What Makes Christ Uncomfortable In A Church — Santosh Poonen

Human Religion and the Desire to Worship

I thought we could begin by turning to a verse in Acts 7. From the very beginning of the time when mankind was created, human beings have always been religious people. It began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

And even after that, in the second generation, you see Cain and Abel offering sacrifices. And as we know, one of them was actually pleasing to God, and the other was not. And yet, both of them did offer sacrifices.

And that pattern has continued on throughout history. I believe it's the same today as well. The only part of God's creation that is religious are human beings. You don't see dogs or cats or any other animals worshipping, having any kind of religious gatherings, meetings like that.

Clearly, they have the ability to meet together and work in packs. You see that in all of creation, almost. And like with wolves and all, they say they meet in packs and things like that. But with human beings, you see this desire.

There's an innate desire within us to worship something. And in Romans 1, we are told that the lie, the lie of the devil, is essentially that we worship some created thing rather than the creator himself.

This is the lie of the devil. And here in Acts chapter 7, we see that even the people of Israel, those who were pleasing to God, there were different types of places of worship that they built. So you read in Acts chapter 7, verse 44, our fathers, and this is Stephen reminding the Jews about their own history.

Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. And so they had this tabernacle, a dwelling place for God throughout their journey, even though they were in disobedience.

And we read that with most of them, we read in 1 Corinthians 10 and in Hebrews 3 and 4, that with these people to whom God gave the responsibility to build him his church, his gathering, dwelling place, he was not happy.

And he had to kill them off in the wilderness. But he gave them these instructions to build him a tabernacle. And then their children, in verse 45, we read, took that tabernacle, having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers.

And so they took this tabernacle into the land of Canaan as well. And they had that there for some period of time. And then it says, until the time of David. And David found favor in God's sight and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

Now, sometime between this time when they entered into the land of Canaan, we don't know what happened to the tabernacle. We read about different gathering places like Shiloh, where Eli was, and other places.

We don't know if it was the same tabernacle. But have you thought about where is that tabernacle today? It's buried somewhere in the land of Israel and disintegrated. Well, then David comes and he says, Lord, you dwell in tents.

And I'm dwelling in a nice house. We'll read about that here in a little bit. And so God said, and he said, I want to build you a nice house, a house of wood and gold and all that. And David found favor in God's sight.

But we're told in verse 47, it was Solomon who built the house for him. But then we get to the point that Stephen was trying to make. That is in verse 48. The most high does not dwell in houses made by human hands.

This is the word I've been thinking about today. The most high does not dwell in houses made by human hands. Now, I think all of us would agree that God, that we don't put any value in the building. Here I am sitting in my house.

Some of you are sitting in your own homes. A number of you are sitting in that building. And is God only in one of these places? No, we believe he is. We want him to be here with all of us. A lot of people put a lot of value in beautiful buildings, cathedrals and very elaborate buildings, thinking that somehow that will cause the presence of God to come there.

Through those, maybe they put stained glass with images of the saints and things like that. No, the most high does not dwell in houses made by hands. I think we all understand that. However, in seeking to be a part of a new covenant church and to build a new covenant church, it's easy for us to think that somehow our efforts or something we do will cause the presence of God to be here.

There are certain principles on which the presence of God is manifest. There are certain principles that God shows us in his word that allow him to be present in our midst. And no matter what else we might do, and no matter how much we might think of ourselves as very holy or self-righteous, if these things that God has shown us in his word clearly are not there in our midst, then God cannot be there.

And so I thought we could think about a few things that make Christ uncomfortable in a church. If you continue reading in verse 49, so we read verse 48, the most high does not dwell in houses made by human heads.

As the prophet, and he's quoting Isaiah here, heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? In other words, I see God saying, if I was looking for you to make, looking for a dwelling place for myself, could you do any better than heaven?

I already live in heaven. And when I want to put my feet to rest, he's using picture language so that we can understand. When I want to put my feet up to rest, I put it on the earth. And there on this earth is this small little portion of that footstool that's called North America.

