The will of God is our sanctification, that is, that we may be made holy – both separated unto God and saturated with God as the Holy One, and our sanctification is unto sonship. Hallelujah for God’s will!
This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, The Will of God – Our Sanctification.
According to Eph. 1:4-5, 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.
In eternity past, God chose us to be holy. In eternity future, as Rev. 21:2 shows, the New Jerusalem will be called, the holy city.
So God chose us to be holy in eternity past, and in eternity future we will be the holy city.
In between the eternity past and the eternity future we need to go through the process of being sanctified to become fully holy in our spirit, soul, and body, that is, for us become the same as God is in nature.
We were chosen in Christ to be holy in eternity past, we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be holy in this age, and we will be consummated to be the holy city in the next age and for eternity future.
Today we are in the process of being sanctified; on one hand sanctification involves our being positionally separated unto God from anything common, and on the other hand, it involves the matter of being saturated with God, occupied with God, and possessed by God to be as holy as He is holy.
God’s will for us is our sanctification; He wants us to be dispositionally sanctified, that is, made holy in our very disposition, so that we may be saturated with the Holy One with His holy element in our entire tripartite being.
In the New Testament where it says “Holy Spirit” a number of time in Greek the expression is, “The Spirit, the Holy”; this is very impressive, for it shows us that the Spirit is the holy, and Christ as the life-giving Spirit – the Holy Spirit – is saturating us with Himself as the holy to make us the holy city!
Holy means that you are different and distinct from everything that is common; God is the holy One, so He is distinct from everything that is common.
To be separated unto God positionally is by the blood of Christ; this is positional sanctification by the judicial redemption; to be saturated with God dispositionally as the Holy One is God’s organic salvation.
Sanctification therefore encompasses God’s complete salvation, including God’s judicial redemption and His organic salvation.
In 1 Pet. 1:15-16 we are told that we ourselves should be holy in all our manner of life; we can be holy because God is holy.
In our living, we can be holy, because God is holy; He wants us to be exactly the same as He is in His nature, His duplication in the universe.
The Will of God is our Sanctification, for us to be Separated unto God and Saturated with God as the Holy One
According to 1 Thes. 4:3a, the will of God is our sanctification; for us to be sanctified is for us to be made holy, which is to be separated unto God and saturated with God as the Holy One (see 1 Pet. 1:15-16; Eph. 1:4-5; 5:25-27).
God is the Holy One; He is the One who is different, distinct, from everything that is common.
God’s will is that we all as His redeemed people would live a life of holiness according to His holy nature, a life wholly separated unto Him from anything other than Him; for this, He is sanctifying us wholly – spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23).
On one hand to be made holy is to be separated unto God to be distinct and different from everything that is common.
Only God is different, distinct from all things, and He chose us to be holy (Eph. 1:4-5).
God chose us to be holy, and He makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, so that our whole being may be saturated, permeated, and filled with His holy nature.
For us as God’s chosen people to be holy is to partake of God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and to have our whole being permeated with God Himself as the holy One.
In ourselves we are common and even sinful, but when we partake of His holy nature and we are saturated with His holy element, we become holy even as God is holy!
The will of God is our sanctification; therefore, we need to abstain from sin. The will of God is that we would be sanctified, kept, preserved, and guarded in sanctification.
God chose us in Christ to be holy in love; these two words “in love” are used repeatedly in the book of Ephesians, showing us that when God chose us in eternity past He chose us in an atmosphere of love, in a condition of love, and He wants us to love Him in return.
We love because He first loved us; He loved us, He infused us with Himself as love, and with Himself as love we love Him, we return His love back to Him, and with Him as love we love all the brothers and sisters.
In Eph. 5:25-27 we see the whole span of God’s complete salvation: in v. 25 Christ in the past as our Redeemer accomplished judicial redemption for us by giving Himself up for us on the cross; in v. 26 Christ in the present functions as the life-giving Spirit to carry out His organic salvation (which is our sanctification); in v. 27 Christ in the future will present the church to Himself glorious.
Christ offered Himself up on the cross for our judicial redemption, and today He is beautifying us to make us the bride of Christ. We are being beautified with God’s holy nature, with God as the Holy One.
We are now in a sanctifying process, a washing process; every day we are being washed metabolically with the water in the Word so that our natural, old element would be gradually discharged, and the new element of Christ as the Holy One is imparted into our being.
For us to be sanctified, we need the washing of the water in the word today; the word here is not “logos” – the written, constant word of the Bible, but “rhema”, God’s present, living, instant, up-to-date word.
We need God to speak to us not just in a corporate way but also personally, instantly, in a living and personal way.
As the Lord speaks to us in His word, we are washed metabolically with the living water, which is the flowing life of the Triune God.
May today we as we hear His voice do not harden our hearts, as the Israelites did, but allow the Lord to wash us, cleanse us, remove anything old and natural from us, and add His new and holy element to our being to sanctify us!
We need to love the Lord, be in His word every day, pray-read His word by praying the word back to Him, and read the word in an atmosphere of prayer, so that something would wash us metabolically to add God in Christ as the Spirit into us as the Holy One, thus making us holy even as He is holy.
Lord Jesus, open our ears to hear Your voice, and may our heart be fully soft toward You so that You may sanctify our heart by saturating it and permeating it with Yourself until You possess our heart! Amen, Lord, we do not want to harden our heart as we come to Your word; rather, we open to You, we open to Your cleansing and washing by the water in the Word, so that You may sanctify us. Thank You Lord that God’s will is our sanctification; we open to Your sanctifying work today! Make us holy even as You are holy: add Yourself as the Holy One to our being for our sanctification!
Christ as the Captain of our Salvation is Leading many sons into Glory by Sanctifying them: Sanctification is for Sonship
If we put together Eph. 1:4-5 and Heb. 2:10-11 we will see that sanctification is for sonship; actually, we can say that sanctification is God’s “sonizing” us to make us His many sons in full.
We were chosen in eternity past to be holy unto sonship (Eph. 1:4-5; Rev. 21:2, 9-11).
Our being chosen to be holy issues in sonship, results in sonship, and is for sonship; therefore, God’s sanctifying us is actually His sonizing us, making us His sons in full.
For us to be sonized is for us to become sons of God in our spirit, in our soul, and eventually in our mortal body, until the whole universe knows that we are sons of God, the manifestation of God.
The resurrected Christ is the Author of our salvation; He initiated our salvation, He brought salvation to us, and He is sanctifying us.
He is the Captain of our salvation, leading many sons into glory by sanctifying them (Heb. 2:10-11).
Christ is the Captain of our salvation, and He leads us and all the sons of God into glory.
Even now, He is leading us into glory by transforming us from one degree of glory to another degree of glory until we are fully glorified!
How does Christ as the Captain of our salvation lead us into glory? In Heb. 2:10-11 it says that both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Christ as the Spirit is the One who sanctifies us, and we are the ones being sanctified; as we are being sanctified, we are being sonized, that is, we are led into glory as God’s many sons.
Hallelujah, Christ is leading us into glory to be sons of God in full by sanctifying us! It was fitting for Him – for whom are all things and through whom are all things – in leading many sons into glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings; this One leads us into glory by sanctifying us!
Jesus as the Pioneer, the Forerunner, took the lead to enter into glory, and we, His followers, are taking the same way to be brought into the same glory, which was ordained by God for us (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Thes. 2:12).
Christ cut the way and we are now taking the way; He is not only our Savior to save us from our fallen state, but He is also the Captain of our salvation leading us as the many sons of God into glory! Hallelujah!
The will of God is our sanctification, and by being sanctified we are brought into glory as God’s many sons!
Hallelujah, our Lord Jesus is the Captain of our salvation leading us as His many sons into glory by sanctifying us! Amen, Lord, both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause Christ is not ashamed to call us His brothers! Thank You Lord Jesus for leading us into glory to be the sons of God in full by sanctifying us day by day! We open to Your sanctifying work. We want to cooperate with Your sanctification day by day. Sanctify us daily, Lord, until we are glorified sons of God for the glorious manifestation of our heavenly Father!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 22 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 5, The Will of God – our Sanctification.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, sanctify us, Lord; now add Thyself to us, / In our experience, Thy Person spread in us, / That in reality the church be glorious, / O Lord, do add Thyself, we pray. (Hymns #1135)
– And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, / And may your spirit and soul and body / Be preserved complete, without blame, / At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Scripture song)
– Church of God, beloved and chosen, / Church of Christ for whom He died, / Claim thy gifts and praise the Giver, / Ye are washed and sanctified. / Sanctified by God the Father, / And by Jesus Christ His Son, / And by God the Holy Spirit, / Holy, Holy, Three in One. (Hymns #825)
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