Charles YTK
28th July 2005, 12:34 PM
Sanctification
Paul says the Tanakh (Old Testament) is to be used for training in righteousness to prepare us for all good works. He says that the word (Law) is the washing of regeneration for sanctification. (my paraphrase.) I thought maybe some simple examples of Sanctification through law might help.
God says I want you redeemed people to represent me in the earth as a testimony of who I am. In order to do this you must be holy as I am holy. Your way of living must be set apart and righteous and not like those nations of lost Pagan out there I want you to witness to. And so he sets down guiding lines so that we know the difference between what is holy and what is unholy. He takes the common, that which is typical of all men and makes it into a holy act. Consider these examples.
Time is continuous. Every day is just another day. A dog does not know what day it is. Neither does a slave. Every day is a work day. So God Sanctifies time in a special way making divisions that make the continuous time line into segments and divides them further in to holy and regular days.
The week he divides into Sabbath (rest) and the other six for common work. He divides the month with the Rosh Kodesh. He divides the year into holy days and special sabbaths or festivals like Pesac, First fruits, shavuot, ect. Then he divides the cycles into Sabbaticals of 7 years when lands are rested and the cycle of sabbaticals into Jubilees. So through this there are common times and Holy times. These are all Sabbaths. Without Sabbath we are all slaves or like animals.
Sex is a universal human trait. We can have sex any time we want with whomever we choose and allow sex to be the same as any other animal. But God says there is holy sex and unholy. He defines who can be a sex partner and who can not. He sanctifies sex through marriage making something common into something sacred. Without marriage and purity laws we are all like common animals.
There are all sorts of things to eat that will not harm you. An animal will eat anything he finds. And the unrighteous man will eat anything. But God once again defines what is food and what is not food through Kosher food laws, There are clean and unclean. There are times of feasting and times of fasting. So now we have some restrictions but we also have a holy way of eating. We are not controlled by our appetites, we control our appetites. So through Gods laws the common act of eating is made into a holy act.
God can be worshipped in many different ways. A look at the many Pagan practices which incorporated brutality human sacrifice, temple sex, debauchery and degradation can serve as an example of diversity. But God says, you are not to worship me as the Pagans worship their Gods. And so he tells us what is the holy way of worship and what is an abomination to him. He sanctifies our worship through his law.
He teaches us how to give charity in a holy way. How to help others in a holy way. How to bless others even our enemies and turn conflict into holy forgiveness.
And so on it goes. The law takes what is common and routine and carves out of that a way of holiness, sanctifying, making holy things that would otherwise be common. And no-one explained the law and how to apply it to out lives better than Yeshua. Throughout the Gospels and especially in Matt Chapters 5-7 we see Torah teaching according to the Lord himself, the one who gave us the law. Today even in Rabbinical schools the Gospels are studied because the Torah teaching of Yeshua is the pinnacle of understanding. We who have been saved by his grace through messiah do not give legalistic service to the law as had become the custom during 2nd temple times. Our lives are changed having the Torah of God written on our inward parts and the spirit given to guide us into all truth. So now those things that we desire to do we should discover, with no surprise, are the same things that are contained in the law. By this process the Lord prepares us for his coming, showing us our lives compared to the commandment within our hearts “ That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”
Paul says the Tanakh (Old Testament) is to be used for training in righteousness to prepare us for all good works. He says that the word (Law) is the washing of regeneration for sanctification. (my paraphrase.) I thought maybe some simple examples of Sanctification through law might help.
God says I want you redeemed people to represent me in the earth as a testimony of who I am. In order to do this you must be holy as I am holy. Your way of living must be set apart and righteous and not like those nations of lost Pagan out there I want you to witness to. And so he sets down guiding lines so that we know the difference between what is holy and what is unholy. He takes the common, that which is typical of all men and makes it into a holy act. Consider these examples.
Time is continuous. Every day is just another day. A dog does not know what day it is. Neither does a slave. Every day is a work day. So God Sanctifies time in a special way making divisions that make the continuous time line into segments and divides them further in to holy and regular days.
The week he divides into Sabbath (rest) and the other six for common work. He divides the month with the Rosh Kodesh. He divides the year into holy days and special sabbaths or festivals like Pesac, First fruits, shavuot, ect. Then he divides the cycles into Sabbaticals of 7 years when lands are rested and the cycle of sabbaticals into Jubilees. So through this there are common times and Holy times. These are all Sabbaths. Without Sabbath we are all slaves or like animals.
Sex is a universal human trait. We can have sex any time we want with whomever we choose and allow sex to be the same as any other animal. But God says there is holy sex and unholy. He defines who can be a sex partner and who can not. He sanctifies sex through marriage making something common into something sacred. Without marriage and purity laws we are all like common animals.
There are all sorts of things to eat that will not harm you. An animal will eat anything he finds. And the unrighteous man will eat anything. But God once again defines what is food and what is not food through Kosher food laws, There are clean and unclean. There are times of feasting and times of fasting. So now we have some restrictions but we also have a holy way of eating. We are not controlled by our appetites, we control our appetites. So through Gods laws the common act of eating is made into a holy act.
God can be worshipped in many different ways. A look at the many Pagan practices which incorporated brutality human sacrifice, temple sex, debauchery and degradation can serve as an example of diversity. But God says, you are not to worship me as the Pagans worship their Gods. And so he tells us what is the holy way of worship and what is an abomination to him. He sanctifies our worship through his law.
He teaches us how to give charity in a holy way. How to help others in a holy way. How to bless others even our enemies and turn conflict into holy forgiveness.
And so on it goes. The law takes what is common and routine and carves out of that a way of holiness, sanctifying, making holy things that would otherwise be common. And no-one explained the law and how to apply it to out lives better than Yeshua. Throughout the Gospels and especially in Matt Chapters 5-7 we see Torah teaching according to the Lord himself, the one who gave us the law. Today even in Rabbinical schools the Gospels are studied because the Torah teaching of Yeshua is the pinnacle of understanding. We who have been saved by his grace through messiah do not give legalistic service to the law as had become the custom during 2nd temple times. Our lives are changed having the Torah of God written on our inward parts and the spirit given to guide us into all truth. So now those things that we desire to do we should discover, with no surprise, are the same things that are contained in the law. By this process the Lord prepares us for his coming, showing us our lives compared to the commandment within our hearts “ That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”