And then on that portion of the footstool is the United States. And then there's Georgia and there's Atlanta. And then Atlanta is this small gathering. You think you could build a house that's better for me than heaven that I already have and earth that is my footstool.

That's what he's saying. And yet God does want us to build a dwelling place for him. What place is there for my repose? That word repose, maybe we don't use as often, but it essentially means a place of peace, tranquility, serenity, a place where you can be at rest, where you can come and relax.

Think of your own homes, for example. Maybe you have a favorite chair in your home or a favorite spot in the home where you feel like, ah, I can be myself here. I can relax. I'm around people that I'm comfortable with.

And for most people that is sometimes not even in their home, but hopefully at least in your home. And that's what God is asking us for. He's saying, if you're going to build a house for me, just build me a place.

It doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside. It doesn't matter if it's a tabernacle or a nice temple, like what Solomon built or the temple that they rebuilt through Haggai and Zachariah. None of those things, because at this time, when Stephen is speaking to the Jews, they were the Jews who prided themselves on the temple, as we see that they did with Jesus.

And so here were these people who prided themselves on the grand building and God was not there. And Jesus showed them. And Stephen was trying to show them that it's not about the kind of building. It's not about even the pattern that you have.

Can Christ be comfortable in our church? That's the most important thing. Then he will be there. Then he will come in there gladly. We often pray, Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit. Send your Holy Spirit, the outpouring of your Holy Spirit.

You know, the Holy Spirit is a person as well. We know that because we're told in 1 Thessalonians 5, not to grieve the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit of Christ. And if we want the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, to be in our midst, which is the only thing that matters, we must not grieve him.

Grieving the Holy Spirit Through Hidden Sin

Have you seen that verse? Let's look at it very quickly. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16 says, rejoice always. 17 says, pray without ceasing. 18 says, give thanks in everything. A lot of people know this, right?

They say RPT, which can be an acronym for repeat. RPT, rejoice, pray, thanks. RPT. Very good. Very good to remember if you're not sure what God's will is for you today because he says this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

RPT, rejoice, pray, give thanks. But a lot of people also don't continue reading. I think something important for us to repeat is make sure we're not grieving the Holy Spirit like he says in verse 19.

Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit is a person. If I was to say to you, don't grieve your wife, don't grieve your husband, I think we would all, if you're married, you would all understand what that means.

That means don't do, that means that that person has feelings and don't do anything that would cause them grief inside of them. And it's just like that. The Holy Spirit is a person and you can say he has spiritual feelings, not emotional feelings, but spiritual feelings that certain things that he sees in our hearts, certain ways of behavior, certain motives, certain attitudes, certain goals and ambitions, certain ways of thinking that grieve him.

And he says, Oh, I don't feel comfortable here in this home or in this marriage or in this workplace where this person who calls himself or herself a believer is, or in this church meeting. And I want to be absolutely certain.

I've been checking my own heart, dear brothers and sisters. And I, that's where this, this message, this burden is coming from. I thought I would share with you all as well, that there's never anything I'm doing that is making the spirit of Christ uncomfortable.

I want Jesus to feel so comfortable that he comes right in, that he was in my church meeting before I even got there. And he was ready for me because he knew my heart was ready for him. And so anytime you meet dear brothers and sisters, God sees our hearts, the Holy Spirit searches our hearts and he sees what's deep within.

Nobody else may be able to see it, but he sees what's there. What motive I have, maybe some selfish ambition or some jealousy or some bitterness or unforgiveness or, or, or, or I look at somebody else and what they have, how God has blessed them, the kind of job they have or the kind of spouse they have, the kind of children they have.

And I can be jealous of that. All these things, the Holy Spirit sees. And if he sees something that grieves him, maybe he'll come there, but he'll come there and see to the meeting and see if I'm going to repent of it.

