were set apart for a special purpose in God’s presence.

That’s why physical objects, such as anointing oil, the utensils for the tabernacle, and a gold lampstand could be described as “holy” (Exodus 30:25-29). They can’t make moral choices, but they are set apart for divine use in proximity to God’s divine space. A tithe from the crops is “holy to the LORD” (Leviticus 27:30), not because grain is morally upright, but because it was to be specially devoted for the Lord. Moral purity is important, not because it is synonymous with holiness, but because it is necessary in order to be brought near to the One who is utterly set apart.

Understanding holiness in this way helps us to understand how land can be holy. When Moses approaches the burning bush in Exodus 3:5, he’s told to remove his sandals because the ground is holy. This is not because there was anything unique about the geological makeup of the ground. What made the ground holy was God’s presence. It was “holy ground” because God’s presence had claimed it.

What Made Israel Holy?

This also helps us understand why Israel was called holy. In Exodus 19:6, God declares His desire for Israel to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This wasn’t because Israel was morally superior (as their many failures make clear), but because God had set them apart to be His people through which He would fulfill His purpose.

Like priests mediate between God and others, Israel was meant to be a light to the nations, demonstrating to others the wisdom and character of their God (cf. Deuteronomy 4:5-8; Isaiah 49:6; 60:3. From the beginning, Israel’s story was never meant to end with them. God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 made clear that through Abraham’s descendants, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Israel was chosen to carry God’s promise forward.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 speaks of how, when the other nations went their own way, and were scattered throughout the world, God claimed Israel as his own.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob is his allotted heritage.

In short, Israel was holy because they belong to God. There were set apart from the other nations for God’s divine purpose. But it’s key to understand this: Israel’s holiness was never the final goal. Israel was holy, but their holiness was the means by which God’s wisdom, mercy, and redemption would be provided to all people among all nations.

Looking Ahead

In the next part of this series, we’ll ask the question: Who or What is “Israel”? Is it a geographic location? A geopolitical nation? An ethnic group? Or are they perhaps, defined by something else entirely?

But for now, we’ve laid an important foundation: Holiness means to be set apart for God. And that means that the idea of “holy land” – just like holy oil, or a holy people – only makes sense in connection with God’s presence and God’s purposes. Take those away, and what’s left may be good, beautiful, or even historically significant, but it is not holy.