Before we get to this name, I thought it would behoove us to review Jehovah Tsidkenu for a few minutes because understanding that is so crucial to understanding Jehovah Mekaddishkem. The point I tried to make last week was that no one is righteous nor can they even be righteous. Imagine a land governed by a firm but fair and good king. Just off the shore is an island also subject to the king. The people of the island got together and decided that they no longer wanted to be ruled by the king so when the king sent his tax collectors, etc. the people sent them away. Nevertheless, on this island the people began schools, homeless shelters, clean water projects, free clinics, etc. They did a lot of "good" things. How did the king view those good things? He viewed them as acts of defiance and acts of rebellion saying, "we don't need you; we can do just fine - even better without you." When an invading navy comes through and they cry for help, the king will say, "Sorry, you aren't my people."
I give this story just to once again say that all our deeds are as filthy rags - fuel for the fire, and God, who alone is good, has made a new way, a new covenant whereby His righteousness now comes into us who believe and receive. This is why Jesus could say of John the Baptist in Matt. 11:11
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
John didn't have the Holy Spirit living inside him. He was the greatest prophet of the old covenant but we of the new covenant have God inside us. This explains the "greater things that Jesus talks about in John 14:12
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Jesus walked on water, raised the dead, fed multitudes, yet we will do greater things? One thing Jesus couldn't do was put the person of the Holy Spirit into a believer because He wasn't sent yet. We, however, have the opportunity to lead someone to salvation and see them reborn! How great is that!!
As I tried to illustrate in the pumpkin illustration, God has not only cleaned the gunk (sin) out from inside us, but He put His light inside us. The problem is that light is still surrounded by our flesh, our old sin nature, which is obscuring the light from shining through. It is like this light bulb you see below. It is painted black to illustrate our flesh keeping the light of the Holy Spirit from coming through. Sanctification is the process by which the sinful, old nature is being removed throughout our lives illustrated by the paint thinner wiping paint off the bulb to let more light shine through.
This brings us to the name for today, Jehovah Mekaddishkem which means the God who sanctifies. We find this name in Exodus 31:12,13
Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy(Jehovah Mekaddishkem)
So what does resting and Sabbath have to do with sanctification? Start by looking at Heb.10:14
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
See the two parts of sanctification - 1) You have been made perfect 2) You are being made perfect. In Exodus 31 you see that the Israelites had been made God's chosen people actually by faith applying the blood to the doorposts. Yet Hebrews 4:10 tells us
for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his
So they were sanctified by faith and they were being sanctified by resting or "Sabatthing" in Jehovah Mekaddishkem the sanctifier. Ezekiel 44:18 says that priests should not wear wool but linen so they won't perspire. What is that all about? I think God is saying that the work , perspiration, has already been done by Christ - now it's time to rest in what He has done. He did the sweat drops of blood for us. Paul says in Phil. 2:13-15
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
So if He is working in us to sanctify us, why don't we look more like Jesus? Do we just sit back and do nothing? No, we must work "in the Lord". Did you know that in the New Testament, no one ever works for the Lord, they always work in Him. That means they are letting the Holy Spirit work on them from the inside out who will do the work of producing the fruit. Our work is to get rid of the deeds of the flesh that obscures the light (which He helps us do also) Paul says in Romans 6-8 that prior to salvation it was impossible to say "no" to the flesh but now, with God inside us we can. Look at the following diagram;
This illustrates the tri-unity of man. When God said, "Let's make man in our image". I believe this is what He meant, three parts. The Body is that part that interacts with everything it touches and it is all about self-gratification, i.e. Lust. It sends messages to the Soul which is the will, the mind, the emotions and the Soul thinks of ways to achieve what the Body wants and gets mad, anxious, depressed, frustrated if something is blocking that from happening. The Body and Soul combine to make the Flesh. The Spirit is dead, asleep, dormant until the Spirit enters it in salvation but when He comes in, He starts working from the inside out. Let me give 7 ways that we start changing.
1. The Holy Spirit starts changing our minds. From the diagram you can see is He is abutting our minds directly and "transforming us by the renewing of our minds" as Paul says in Rom.12:2. If He is really in there we can't help but change. When I plugged in my light bulb and turned it on in class, about three minutes later it started smoking as the paint was melting. Everyone freaked out. It was great! But that perfectly illustrates the principle
2. He disciplines us. If you are God's child, He will discipline the bad behaviors out of you. Say you are greedy and you are consumed with amassing wealth for this life here on Earth. What the Lord might do is have one of your investments tank and show you how uncertain wealth is and reveal to you how it had become an idol.
3. We need to get strong. We need to know the Word, memorizing, reading, meditating etc. Jesus says in John 17:17
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. If you have the 2 people living in you - the old man and the new man, who will win the fight? Obviously the one you feed the most.
4. Avoid temptation. As Joseph did with Potiphar's wife, run away.If there are places or times or situations where sexual immorality tempts you, avoid them like the plague. Take the other street.
Before I give you the last 3 let me develop a type of Flesh in the Old Testament. Whenever you read about the Amelakites I believe God is using them to illustrate the flesh and what to do with it. Why?
A. They were descendents of Esau who sold what had eternal value to gain temporal pleasure. What a great picture of the flesh
B. They were the first enemy to battle after leaving Egypt (salvation) Ex.17:8 The flesh is the enemy in the parable of the sower and the seed that takes down the new plant
C. They attacked from the rear those who were faint and weary. Deut.25:18
D. They were to be destroyed completely or they will destroy you. Saul was told to completely destroy them, he didn't and ended up being killed by one 1Sam 15:1-23 and 2Sam 1:6-10
E. Can't do it without God's help. Num. 14:40-45
So, if we get back to Exodus 17 which we discussed in Jehovah Nissi, we see the Israelites battling the Amalekites. There are 3 principles (5,6,7) that I see illustrated here.
5. Pray- look to God. Moses lifted his arms in worship to God and whenever he did, they would win the battle. Are you praying specifically for help in defeating the flesh. If you have problems with filthy language or slander? You need to pray not for travelling mercies or so and so's cancer or out patient surgery but you need to plead with God "please tame my tongue" and pray all day long.
6. Accountability - you need Aaron's and Hur's to hold your arms up. You need to have a friend who you meet with that says, "Hey, how are you doing with your pornography problem?" and he asks you, "hey, how are you doing with your anger management" and iron sharpens iron. Someone is rubbing paint thinner on your light bulb. James 5:15,16 says that if your brother has sinned go pray for him and confess sins to one another and we will be healed.
7. Journaling - God told Moses to write this account down. To see God's faithfulness in changing you over the years shows his sanctifying power and how you never want to go back to where you were.
I got these principles from Hebrews 12 so if you want to find them in there it would make for an interesting quiet time.
In closing, let me ask you this question; Are you more like Christ this year than you were last year? Rest and submit to Jehovah Mekaddishkem. Here are some songs that illustrate what I have been talking about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j_Hz-khSyE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zgxMyHmZ6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMW4BL07BBo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpKUcQpZ4nA
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