He'll speak to me. He'll remind me of it. He'll put his finger on that, that thing that's hidden deep within, and he'll see if I'm willing to repent of it. And if I am, then he'll say, okay, I'm not grieved anymore because you've repented.

In fact, there's joy in heaven when there's repentance we read. So here are a few things that I, I thought of, which, which I would share with you. And also, you know, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He doesn't force himself upon us.

He's not, he's not like a judge or he's not like a heavy handed person that's forcing himself upon us. He knocks gently. He puts his finger on a particular part of our heart and says, are you willing to give that up?

Will you allow me to cleanse you of that attitude and that motive, that secret thing? And if I don't, he'll quietly leave. And I believe, you know, there's, there was a time in the book of in first Samuel where Eli was the priest and it says this word Ichabod, which means the glory has departed.

It means the presence of God has left the place. They still have the, the priest was still doing their things. They're still having their meetings, but the glory had departed. And I'd never want it to be said of me, my personal life, because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

God wants to find a home there. First of all, then he wants to find a home in our marriages. He wants to find a home in our homes, in our relationships with our children and our parents. Then he wants to find a home in every local church gathering.

And I never wanted to be said in any area of these circles, in any of these circles that I just described that God, that it would have to be said, the glory has departed. The Holy Spirit's left. The people are there.

I believe that even at this moment, Sunday morning in this country, or perhaps in other countries around the world at this time, many people who are holding Bibles, taking the name of Jesus, but Jesus himself is not there.

And I never want that to be the case in my life. The first thing I'd like to say is if you turn with me to first Chronicles chapter 17, things that would make Christ uncomfortable in our church. First of all, if there isn't a soul desire for God's name to be magnified, if my only desire in my church gathering is not only for God's name to be magnified, then Christ says, I'm not comfortable here.

A Sole Desire for God's Name to Be Magnified

If you've got some other motive, if there's any other motive in building a church, other than that, the name of God would be magnified. Then Christ is not comfortable in such a gathering. We see the story in first Chronicles 17 that I alluded to first Chronicles 17 verse one.

It came about when David dwelt in his house, look at the state that David's in. He's, he's, he's had a comfortable life. He's defeated all his enemies. It's a time of peace and rest. And, and when David dwelt in his house that David said to Nathan, the prophet, behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains.

Then Nathan, Nathan was, well, let's not blame him, but he thought, Oh, this sounds great. David, what a great idea. You want to build a house for God. Do all that is in your heart for God is with you.

And this motive may seem good. Yes, Lord, I want to do something for your kingdom. But what Nathan didn't have the discernment to realize was that it was out of David's pride that he was saying, Oh, I've got a lot of money.

I'm pretty comfortable. I have a nice house for myself. I've got all this leftover time and money. Why don't I do something for God? There's a lot of criticism. Christians like that they've retired or their, their life's pretty comfortable.

They've, the children have grown up and things are pretty well established. And he says, Oh yeah, you know, I guess I should start thinking about eternity. Now let me give something to God. God is never, does not accept such a sacrifice.

Now it doesn't mean that it's too late. It's the motive. It's the attitude. It came about verse three, the same night that the God spoke to Nathan. See what Nathan should have done was when he heard David say, Oh, you want to build a, I want to build a temple.

Nathan should have said, let me go ask God first of all, because God speaks to me. I'm the prophet. Nathan was deceived even by David, what he seemed to be a very religious person and he was the King and he seemed to be a God fearing man and he was, but David was misled.

And finally at night, God comes to Nathan and says, listen, let me paraphrase first of all, what God is about to tell Nathan, who does David think he is that he can build a house for me? I know he's successful.

I know he's a King and he's defeated all his enemies and he's in peace. And I know his heart is good, but he could never build a house for me. I'm the one that put him there. I'm the one that put him on the throne.

He could never build a house for me. I will build a house for him. That's what God tells Nathan, tells David through Nathan. So God, that same night, the word of God came to Nathan saying, go and tell David, my servant, that says the Lord, you shall not build a house for me to dwell in.

