When we closed out the first session of our Time to Take Your Shoes Off series last week, each of our two heroes, Moses and Joshua, were experiencing an unexpected personal encounter with the Living God Himself. In each of the incidents, God showed up in an unprecedented way and in each case, the one He dropped in on was ordained to be a key player in the plan God was about to unfold. The first episode we looked at was that brief, but dramatic, encounter recorded in Exodus 3:1-6 that involved Moses and the burning bush, and God said this to him:

Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. (Exodus 3:5 NKJV)

The other event included in our discussion involved Moses’ successor, Joshua, and that story is found in Joshua 5:13-15. As Joshua approaches God, he’s confronted with the same command:

Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15 NKJV)

Joshua’s meeting with God doesn’t get as much attention as the meeting with Moses, perhaps because it doesn’t contain any striking displays of unnatural phenomena. It’s vastly different in many ways from Moses’ encounter, but both incidents reveal things about God that are relevant and helpful in the world we live in here and now. 

Different Manifestations – Same God ~
One of those revelations is that in spite of the differences in outward manifestation, both events involve the same Heavenly visitor. The text refers to Him as the Angel of the Lord, and as we pointed out last week, that designation is special. It’s a unique term applied only to the second Person of the Trinity and refers to a pre-Bethlehem appearance of the Lord Jesus, Himself. And though these events took place long ago, they’re relative to us as well, because the resurrected Christ is actively at work in our world right now. As it was then, He is seeking to engage each of us directly, personally, and privately. He has a role for us to fulfill and a mission for us to undertake, but as we saw with Moses and Joshua, there may be issues that need to be dealt with first. And that brings us back to where we left off in our discussion last week. 

In each account, the response of God’s chosen vessel was to move closer to Him, which is always one of God’s primary objectives for all of us. But as they moved toward Him, God stopped them. He demanded that they take off their sandals because the ground they were approaching was holy. And the reason for designating the ground as holy was simply because God was standing on it. Holiness is one of God’s divine and eternal attributes. Holiness originated in Him, emanates from Him, and is forever associated with His name. God affirmed that association from the earliest days in declarations like this:   

You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, (Leviticus 22:32 NKJV)

And that connection wasn’t just relegated to the Old Testament and the Levitical system. Mary acknowledged the holiness of God’s name in the inspired song that poured from her heart when Elizabeth greeted her. 

For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. (Luke 1:49 NKJV)

 The truth is that untold millions of us have referred to the holiness of God’s name repeatedly in our recitations of what we refer to as the Lord’s Prayer, which begins like this:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed [holy] be Your name. (Matthew 6:9 NKJV)

A Matter of Attachment ~
In simple terms, to be holy basically means to be set apart by or for God, to be consecrated, sanctified, devoted to, and representative of Him. Holiness is attributed to things or people seen as belonging uniquely to God, or directly associated with Him and that exemplify His standard of purity. Holiness as God defines and embodies it is a condition unachievable by human effort. God Himself is both the origin of holiness and the only source from which it can be acquired.

Moses and Joshua learned that in some cases, God’s holiness can represent a problem for us fallen and flawed human beings. As we’ve been pointing out, they discovered that their sandals were incompatible with His holiness. The problem was easily resolved in their case, but the solution leaves us with lingering questions about what it all meant. Folks like us who face daunting challenges and need to get closer to God are puzzled about how these events relate to us, if they do at all. 

A Meaningful Act ~
Let’s begin by recognizing that the situation was real to Moses and Joshua, but metaphorical to us. Those sandals, for instance, meant more to them than we might think. For a soldier like Joshua, or someone alone in a desert wilderness like Moses, 

• • having no protection for your feet would place you in a dangerous and perhaps life threatening situation. 
  • For those men to remove their shoes would represent an act of surrender and submission. 
  • Beyond that, it also meant severely restricting their options about where they could walk, how swiftly and easily they could move, and how comfortably they could travel. 

For us, it means that if we’re going to move closer to God, it’s likely to involve sacrificing things we depend on for protection and comfort, and perhaps limiting options about where we can go and how we can move in our own moral and spiritual wilderness. 

But the question remains … What was God really looking for and what difference did taking off their shoes make? The answer is simply this … Their sandals were the only thing separating them from directly touching the holy ground beneath their feet and experiencing what holiness and closeness with God feels like. And it’s interesting to notice that God didn’t leave it up to them to figure out what they needed to do. If we move toward God, He’ll tell us what has to come off. 

Something to Do First ~
God showed up in the lives of these men because they had a role to play in His grand redemption plan, but neither would have fulfilled that role or known the power of His presence had they refused to take their shoes off. The same thing is true of each of us. God has a mission for us to fulfill and a role for us to play in His redemptive plan, but there’s something we have to do first. We have to step on that sanctifying ground that sets us apart as His own … that attaches His holy name to ours … and that allows partnership with Him and each other. There are battles to be fought, victories to be won, and shackles to be broken, but our shoes have to come off first. We have to willingly remove the things that come between us and the power of God’s presence.

What Jesus wants now is the same thing He wanted when He appeared as the Angel of the Lord to Moses and Joshua. He wants the kind of closeness that allows the partnership necessary to fulfill the role He has in mind for us. He isn’t calling to us from a burning bush or presenting Himself as a military commander like He did back then. This time Jesus is calling to us from a cross as the ultimate Lamb of God taking on Himself the sins we’ve committed. This time, the sword is in the hand of a Roman soldier, and the blade has been thrust in His side as He poured out His life to bring us across the holy ground and set us apart as His own forever. 

Today that holy ground is right in front of us wherever we are, but the shoes still need to come off, and He won’t do that for us. It’s up to us to take our shoes off, step in His direction, and discover that holiness isn’t religious piety.  It’s the freedom, love, hope, and power that come with living in His presence. 

We’ll continue our discussion next week, leaving Moses and Joshua for now and moving forward into the New Testament. There’s another incident involving shoes coming off that we shouldn’t ignore, so we’ll be delving into that story next time. I hope you’ll join us again for that discussion. 

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • God demanded that they remove their sandals b/c the ground they approached was holy, simply because God was standing on it. Holiness – one of God’s divine, eternal attributes, originating in Him, emanating from Him, forever associated w/His name. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

  • Their sandals were the only thing separating them from directly touching the holy ground beneath their feet and experiencing what holiness and closeness with God feels like. When we move toward God, He will reveal to us what has to come off. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

  • There are battles to be fought, victories to be won, and shackles to be broken, but our shoes have to come off first. We have to willingly remove the things that come between us and the power of God’s presence. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

  • Jesus wants the kind of closeness that allows the partnership necessary to fulfill the role He has in mind for us. This time, Jesus is calling to us from a cross as the ultimate Lamb of God taking on Himself the sins we’ve committed. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

  • Holy ground is right in front of us wherever we are. It’s up to us to take our shoes off, step in His direction, and discover that holiness isn’t religious piety. It’s the freedom, love, hope and power that come with living in His presence. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 

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