Remove Your Sandals from Your Feet
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July 02, 2017 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"Then He said, 'Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground'" (Exodus 3:5).
In Exodus 3, Moses was pasturing the flock on Mount Horeb. Then, God called him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush to set him as the leader of Exodus. As Moses came near the bush, God said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
Let's now delve into the spiritual meanings included in the verse, "Remove your sandals from your feet."
1. The Reason God Told Moses to Remove His Sandals from His Feet
God called to him from the midst of the bush on Horeb Mountain. Because God was there, the place was holy ground. Just as the Temple God dwells in is holy, our heart, since God dwells in it, is the holy temple of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 reads, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" From the moment you accept the Lord, the Holy Spirit begins to dwell in you and you should live a godly life because you are a temple of God.
Why, then, did God tell Moses to remove his sandals? It has a profound meaning. In fact, the dirtiest part of man is 'heart' that has every kind of evil such as jealousy and hatred. From this heart, unimaginable evils would come out. In the Old Testament time, circumcision was performed not in the heart but in the body because the Holy Spirit didn't come into hearts.
While the dirtiest part of man is heart, the dirtiest part among our body is feet. That is why God told Moses to remove his sandals from his feet. In sandals or shoes, we go to many places and step on many things. We should take our dirty shoes off to enter a clean place. The same applies to this Passage.
2. The Spiritual Meanings of "Remove Your Sandals from Your Feet"
1) God Is Pure and Holy.
Since God is so pure and holy, we should be pure and holy in order to come near Him. He is blameless and holy, has nothing to do with sins and evil, is full of love, and is of perfect goodness (James 1:17; Hebrews 7:26; 1 John 1:5). Concerning this holiness of God, 1 Peter 1:15 says, "But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior" and Matthew 5:48 reads, "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Therefore, "Remove your sandals from your feet" means that because God is holy and pure we also should be holy and pure in heart. If we desire to stay near God all the time, we should achieve the heart of God who is perfect and dwells in the Light (Philippians 2:5).
2) You Can Come near God Only When You Remove Dirty Elements from Your Heart.
As Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," we should be pure in heart to come near and see Him. We are forgiven of our sins by faith in Jesus Christ, but it does not mean we have cast off all evil attributes from our heart right away. We have to cleanse and wash away untruths by the blood of Jesus Christ by walking in the Light.
You have to throw away untruths by listening to the Word and putting it into practice. To the extent that you realize the truth, you can cast sins off and become pure and holy. To the extent that your heart becomes pure, you will be able to meet God and hear the Holy Spirit's voice. As guided by His voice, you can become God's perfect children.
Thus, if you want to come near God, you should remove dirty things from your heart as you take shoes off. Here, I urge you to check if you have changed yourself and become more sanctified than before. Do not waste your time. If you have sins in heart without fighting against them to the point of shedding blood, you cannot but be abandoned. You must quickly remove filthy attributes from your heart (Luke 19:11-27).
3) You Can Hear the Voice of God Only When You Remove Dirty Elements from Your Heart.
What if Moses had not taken off his sandals although God told him to remove them from his feet? Could he have talked to God? When you dwell in the Word of God, you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Here, only when you obey the voice can you receive answers to whatever you ask for. That is, you should obey by 'removing your sandals from your feet' so as to hear the voice of God.
Because Moses took his sandals off, he could hear the Word of God and realize what it meant. He could understand its meanings when he heard it. For it he had lowered himself during the 40 years of trials. He realized that he could meet and come near God and hear His voice only by taking his sandals off from his feet.
Moses removed his sandals from his feet and knelt down before God with a pure heart. He stood in front of God with fear and trembling and looked up to God in spirit and truth with all his heart. Then, God said to him, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:6).
Why did God show Himself by calling each name of Moses' ancestors? Moses knew his ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob very well. God showed him that He is the God whom his father and his ancestors believed. He showed him that He had been with his ancestors, had made a covenant with them, and He is the faithful God who keeps the covenant.
We cannot but 'remove our dirty sandals' in front of the great dignity and holiness of the living God. He is so almighty and faithful as to surely keep His covenant. We should cast all the untruthful attributes off and wash our hearts holy and pure to come near God.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God calls His workers and tells them to remove their sandals from their feet just as God did to Moses. We should continue to check and change ourselves based on the truth to resemble the Lord although we were forgiven of all sins of past, present, and future by faith in Jesus Christ.
In addition, we should cast off every form of evil in fullness of the Holy Spirit through fervent prayer (1 Timothy 4:5). I pray in the name of the Lord that by doing so you will be able to come near God, meet Him, and hear His voice.
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