Have you heard the word of the Lord? This is, this really pierced me to the heart. I said, Lord, I want to build your church. And God says, no, you won't build my church. I will build my church. And I say that as somebody whom God has called to be an elder and to have responsibility, not only in my marriage and home, but in the church that I'm a part of and a few other churches I help with.

But this was a word the Lord specifically spoke to me and says, Santosh, don't you ever think that you're building my church. You shall not build a house for me to dwell in. For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day.

But I've gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another in all places where I've walked with all Israel. Have I spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people saying, why have you not built for me a house of cedar?

In other words, God saying all these years, David, long before you, there were godly men like Samuel and the prophets before the judges before that. I never once complained about the house because it doesn't matter to me what the house looks like.

I just want a place where I can be comfortable. I just want a heart that's pure and David, you have that heart. That was enough for me. Now, therefore, that says, that's shall you say to my servant, David, that says the Lord of hosts, don't forget where you came from, David.

Don't forget who you were when I picked you up, lest you think that somehow you are qualified to build my church. That says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture. This is verse eight. No, we're seven from following the sheep.

You were just a, you know what a shepherd is? It's stinky person. You hang out with sheep all day. You start to smell pretty bad and you smell like them. That's who you were, David. I picked you up from that.

And I put you to be the leader over the people of Israel. Don't forget that. I have been with you wherever you've gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. Don't you think that you defeated the enemies?

I defeated them. And I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. I will appoint a place for my people, Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again.

And the wicked will not waste them anymore as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people, Israel, and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you.

When we see that it is the Lord who's doing the building, the Lord who has all responsibility and all authority and all control and all government, he, everything belongs to him. Whatever he does is right.

Whether I think it's right or not, this is God's will. And then he says, listen, um, when your days are fulfilled, let's continue reading that. You must go to be with your fathers that I will set up one of your descendants after you will be off your sons.

And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for me a house. And I will establish his throne forever. And this is the word the Lord spoke to me. Santosh. If I ever imagined this conversation where the Lord came to me and said, Santosh, I don't want you to be an elder here at the church anymore.

I'm going to ask somebody else to do that. What will my response be? And I'll say, well, Lord, I've sacrificed so much. I've done so much. I've built your church. I've, I've met, I've encouraged people.

I preach the word. I prayed, I fasted. I've, I've done everything. I've come early. I've stayed late. God says, no, I will build my church and I'll choose whom I use to build my church. And if I say, I've used you for a purpose.

Now I want somebody else. Okay. It's perfectly okay. Let's skip down to verse 16. After David gets this response, look at David's heart. Oh, I love his heart. Yeah. He was a bit lifted up in pride initially.

And then God spoke to him through Nathan. Remember when God spoke to him through Nathan about his sin. David was so blind. He didn't even see how serious his sin was. He knew he had sinned. He covered it up, but he thought he got away with it.

And then he forgot about it. And then when Nathan came and told him the story, he didn't even realize it was him. But the moment he realized it was him, the moment he saw his sin, he repented and he put his face in the dust and humbled himself.

That's why God could still use him. That's why Jesus is off the line of David. God didn't forsake him in his pride. God gave him a chance to repent. And look at David's response. Verse 16. Then David, the king, went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God?

What is my house? Who am I? I'm sorry that I had such pride. Verse 17. This was a small thing in your eyes, O God. But you have spoken of your servant's house for a great while. Verse 19. Verse 18. What more?

Look at David's heart. And perhaps sometime you can go back and read this whole chapter and see the repentance and the humility and the brokenness with which David returns to the Lord. What more can David still say to you concerning the honor bestowed on your servant?

For you know your servant. O Lord, for your servant's sake and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness. To make known all these great things. O Lord, there is none like you, nor is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our years.

And what one nation in the earth is like your people, Israel, whom God went to redeem for himself as a people. To make you a name by great and terrible things in driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed out of Egypt.

