“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23
The great value and privilege of prayer is that it brings us truly to God, especially when that approach to God concerns that which is most upon His heart. When Christ died and rose from the dead, and Pentecost came with the out pouring of the Spirit, bringing about the birth of the church of God, His body, a great deal happened in heaven. Because of the baptism of the Spirit, being baptized into Christ, Christ became to the believer his sancification. This was accomplished by the Father placing the believer into Christ, making him one with Christ. Since this is true of the believer, what does this mean? What is sanctfication, and how is it not only known about, but known in the life of the believer?
The word itself speaks of separation from that which is not of God, to being separated unto God for all things. Christ becomes not only the Savior from sin and death, and Lord of the life, the Great Shepherd, but He becomes the very Life of the believer. “Christ our life” becomes more than a dominant truth. It becomes a quest to embrace and to know the reality of the power of the indwelling Christ by virtue of being separated unto Him. Christ is the sanctification of the believer, first of all by the declaration of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers: “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctificaiton and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30) So, God begins to teach us of this matter of sanctification by declaring to us that in heaven, in Christ, it is all accomplished, fnished, realized. However, on earth, the experience of this reality may be a different matter. Christ is our sanctificaiton in heaven, but is He on the earth? The answer to that question is, “yes,” but only known in the measure that He is appropriated as such, and for which He is sought. Why is the matter of seeking Him as our sanctfication so necessary? It is because of sin, Satan, self, and the world. We have “on earth” these four enemies which would hinder, and impede, the appropriation of Christ as our life, the very essence of being separated unto God. It is at this point that we are called upon, not only to deny ourselves, pertaining to turning away from all that is not of God, to trust Christ alone. Also, we are to take up our cross daily, embracing the wondrous, completed work of Christ on Calvary. To know this full salvation, we are to follow Him, walking in His steps, abiding in Him. With regard to every enemy we have, we are called to be overcomers. Why and how? Christ HAS overcome all of our enemies, and He is in us by the Spirit. But what about limitations? Christ was, and is perfect, constantly filled with the Spirit and led by the Father to fulfill and accomplish all of the will of God. How are we, though saved by His grace, able to overcome, and reign in this life on earth as it is in heaven, being separated unto Him, and being holy as He is holy?
The answer resides in two things. The first is to truly take one’s stand, plant one’s feet, and grasp the truth of our union with Christ. The believer is one with Him, in living union with the victorious Lord. On the basis of the declared truth of union with Christ, the believer is first of all to “set” his life IN Christ. He is to take that position by faith, one with Christ. The second thing he is to do is to “derive” all from Christ, the living and True Vine, by that inward aspiration of faith. In other words, he is to partake of Christ’s victorious life by faith in Him.
Dear Father, Santify us wholly today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.