When we use hand sanitizer we suddenly feel clean, don’t we? It’s my favorite placebo! In 2 Samuel 6, Uzzah reaches out to catch the ark from tumbling and the Lord strikes him dead. His mistake was in assuming his hands were cleaner than the dirt.
The Lord is holy. He is to be revered as such. We, however, are soaked in our sin nature. We must know the true condition of our hands.
In Psalm 24, David writes,
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 swear deceitfully.
While God is holy and exalted, we are sinful in our valley of humanness. To ascend a hill takes effort. Putting our sin to death is not an easy climb. It can be a painful journey. But as we repent and reject our idols, Christ cleanses us. He lifts us up. He makes this ascent not seem like a climb at all! He has already accomplished the gruesome work of putting our sin to death.
The notion of having clean hands represents what we do externally, as well as internally. Clean hands are those that have acted innocently toward others. Clean can be translated innocent. The deeds of our hands will be holy on the outside if the meditations of our hearts are clean on the inside. Thanks be to the blood of Christ that washes us like no sanitizer can. He cleanses us internally.
Synonyms of clean are immaculate, pristine, unsoiled, spotless, and spick-and-span. Antonyms of clean are dirty, illegal, foul, stained, and soiled. Do you find it interesting that we are all of these things simultaneously? We fit on both lists! We are both naughty and nice! We are filthy because of our sin nature, yet spotless because Christ Jesus is our righteousness. He is the ultimate Sanitizer.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:14).
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