Enjoy Sanctification and Sonship: Chosen to be Holy, Predestinating us unto Sonship

Our becoming God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead was initiated by God the Father in eternity past; He chose us to be holy (the same as Him in His holy nature), predestinating us unto sonship (the same as Him in His life), and we can partake of this by exercising our spirit and living in spirit today. Amen!

The highest peak of the divine revelation in God’s word is that God Himself became a man to be man-ized so that we, human beings, may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, to be God-ized.

This is mysterious yet real, wonderful yet so practical. Day by day we can contact the Lord and have many transactions with Him, responding to Him in love and praying to allow Him to work in us.

The mere understanding or memorisation of the truth in God’s word is not enough; we need to bring all these matters to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to give us the experiences we need.

We want to enter into the matter of being predestinated by God unto sonship, the matter of being chosen to be holy, by means of the divine dispensing.

When we are at home, with our family, we need to keep our being open to the Lord, conversing with Him inwardly.

We may be doing the dishes or just playing with the children, or we may have a conversation with our spouse, and as we do this and that, we keep conversing with the Lord, asking Him to give us the experiences we need for us to be sanctified unto sonship.

We need not only to learn the truth and commit the word of God to our memory but even more, open to the Lord so that we may allow Him to work Himself into our being.

We need knowledge, enjoyment and experience. We may even tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, I am not satisfied with only understanding and memorising the truth in God’s word. Speak to me. Shine on me. Sanctify me. Grant me the experiences of Christ that I need for the truth to be wrought into my being. Oh Lord, I want more enjoyment and experience of You according to Your word!

As we open to the Lord in this way, He will give us the experiences we need, and we will not let these experiences go by.

Sometimes the experiences go by and we miss Christ, we miss the enjoyment and experience of Christ.

But the more we inwardly open to the Lord, checking with Him, and asking Him to work Himself into us, He will do it in us.

First, we need to pray, and then we need to pay the price. Many times we need to pay the price of our sleep to wake up earlier and have a time with the Lord.

We may need to pay the price of our convenience so that we take some time to pray and open to the Lord.

We need to pray, and then learn to pay the price to spend time with the Lord, coming back to Him so that He would speak to us, infuse us, and work Himself into us.

God Chose us in Christ to be Holy, Predestinating us unto Sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself

We may think that it was because of us, our seeking for God, our being hungry for the truth, that we found the Lord and were saved.

Eph. 1:4-5 tells us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

Our regeneration, our transformation, our glorification, and our being deified, all these are initiated by God Himself.

Our becoming God in life and nature but not in the Godhead was initiated by God the Father in eternity past by His choosing us to be holy, predestinating us unto sonship. Wow!

We may be quite familiar with these verses, even having them memorized and inscribed into our being, but they need to shine with new and fresh light on us again and again.

God chose us to be holy – the same as He is in His nature, Amen! He chose us by predestinating us unto sonship – to be the same as He is in His life, Amen! We say Amen to His word.

We take His word into us by means of all prayer and petition. In eternity past, wow, God saw us and He chose us; He chose us by predestinating us.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and He did this by predestinating us unto sonship.

The purpose for His choosing is that we would be holy, that is, to be the same as God in His nature.

God initiated everything: He chose us to be the same as He is in His nature, that is, holy, and He did this by predestinating us unto sonship, that is, to be the same as He is in His life.

God wants to gain many sons who are the same as He is in life and nature, so He chose us to be holy and without blemish by predestinating us unto sonship. Hallelujah!

In eternity past, God determined that we – you and I, all His children – would be the same as He is in His life and nature! Wow!

To be sanctified is to be made holy; it is not only to be separated unto God but also to be different, distinct, from anything that is common.

What is different and distinct from all things is God; He is holy, and holiness is His nature (1 Pet. 1:15-16).

He chose us to be holy as He is holy, and He makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being.

The way we can be holy is by God imparting His holy nature into us so that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature.

We are children of God (John 1:12-13; 3:6) who are partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).

