Mountain Musings What Does it Mean to be Pure?

 

²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29 English Standard Version

               As a new lieutenant, I caught an unusual assignment. I reported to the 327^th Signal Company, headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. This was during the “Cold War.” The 327^th Signal Company was part of the Defense Communications System, a communications network that stretched across the globe, providing secure voice and data from the White House to deployed field commanders. It was a heady assignment full of technical challenges, for which I was manifestly unprepared. But that is the way of the Army, they assign officers as they see fit, expecting them to adapt to challenging circumstances and learn quickly. After serving a couple of years as a platoon leader, I became the Executive Officer for the company. Among my responsibilities was overseeing the maintenance and supply activities of the company. One of our components was DCS Station Landstuhl with several heavy earth satellite terminals, a true maintenance and supply nightmare.

               Part of any satellite system is the Traveling Wave Amplification Tube…and yes as soldiers we acronymized it as the TWAT. This piece of equipment produces and amplifies the signal that the transmitter pushes up through the atmosphere to the orbiting satellite. It requires extremely high voltages to generate a signal powerful enough to make it to space. All of those electrons flying about generate heat, and lots of it. I was stunned to find out that we used a water-jacket to cool the system. With over 30,000 volts running through the Traveling Wave Amplification Tube, I could not believe that using water as a coolant was safe. Surprisingly chemically pure water is non-conductive; but, it must be totally free of contaminants. Even microscopic lint will render the water unsuitable. Trace amounts of impurities resulted in a violent explosion, damaging very expensive equipment and taking our system off-line. Finding chemically pure water became one of my major duties, one that proved frustratingly difficult. Purity is rather rare, almost nonexistent, something we rarely encounter in our daily activities. But you and I serve a totally pure God; and that has significant implications.

               ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah 6:5

               When Isaiah saw the Lord, he understood his own sin and failure. Standing in the pure, blinding light of God Almighty, his own sinfulness became apparent, and he responded in fear and mourning. He clearly understood his abject failure. Contemporary American Christianity focuses on the Abba Father aspect of God, His lovingkindness and forgiveness, as we should. God seeks His children and has moved heaven and earth to extend His love toward us. Gentleness, forbearance, patience, and mercy all reflect the true nature of God, but so does a burning pure holiness. We should never forget that above all, God is holy, and He cannot abide with sin. Sinful man dares not approach the holy God. This is part of why we are supposed to fear God. He is so holy we should not trifle with Him.

               Returning to my experience as a lieutenant. We worked very hard to make sure that the water we used in the Traveling Wave Amplification Tube was chemically pure. Our Chief Warrant Officer would conduct various tests to ensure what we had was truly chemically pure. Despite our best efforts, occasionally impure water would sneak past us with spectacularly devastating results. We so rarely encounter true purity that it’s hard to grasp or conceive what it means to be pure, to be holy. Among the things that God’s holiness means is an intolerance to sin.

               Often, we read some of the stories in the Old Testament and scratch our heads, wondering how a loving God could do that? The simple answer is that He is holy and cannot abide sin. We so rarely encounter purity; we have a hard time understanding how a pure God would react to our own sin. We take our free and easy access, given through the death of Jesus on the cross, for granted. We approach the throne of God with boldness, but we are approaching a mighty and holy God. Though God never turns away a penitent sinner, perhaps we ought to give more serious consideration to examining ourselves for those hidden areas of sin in our lives. After all, if our Father gave His son to deal with our sin, it must be a rather important issue.

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Questions for Further Consideration:

1.      When was the last time you encountered something that was truly pure and what was that experience like?

2.     Why is it so hard to find truly pure things?

3.     Why do we struggle so much with some of the things that God did and that show His purity?

4.     Why are we so quick to accept impurity, especially in ourselves?

5.     What does it mean to serve a holy and pure God?