Lev 20:7
Sanctify[1]
yourselves therefore and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
Lev 20:8 And ye shall
keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD who sanctify you.
To sanctify means
commonly to make holy, that is, to separate from the world and consecrate to
God.
Many Christian seem to lack real direction in their lives. They
wander here and drift there not really on fire for God. The answer may be in
this Name of God, Jehovah M’Kaddesh.
The Book of Leviticus speaks to a People who had already
been redeemed. It spoke of the sanctification of Life that must follow one’s
rescue from Sin and Satan by the power of the Blood of the Lamb. It sets forth
the way which the Jewish Pilgrims were expected to live.
The direct context of Leviticus 20:1-6 shows how Jehovah M’Kaddesh
expected the Israelites not to pass their children through the fire to the evil
god Molech[2],and
the turning to mediums and spiritists.
The verb to sanctify means “to consecrate, to dedicate, or
to become holy. It shows Jehovah setting His people apart to walk in holiness,
because He is their God. We are to be set
apart in total dedication to Jehovah. JEHOVAH M’KADDESH is the Holy One Who
demands holiness from His children.
Even today the Jewish people are set apart. When you think of the Jewish people then you think of
their God. However in the past in the days of the Old Covenant they were even
more so than they are today. They were a people set apart.
They had to sanctify
themselves. God did not do all the sanctifying. Thus men must choose
Holiness. Men, like Nebuchadnezzar, who
have experienced the mighty power of God, revealing secrets and causing him to
eat grass like an ox for seven years, but still
refuse to serve God with all their hearts, are doomed. He learnt what God
was like from Daniel and the Three Hebrews who refused to bow to his image.
1Th 5:23 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit
and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
| Holy unto God |
Why should Christians be set apart? Because Jehovah is set
apart. If you truly belong to God then you shouldn’t live like others; you
should be sanctified, set apart from the world, sin and the flesh, for God
alone.
God wants us to be completely His; body, soul and spirit.
Holiness is not a matter just of dress and outward things. It is the inner
disposition of the heart.
1Pe 1:15 but like as He who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of
living;
1Pe 1:16 because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for
I am holy.
Applications
1.
When you are saved you need to realise that you
are to be like God, set apart and holy.
2.
God has washed you from your sin, and set you
apart for Himself.
3.
Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself
with the Kings food. He ate beans and lentils instead and God blessed him and
promoted him and his friends in Babylon. For those who are sold out for God he
will honour.
[1] Thayer Sanctify: 2) to separate from
profane things and dedicate to God
2a) consecrate things to God 2b) dedicate people to
God
[2] In
the Levitical ordinances delivered to the Israelites by Moses there are stern
prohibitions of Molech-worship (Lev_18:21; Lev_20:2-5). Parallel
to these prohibitions, although the name of the god is not mentioned, are those
of the Deuteronomic Code where the abominations of the Canaanites are
forbidden, and the burning of their sons and daughters in the fire (to Molech)
is condemned as the climax of their wickedness (Deu_12:31; Deu_18:10-13).
The references to Malcam, and to David's causing the inhabitants of Rabbath
Ammon to pass through the brick kiln (2Sa_12:30, 2Sa_12:31), are
not sufficiently clear to found upon, because of the uncertainty of the
readings. Solomon, under the influence of his idolatrous wives, built high
places for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of
the children of Ammon. See CHEMOSH. Because of this apostasy it was intimated
by the prophet Ahijah, that the kingdom was to be rent out of the hand of
Solomon, and ten tribes given to Jeroboam (1Ki_11:31-33). These high
places survived to the time of Josiah, who, among his other works of religious
reformation, destroyed and defiled them, filling their places with the bones of
men (2Ki_23:12-14). Molech-worship had evidently received a great
impulse from Ahaz, who, like Ahab of Israel, was a supporter of foreign
religions (2Ki_16:12 ff). He also “made his son to pass through the
fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from
before the children of Israel” (2Ki_16:3). His grandson Manasseh, so far
from following in the footsteps of his father Hezekiah, who had made great
reforms in the worship, reared altars for Baal, and besides other abominations
which he practiced, made his son to pass through the fire (2Ki_21:6).
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