As we come to the Lord in the Word every day, He imparts more of what He is into us to saturate and permeate us with His holy element and nature.

He doesn’t want us to merely be sinless, perfect, or pure; He wants us to be holy, that is, saturated and permeated with His holy nature to be as Holy as He is holy.

God has an intention in His economy, to have many sons.

Then, He came as the Spirit to separate us, the chosen ones, to be holy unto God, so that God can beget us.

God chose us to be holy, and He did this by predestinating us unto sonship. Our sanctification is unto sonship, for sonship.

This is God’s dispensing; God is dispensing Himself into us to be our life and make us sons of God (sonship) and our nature for us to be holy.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy in order for us to become God in nature (Eph. 1:4).

The holy nature and element of God are being infused into us to sanctify us and make us holy (2 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 12:14).

We just need to keep ourselves open to the Lord, and He dispenses His life and nature into us.

He predestinated us unto sonship even before we were created in order for us to become God in life (Eph. 1:5).

For us to become sons of God, we must be born of God by the dispensing of God’s life into our being (John 1:12; 3:6; 1 John 5:11-12).

As we talk to others, as we do the ordinary things of our daily life, the dispensing of God into us goes on; we need to keep turning to the Lord and touching Him, keeping our being open to Him, and He will dispense Himself with His life and holy nature to make us the same as He is in life and nature.

Eph. 1:4-5 reveals that God chose us to be holy to make us sons of God.

To be made holy is the process, the procedure, whereas to be sons of God is the aim, the goal, so that our whole being – spirit, soul, and body (Rom. 8:23) – may be sonized, made in full sons of God, by God (Rev. 21:2, 9-11). Hallelujah!

When the Holy Spirit came into us, He brought God’s life and nature into us, and day by day, we’re being sanctified unto sonship.

May we open to the Lord and let Him dispense His life and nature into our being for us to become sons of God in full.

Thank You, Lord, for choosing us to be holy and without blemish, predestinating us unto sonship! Hallelujah, we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be holy and to be sons of God! Praise the Lord, we are now in the process of becoming the same as God in life and nature! Amen, Lord, we open to You; dispense Your life and nature into us to make us the same as You are. We open to Your sanctifying work. Sanctify us and make us as holy as You are by imparting Your holy element into our being. Son-ize us more today; make us sons of God in full by dispensing Your life into us. Hallelujah, by God’s holy nature, we are sanctified! Praise the Lord, the Holy Spirit brings God’s holy nature into us to sanctify us, and this sanctification is unto sonship! We thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for doing everything in us and for us to make us the same as You are in life and nature!

Live by the Spirit and have our Being by the Spirit to Enjoy Sanctification and the Sonship

God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3) by choosing us to be holy and predestinating us unto sonship (vv. 4-5).

Both our sanctification and our sonship are carried out by the Spirit; the Spirit is the means by which we’re sanctified and regenerated, and by the Spirit we’re made holy and sons of God.

On one hand, we don’t have to do anything to be chosen by God or predestinated by Him; on the other hand, we can cooperate with the Spirit to enjoy sanctification and sonship.

For us to enjoy sanctification and the sonship, we need to exercise our spirit, for the Spirit is one with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:16).

We need to learn to live by the Spirit, act according to the Spirit, and have our being altogether by the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).

When we exercise our spirit and live by the Spirit, we offer the Lord the cooperation He needs for Him to grow in our being and for us to be sanctified.

We can grow in the divine life and we can be sanctified when we exercise our spirit, live by the Spirit and have our being by the Spirit.

We can be nourished in order to grow by reading the holy Word of God, by listening to the spiritual speaking, and by coming to the meetings of the church.

When we read and pray the word of God, listen to the spiritual speaking in the ministry, and habitually come to the meetings of the church, we are nourished to grow in life.

Sanctification and the sonship are carried out by the Spirit, and we can enjoy this process of being sanctified unto sonship by being in the Spirit and by living by the Spirit.

