2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
One might ask: What sets us apart from all who reject God? The answer to that question is that He has chosen to bring us into His light, to give us the truth, to give us the sure knowledge that He is the One and only supreme God (in three persons), and He has called us to righteousness. The Lord leads us today to look at a series of Scriptures in which He is revealed as Jehovah Mekaddishkem,” the Lord Who sanctifies us.” EX 19: 1-6 is a gorgeous passage which demonstrates what is meant by this name for God. “The People of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mt. Sinai, and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord [Jehovah Mekaddiskem] called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob’s descendants: ‘You saw what I, the Lord, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to Me. Now, if you will obey Me and keep My covenant, you will be My own people. The whole earth is Mine, but you will be My chosen people, a people dedicated to Me alone, and you will serve me as priests.’”
In a passage about Christ as a “Stone of Stumbling,” Peter sheds more light on what it means to be set apart by God, to be sanctified. 1 PET 2: 9, “But you are the chosen race, the King’s priests, the holy nation, God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, Who called you out of the darkness into His own marvelous light.” Just prior to that in 1 PET 2: 7-8, Christ’s role in this process is shown. “This Stone is of great value for you that believe; but for those who do not believe: ‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all [PS 118: 22].’ And another Scripture [IS 8: 14-15] says, ‘This is the Stone that will make people stumble, the Rock that will make them fall.’” While these passages are about Christ, it is perfectly all right for me to include Him in a discussion of Jehovah Mekaddishkem, because we are reminded that He is the second person of the one and only God. Support for this is found in JN 14: 9 & 11, which I hope you will review.
The covenant is what set the Jews apart from all other people. The Jews were the only ones commanded to acknowledge the Shema, DT 6: 4-5, “Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” IS 49: 6 makes God’s will for His children so clear. “The Lord said to me [Isaiah], ‘I have a greater task for you, My servant. Not only will I restore to greatness the people of Israel who have survived, but I will also make you a light to the nations -so that all the world will be saved.’” This most extraordinary prophecy points directly to the commissioning of Paul to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles [AC 9: 15, 18-19; GA 2: 7]. Jeremiah, whose ministry was during the time of the old covenant, was given the prophecy by Jehovah Mekaddishkem of a new covenant to come in JER 31: 31-34, which I hope you will read.
Our Lord is very thorough when He has something important to say to us. I’m virtually certain it is because He is being patient enough to put up with our hard-headedness, at least for what He deems a reasonable time. EX 31: 12-14a, 17-18 reveals this aspect of Jehovah Mekaddishkem’s personality. “The Lord commanded Moses to tell the people of Israel, ‘Keep the Sabbath, My day of rest, because it is a sign between you and Me for all time to come, to show that I , the Lord, have made you My own people. You must keep the day of rest, because it is sacred…It is a permanent sign between the people of Israel and Me, because I, the Lord, made heaven and earth in six days, and on the seventh day I stopped working and rested. When God had finished speaking to Moses on Mt. Sinai, He gave him the two stone tablets on which God Himself had written the [ten] commandments.” Why is this a demonstration of patience? It is because the original lesson of His being the one and only God had come back in EX 19: 1-6 (above), and what follows here is God’s way of driving it home to His people. Jehovah Mekaddishkem’s patience here also reveals His deep, heartfelt desire that even though we are sinners who do not deserve it, He wants us to become sanctified, perfected, so that we can enjoy a life of eternal joy and fellowship with Him. God is willing to go the extra mile for us; the question we must ask is are we willing to do that for Him? The measure of our trust in and obedience to Him might answer that.
All privileges are balanced by responsibilities. Because our righteous and loving Abba desires our sanctification, we are privileged. We can never really appreciate that privilege without living up to the responsibilities to obediently respond to His sovereignty and teaching that cause it to move forward. The changes in our lives that Jehovah Mekaddishkem asks us to make may be difficult at times or inconveniently timed for us, but they always end up in our being blessed when we are willing to make them. We have a stake in this process, and so does the Lord Who sanctifies us.
PRAYER: O Lord, You really do love us enough to carry us “like an eagle carries her young on her wings.” We are so blessed by that. To that end, You set us apart from non-believers in so many holy ways. First You called us to repentance and faith. Then, You revealed Your position as the only One and true God Who is supreme. You called us to honor the Sabbath. You first gave us Your Law to help us know what is acceptable and what is not [RO 7: 7], and then the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross opening salvation and grace to us. That was followed by commanding Christ to send the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, so that we might understand Your word, thirst for the righteousness with which You had imputed to us, and desire to remain in active, two-way contact with You through prayer. You allow challenges to our faith to happen, knowing that they are opportunities to for us to come closer to You as we work through them. That is how You advance us toward perfection. This impressive list of blessings that You bestow upon us in sanctifying us is only a part of the reason why You deserve our worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and thanks. We humbly approach You today to offer them. In Christ’s holy name, amen.
We will continue tomorrow looking at citations that will allow us to have a better understanding of Jehovah Mekaddishkem and the blessing of sanctification that He makes available to us. His love for us and His wisdom cannot be measured. Each day, He guides us through turmoil and challenges to our faith, knowing that it will bring Him closer to his goal of making us ready for that all-important meeting in the air. We can be encouraged that He equips us to meet these challenges and work through the trials of our lives, because He strengthens us through Jesus Christ [PHIL 4: 13]. That, Dear Ones, is the greatest love any of us has ever known. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn