YHWH (Jehovah) M’Kaddesh: The LORD Who Sanctifies

I AM the LORD who Sanctifies You (Leviticus 20:8)

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I AM the Lord your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I AM the Lord who sanctifies you. (Leviticus 20:7-8)

Derivations

  • YHWH: from the Hebrew word “havah”, meaning “to be” or “being”. Closely associated with the Hebrew word “chavah”, meaning “to live” or “life”
  • M’Kaddesh: from the Hebrew word qādash, meaning to be clean (ceremonial or moral) – appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile (from Deuteronomy 22:9), hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), wholly.

How did we get here? (Review)

Elohim, the God of Creation, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. El-Elyon, God Most High. El-Shaddai, God Almighty. El-Ro’i, God Who sees me. El-Olam, Everlasting God. El-Chai, the Living God. YHWH, I AM! Jehovah Jireh, The LORD will provide. Jehovah Raphah, The LORD who heals. Jehovah Nissi, The LORD is my Banner. Each one progressively telling us more and more of the nature of God and His relationship with us.

I AM the LORD Who Sanctifies You

  • YHWH is holy (assumption/statement) and calls us to be holy (command/imperative)
    Hebrew word used for holy is qādôsh, a derivative of qādash
    (Leviticus 11:45, Leviticus 20:26, 1 Peter 1:16)
  • YHWH M’Kaddesh tells us to be sanctified or consecrated qādash (Leviticus 20:7)
  • YHWH M’Kaddesh sanctifies us (Leviticus 20:8)
  • We can only be holy because YHWH M’Kaddesh has sanctified us ( Hebrew word qādash in v 8) and set us apart (Hebrew word bādal in v 26)
  • We have already been sanctified positionally (1 Corinthians 6:11)

The Israelites and Priests were Sanctified

Following the ceremonial law did not make them Jews, Children of Abraham, God’s Chosen People. Rather, they were to follow them because they were Jews, Children of Abraham, God’s Chosen People. They enabled right worship and lifestyle, separate from and different than that of the nations and cultures surrounding them. Along the same thought, we don’t have to stop sinning to become a Christian. In fact, we can’t.  We stop sinning because we are a Christian, which enables right worship and lifestyle, one that is set apart, consecrated, separate from and different than that of the culture surrounding us. Trust, then obey. Faith first, obedience next.

The following outline and comments are from “All the Divine Names and Titles” by Herbert Lockyer, copyright © 1975 by Herbert Lockyer, published by Zondervan.

  • Sanctified to obey (Leviticus 20:8)
    The measure of our sanctification is  gauged by our obedience to the will and word of the thrice holy One who deigns to make us holy.
  • Sanctified to purity (Leviticus 21:7-8)
    A priest unto the Lord was prohibited from marrying an impure woman for the two-fold reason, “he is holy unto God” and “for I am the LORD, which sanctify you; am holy”.  “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”
  • Sanctified to God (Leviticus 21:15)
    Others could marry a widow, or a divorced per son, but not a priest. Sanctified unto the Lord, and therefore wholly His, he could not do what was allowable in others.
  • Sanctified to healthiness (Leviticus 21:23)
    Unless sanctified in body, as well as in spirit and soul, we are not fit to serve the Lord.
  • Sanctified to diet (Leviticus 22:8,9)
    Sanctified souls cannot feed upon the diseased and dead things of the world.
  • Sanctified to instruct (Leviticus 22:15,16)
    The sacred record says that if a person should unwittingly eat of the holy bread which was for the priest and his family, then the priest had to tell him his fault, and advise him what to do, for such were not to “profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the LORD; Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass when they eat their holy things: for I the LORD do sanctify them”.  Our Lord had something to say about giving that which was holy unto dogs.
  • Sanctified to remember (Leviticus 22:32,33)
    It is necessary to remember that our sanctification is not only positional yet practical, but progressive and expansive, going forward unto the perfect day. Life is growth in the spiritual realm as in the natural and physical and we are to grow up in Him in all things

Our Entire Being Needs to be Sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, then Philippians 1:6)

  • Spirit: The spirit part of us is the organ of God-consciousness, reason and conscience as receptive of and responsive to divine revelation. By the Spirit, we are linked on to Him who is “God the Spirit,” and therefore capable of communication with Him. We are wholly sanctified in our immortal spirit when, through the possession of the Holy Spirit, it faithfully represents the divine voice that charms us most. When hallowed, the spirit becomes the ruling center with reference to the rest of our nature. Primarily, however, prayer, worship, adoration, meditation and praise are associated with the spirit.
  • Soul: The soul is the seat of our natural emotions, affections, desires, and imaginations; and of the active will, the self, standing thereby, for self-consciousness. When wholly sanctified, the soul uses understanding as a help to the keeping of divine precepts: desires and affections are divinely regulated and purified and tempered; there is a ready memory of the blood of God and readiness to call up holy thoughts. A sanctified soul implies that the imagination is filled with Christ and the Christian ideal and the Christian prospect; that this part of our nature does not assert its independence of the spirit above it, but is able to resist the charms of bodily senses below. Holding the central position in our being, the soul can swing the balance either way.
  • Body: Our body is the seat of the senses, and by its members connects us with the world without and around, and so represents world-consciousness. God calls for the body to be sanctified and dedicated to Him, and for its various members to be used as instruments of righteousness – eyes, ears, lips, hands, feet and other physical faculties hallowed and controlled by His will. When thus honored as His temple, the body does not aspire to rule the soul, or frustrate the upreach of the spirit, but becomes the medium of blessing to the outside world. “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

We Need Help in Sanctification

  • We are sanctified by God, the Father (Jude 1)
  • We are sanctified by God, the Son (1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 1:2)
  • We are sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16)
  • We are sanctified by the blood (Hebrews 13:12, Hebrews 10:10, 14)
  • We are sanctified by the truth (John 15:3, John 17:17, 19, Psalm 119:9, 1 Timothy 4:5)
  • We are sanctified by faith (Acts 26:18)
  • We are sanctified by prayer (1 Timothy 4:5)

A Hymn based on Psalm 1 (The epitome of a sanctified life)

The Way and End of the Righteous and the Wicked.

BLESS’D is the man who shuns the place
Where sinners love to meet;
Who fears to tread their wicked ways,
And hates the scoffer’s seat:

But in the statutes of the Lord
Has placed his chief delight;
By day he reads or hears the word,
And meditates by night.

He, like a plant of gen’rous kind,
By living waters set,
Safe from the storms and blasting wind,
Enjoys a peaceful state.

Green as the leaf, and ever fair,
Shall his profession shine;
While fruits of holiness appear
Like clusters on the Vine.

Not so the impious and unjust;
What vain designs they form!
Their hopes are blown away like dust,
Or chaff before the storm.

Sinners in judgment shall not stand
Amongst the sons of grace,
When Christ, the Judge, at His right hand
Appoints his saints a place.

His eye beholds the path they tread,
His heart approves it well;
But crooked ways of sinners lead
Down to the gates of hell.

1 comment / Add your comment below

  1. We are going to present a Life in the Spirit Seminar using a very good DVD series at our Parish. This article is so helpful in helping others understand their own spirit, the Holy Spirit, and their growth in the spiritual realm. Do you have any other recommendations or suggestions? God bless you.

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