The Spirit sanctifies us unto sonship, and the Spirit begets us to be regenerated, born of God (John 3:6).

For us to be sanctified unto sonship is altogether a matter by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and with the Spirit.

May we not neglect our spirit but rather, pay attention to our spirit, taking care of our spirit.

It is easy to just love the Lord and the church, but miss the matter of the Spirit.

If we do not exercise our spirit and do not live by the Spirit in our daily life, we cannot grow in life unto sonship and there’s no sanctification going on in our being.

It is sad to see some saints who have been in the church life for many years but with no growth in life.

They meet with the saints, they listen to the messages, and they read the Bible, but they don’t care for the Spirit.

If we do not take care of our spirit, if we don’t exercise our spirit nor live in Spirit, having our being in the Spirit and according to the Spirit, we cannot grow unto maturity to be sons of God in full, and we are not being sanctified in our disposition.

May we be those who exercise our spirit and live in the Spirit day by day.

When we wake up in the morning, the first thing we need to do is contact the Lord by the exercise of our spirit.

Throughout the day, we need to continue to contact the Lord so that He may infuse Himself with His life and nature into our being.

Thank the Lord for choosing us to be holy and predestinating us unto sonship; we now need to continue to enjoy sanctification and the sonship by taking care of our spirit.

For us to take care of the Spirit, we first need to take care of our spirit.

Lord Jesus, we want to exercise our spirit and live in the Spirit! Hallelujah, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus by choosing us to be holy and predestinating us unto sonship! Thank You, Lord, for coming to us as the Spirit to regenerate us and sanctify us so that we may partake of God’s life and nature! We want to learn to live by the Spirit, act according to the Spirit, and have our whole being altogether by the Spirit, with the Spirit, and according to the Spirit. Save us, Lord, from neglecting our human spirit. Thank You for being joined to us as one spirit. Keep us coming to You in Your word with the exercise of our spirit, being under the hearing of faith, and being in the meetings of the church so that we may be nourished and grow in life. Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit and we choose to live in spirit to enjoy the divine sonship and sanctification!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” pp. 479-481, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 1, entitled, Living and Serving According to the Heavenly Vision of God’s Economy.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – God’s Purpose for the Church (1) To Have the Divine Sonship in Full through Sanctification for the Corporate Expression of God, outline via, the Body Life.
  – What is God’s Selection and Predestination and Its Goal? Article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – God’s predestination of us unto the divine sonship, a portion via, The Vital Groups, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
  – Life-study of Ephesians, Message 4: Predestinated unto Sonship, video via Living Stream Ministry on YouTube.
  – Sonship for New Jerusalem (2), article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Predestinated unto sonship, a portion from, Life-Study of Ephesians, Chapter 4.
  – The eternal purpose of God as revealed in Ephesians 1, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The accomplishment of the divine economy – the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, a portion from, The Divine Dispensing for the Divine Economy, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – God ordained us unto sonship, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God is holy in His nature, / Holiness is what He is. / In this way He sanctified us, / Makes our nature one with His. / Spreading from our quickened spirit, / He renews each inward part, / Moving into all our being, / Making home in all our heart. (Hymns #1203 stanza 3)
  – God before the world’s foundation / Chose the Church in Christ the Son, / That the Church might share the sonship, / Holy, blameless, with Him one; / That the Church be His possession / With the Spirit as the seal, / Of our heritage the earnest / While His Son He does reveal… / Christ in love Himself has given / That the Church be sanctified, / Without blemish, spot, or wrinkle, / To become His glorious bride. / He does nourish her and cherish / As a man his body treats; / He and she become one body— / Thus the myst’ry very great. (Hymns #823 stanzas 1 and 8)
  – God ordained us unto sonship, / Ere creation’s work was done, / To conform us by His Spirit / To the image of His Son; / That His only dear Begotten / Might become the firstborn One, / And by Him with many brethren / His expression full be won. (Hymns #741 stanza 1)