For your people, Israel, you made your own people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. Now, O Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever and do as you have spoken.

O. Can you see the heart of David? He had such a great desire to do something great for God. God said, no, I'm going to use somebody else. He said, yes. And this is the verse I wanted you to see. Verse 24.

Let your name be established and magnified forever. Saying, the Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel. And the house of David, your servant is established before you. This is why God said, okay, David, I'm going to still use your seed.

I'm still going to use your son, Solomon. Because for David, it didn't matter. And I believe for David, if God had said, I'm going to use some other person unrelated to you, it would have been fine. David's heart was verse 24.

Remember this, dear brothers and sisters. I believe it's all of our desire to build a church wherever we are gathered, whether it's there in Atlanta or here in Loveland or anywhere else, that the name of God would be magnified and established forever.

Make this your prayer. Pray if you can set it even as your goal for this week, every day. Say, Lord, let your name be established and magnified here in our local church. Let your name be established and magnified here in our local church.

I'm going to pray that. I have a renewed desire to pray that prayer. And finally, the church does get built. Let's look at that quickly in 2 Chronicles chapter 6. After the church is built, Solomon, after the temple is built, 2 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 1, Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick cloud.

I built you a lofty house and a place for your dwelling forever. And they prayed, blessed, verse 4, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. But this is the verse I wanted you to see. Verse 7, now it was in the heart of my father, David, to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

But the Lord said to my father, David, because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. And see that God doesn't even condemn. We saw how God showed David his pride.

But God redeemed the good desire that he had when David repented. God still built his church. David repented of his pride and God said, okay, you've repented of your pride. That desire, it was actually good.

I'll turn it into good. See what wonderful things God does when we repent of our pride, when we humble ourselves, when we, you know, and often that pride is mixed in with good desires. We have a good desire to raise godly children or to have a good marriage or something else.

And then in the midst of that, God shows us that pride is mixed in with it. And then he says, repent of that pride. And God doesn't want to destroy that good desire. He wants to set you free from that pride.

And the moment that pride is forsaken, God says that desire was good. I'll use that. And he still built the temple. And today that's how God will build his church as well. The second thing. So that is where there isn't a soul desire for God's name to be magnified, Christ is not comfortable.

Genuine Humility and Being Crushed in Spirit

The second thing I wanted to mention is if you turn with me to Isaiah chapter 66, where there is no genuine humility. Where there's no genuine humility. And earlier I was talking about a humility towards God, you can say.

That I don't want my name at all involved in this, Lord. It's just your name. You can, you know, often people today we live in a Christendom where so many people are using Christianity as a platform for their own name.

They learn how to preach, how to speak like the famous speakers. They take speaking classes and think that that's how they can become better preachers. They practice their instruments and learn to play like the worldly musicians so that the music in the church sounds just like the music in the world.

The spirit of the world has come and taken over the spirit of the churches. And Christ is not there. Not at all. You think Christ could have anything to do with the music of this world and the preaching styles of this world and the drawing attention to themselves and the strobe lights and the fog machines and all that, which are imitating the concerts of the world.

Christ has left those churches a long time ago. So this, I was talking earlier about a spirit of humility towards God, have his name alone magnified, not my name. It doesn't matter if somebody quotes me and what I said.

No, was Jesus Christ preached? This was Paul's attitude. If Christ is preached, it doesn't matter if they quote me or not. I don't need my name involved in it. The spirit of humility now I want to talk about is humility towards others where I think of others as more important than myself.

That's the definition of humility. Let me show you that very quickly. So you see it in Philippians chapter two. I'll come back to Isaiah 66 here in a second. Humility is this, Philippians two, verse three and four.

Philippians two, verses three and four, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind. That means humility is a way of thinking. What does that look like? Regard one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

So how you think about others, whether you think of every single person as more important than yourself, then you're really humble. If there's even one person that you think I'm more important than that person, then you've got a little bit of pride.

