Our God is Yahweh M’Kaddesh, The Lord Who Sanctifies. As He chose Israel as His people, He chooses us who believe. Not by our works, not by what we do, but because He loves us and sent His Son to pay for our sins. He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us as we become more mature men and women of faith. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we have been declared righteous. We have been made holy. We have been set apart. And as we continue to follow Him, He will purify us, making us more and more like Christ.
Leviticus 20:7-8
Consecrate [qadosh] yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God [Yahweh Elohekem]. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you [Yahweh me Qadassiskim or Yahweh Qadosh].
Our God Sanctifies. What does that mean? I always thought that was a fancy word for growing spiritually. I guess that is partially right. But it is more than that. It is to be set apart, purified, to be made holy. We who are in Christ become more like Him every day as the Holy Spirit works in our lives. So it is growing spiritually, but it is also being set apart and made holy. Something we cannot do on our own, but God can. As we trust in Jesus and let Him be the foundation of our lives, our beliefs, and our values, we will be set apart as His people and we will be strong.
1 Peter 2:1-10
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHIEF CORNERSTONE, ELECT, PRECIOUS, AND HE WHO BELIEVES ON HIM WILL BY NO MEANS BE PUT TO SHAME.”
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE,” and “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
You were called out of darkness, set apart. God chose you! All who believe and trust in Christ are God’s children. And as children we are sanctified. As children we learn about His goodness and mercy; and as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, we become more like Him. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, the foundation and head of the church, His people. If we build on Him, we cannot fall.
Ephesians 5:24-27
Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Jesus loves us enough that He will make us pure. He has paid the price for our sins and He will continue to work in us to make us pure and perfect in God’s eyes. Jesus demonstrated how a marriage should be. Just as He sacrificed much to sanctify us we ought to sacrifice for our loved ones to draw them toward Christ and strengthen their faith. How do we do that? We can pray for them, we can read the word together, we can be an example to them just as Jesus did with His disciples.
John 17:15-19
I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
See how Jesus prays for His disciples. Not only for the twelve but to all who follow Him. As God sanctifies us, let us pray for those around us and encourage them by words and prayers that we may all be sanctified by God, not only set apart, but to grow in the Spirit and to be purified.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
God promises us that we will be made holy and blameless. That’s why Jesus came to this world. To be a sacrifice for us so that we will be without spot or blemish; our debts have been paid by His blood, and we can have assurance when He returns and brings us home.
Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Through Jesus death on the cross and being raised from the dead, He has made us holy, blameless, acceptable by God when we have faith in Him. It’s already been done. It is a done deal! Yet He still continues to work in our lives to do good deeds and share the gospel with others. There is no other greater news and greater gift than that.
Hebrews 10:10-23
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,” then He adds, “THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
We are sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Through His perfect sacrifice, we are set apart, we are made holy, we are declared righteous, not by our good deeds or simply praying a prayer, but by trusting and believing that Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh, made the ultimate perfect sacrifice to take away our sins. And He gave us the Holy Spirit, to guide us and empower us, that way may continually grow in the Spirit. Because of God’s great gift, we are set apart, we are light in the darkness, we are the salt of the earth, not of the world, but in the world, not sinners, but saints who sometimes sin. What a great God we have!
My Daily Scriptures 