Let's go to Isaiah 66. We read in verse one, thus says the Lord, again, these words, this is the quotation that Stephen gave. Thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where then is a house you could build for me?

And where is a place that I may rest? For my hand made all these things. Thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. Now what Stephen didn't quote was what Isaiah did say. God did make it clear what kind of building does he want then?

And then he says, to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, will you make this your prayer? Lord, I want genuine humility. Humble and contrite in spirit.

That means it's in your way of thinking. It's in your attitude. It's in your motive. It's not speaking gently and quietly or walking with your head down looking humble. I tell you that most humble people that I've met don't always look necessarily look humble on the outside or sound humble on the outside.

But you see the humility in how they regard others as more important than themselves. Especially with eternity. That they have their eternal good in mind. So thinking of others as more important than ourselves.

This is the one with whom God will dwell. I think of a church gathering, making Christ comfortable. I see that, I think of it like this, that in a church building, let's say, that we're gathered in, or even like this where some of us are online, Jesus is looking to be close, to sit next to the one who is genuinely humble and contrite.

You know, if there's some important person came into the church, I think somebody who's earthly minded would think, oh, I hope there's a seat next to me. I hope he'll come sit next to me. I hope she'll come sit next to me.

What an honor that would be if they come sit next to me. Think about Jesus, who's the head of the church, the most important person. Who will he sit next to? Who will he come and sit next to? It's the one who is genuinely humble and contrite.

It may not be who you think it is. It may not be the most important person or the people up front. It could be the one who's very quiet. Doesn't get to say much. But Jesus is sitting next to them. And oh, would you value this?

And I say this as one who has to get up almost every Sunday. I have to get up in front and do something. And yet this is the spirit I want to have. So it's not about whether you're in front or in the back or in the middle or you're sitting or standing or kneeling.

It's in your spirit. Is there genuine humility? Do you go through the members of the church and think, yep, that brother, more important than me. That sister, more important than me. That child, more important than me.

This is the spirit of genuine humility and contriteness. Psalm 34 talks about those who are crushed in spirit. Let's look at that very quickly. Psalm 34, the memory verse that we just started with was many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

That's verse 19. What does it mean to be righteous? I see it in the previous verse, verse 18. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. This is what being contrite and humble in spirit is.

That means you're crushed. What would you be like if you were crushed in spirit? You know, when I've been crushed in spirit, I can tell you very easily, is when I've sinned in some way, and I realize my sin.

Oh, I'm so crushed. I think, man, I can't believe I sinned like that. Why did I respond with that tone of voice? I'm so, I'm beating myself up. I'm crushed in spirit. Now, can you be, and now imagine that you came to the church meeting and you just remember that you sinned so horribly.

Now, would you look down on anybody else in the church? Would you be offended if you don't get to lead the singing? If nobody asks you to speak or nobody asks you to pray, would you be offended? No, your thoughts would be on, I can't believe I sinned.

I'm crushed in spirit. Now think about having that same mind, that same attitude, even if you haven't sinned. I hope we're not all continually living in sin. That's not God's will for us, but God's will for us is to remain crushed in spirit, even when we are living in victory, even as we continue to become more like Christ, because that's how Christ was.

You read later on in Philippians 2, verse 5, that this is the attitude Christ had. Christ was crushed in spirit, even though he never sinned. He treated everybody, he regarded everybody as more important than himself, and yet he never sinned.

This is humility, and it says the Lord saves those who are crushed in spirit. Ask God to give you a revelation. I can't, I really find my words are not enough in situations like this to describe what being crushed in spirit really is like, but I want it.

I've had moments, I believe, when I've experienced it, and I long for that to be my constant state. I'm constantly crushed in spirit. Then I know I'll always be saved. I can never have a bad mood. I can never have a bad attitude.

I can never think evil thoughts towards others because I'm crushed in spirit. Isaiah 57, here's another verse, verse 15, similar words to what we just read in Isaiah 66. Isaiah 57, verse 15, thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy.