Hallowed Be Your Name, A Study of the Names of God - Part 6: JEHOVAH M’KADDESH

REVIEW
 
Church, it’s all about knowing Him! This is the simplicity of Christianity and if our pursuits in the faith are not wrapped up in this one thing, we might just be practicing religion and missing the boat.  
 
God has always just wanted to have a relationship with His creation. It is not about following a bunch of rules or just being good, moral people. There’s nothing wrong with some of those things, but at the foundation of our faith is the knowledge of God – that is, knowing Him personally & intimately and enjoying good fellowship with Him.
 
And I have come to find that one of the most meaningful ways of coming to know the LORD better is by studying His Names, because the name of a person represents their character, personality, and behavior. So if I want to know Him, then learning who He is becomes paramount.
 
So we started off looking at His first, general Name for “God”— the name Elohim – which is generally the first way we all come to know Him – as the all-powerful, sovereign, creator of the heavens and the earth whom we must give an account to in the future as our Ruler and Judge. However, we ought not stop there as so many of God’s children do.
 
We need to come to know ALL of His Names in order to have the complete picture of who He is revealed to us. So that’s why God revealed Himself to Moses and the children of Israel in a much more elaborate and detailed way than He did with the Patriarchs – So they could fully KNOW Him.
 
So this is where His Name Yahweh/Jehovah came in: The LORD said He wanted Israel to know Him this way. And that’s my desire as well!
 
So what we are spending the majority of our time doing in this series is focusing on the covenant-keeping, Jehovah names of God in the Old Testament – the Names He revealed Himself by to Israel. These are those Yahweh/Jehovah names of God that further amplify what our God is, was, and ever more shall be, our Lord who always keeps His covenant, and who will do what He promised for those He is in relationship with.
 
So the first “Jehovah” Name of God that we looked at was Jehovah Shammah, which is what the LORD revealed Himself as in Ezekiel 48:35.  
 
We learned that Jehovah Shammah means “The LORD is there” and thus denotes – Yahweh is present. So we saw that this Name of Yahweh reveals God’s nature to always be there and present with His people.
 
So we looked at a lot of Scriptures that echo this part of His Person where we learned that God is our ever-present help in a time of need and that He has promised to never leave or forsake us.
 
You see, church, God’s character is that of faithfulness, and being faithful means you are consistently there for the one’s you love. So the LORD’s nature is to always be present and there for us, the objects of His love. Which He took to another level under this new and better covenant that we have with Him because now Christ is in us, being with us even to the ends of the earth, and the Holy Spirit lives in the temple of our body to abide with us forever.
 
So Jehovah Shammah – the LORD is there and present – is most certainly a part of God’s nature and character from the beginning of the Bible to the end of it. 
 
Then last week, we looked at the Name He revealed to the children of Israel in Exodus 15:26, the Name Jehovah Rapha.
 
We saw that this Name literally described the LORD as the One who heals or make healthful – which is certainly a part of God’s nature when you consider the plethora of Scriptures that talk about God’s will to heal His people, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
 
But we also saw how “rapha” describes curing, mending, or repairing, and it was even the word used to describe a physician or doctor. So not only could we say that the LORD is our Healer, but we could say that the LORD is our Doctor! Yes, even Jesus was referred to as a Physician during His ministry – because He was doing what Jehovah Rapha does – healing, mending, curing, and repairing.
 
So we walked through the example of going to our doctors, and the process of getting help from them, because the LORD showed us that there are a lot of parallels there to how we receive from our Great Physician.
 
If you missed that, go back and listen to that study on the LORD being our healer because that is really important to Him – that He be your Divine Physician, and that you be made healed & whole.  Yes, God’s in the healing business and He’s not planning on going out of business anytime soon!
 
 
 
JEHOVAH M’KADDESH
 
Now the next Name of Yahweh that I want us to look at is His Name “Jehovah M’Kaddesh.”
 
This particular Name of God is used not once but twice in the Old Testament – both in Exodus 31:13 and Leviticus 20:8. We will look at both of these in a moment, but first, let’s look at what Jehovah M’Kaddesh actually means …
 
Of course, Jehovah comes from God’s Name of Yahweh, and as we’ve seen, it describes the Great I Am. So it means that the LORD IS this or the Lord IS that. Here, it means that the LORD IS He who “sanctifies.”
 
Now invariably you’ve heard the words “sanctify” or “sanctification” if you’ve been going to church for any length of time. Unfortunately, even though we are using Biblical words and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, many church going people do not know what these words mean. So let’s define what it means to sanctify someone and thus learn what sanctification is.
 
The Hebrew word M’Kaddesh means to consecrate, to dedicate, to hallow (sound familiar?) or to make holy. In the simplest terms, to sanctify means “to separate or set apart.” So “sanctification” describes the act of consecrating, dedicating, making holy, and setting something apart – thus making it different and special.  
 
Now let’s take a look at the two times Jehovah M’Kaddesh is used because I believe these two examples help us to understand sanctification better …
 
The first time it was used is when the Lord spoke to Moses, giving him the Sabbath law for His people. And in Exodus 31:13, He said, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” So here we see that the LORD was saying that the keeping of His various Sabbaths was meant to be sign between Him and His people and that they would know that He is Jehovah M’Kaddesh … 
 
Now I think it is interesting that the LORD gave them this Name regarding them keeping the Sabbath. What does the Sabbath have to do with the LORD sanctifying His people?
 
Well, the Sabbath itself was blessed and sanctified, wasn’t it? Genesis 2:3 says, “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
 
So the LORD set this particular day apart. Doing what? Making it a “special” day, unlike the other six days of the week.
 
So in Exodus 31:13, I believe it relates to how their keeping the Sabbath made them different and special. Yes, that was not a normal way that the world did things. The world certainly doesn’t practice a Day of Rest where it rests from its labor and recognizes the One True & Living God for the abundance of everything He has blessed them with. Heck, no!
 
Well, the Sabbath made Israel special. It set them apart. It let the world know and was a sign that the LORD had dedicated and consecrated them as His own special people. Amen?
 
Now you’ll hear this as a common theme today, but it is important to understand that it is God doing this setting apart here in Exodus 31:13. The children of Israel did not first dedicate, consecrate, or separate themselves. It was God who did it to them.
 
Why is this important to understand? It’s because far too many of us, when we think of this idea of sanctification, think that this is what we do. WE set ourselves apart to the Lord. WE dedicate ourselves to Him. WE consecrate our lives to Him. And yes, these things are important things for us to do, but we ought not get the cart in front of the horse. What do I mean by that? I mean that when you study “sanctification,” God is the One who does it to us first, and then and only then, are we able to do it unto Him.
 
So in our first example, God calls Himself Jehovah M’Kaddesh. He is the One who set His people apart through the Sabbath because the Sabbath itself was a special day that the Lord set apart in the beginning.
 
Now in our other example of this Name of God, we do see the Lord telling His people to sanctify themselves, with the context being that the LORD was warning His people to not commit harlotry with the false of gods of the land.
 
In Leviticus 20:7 He says, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.” Then He tells them in verse 8 – “And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”
 
The idea of them being consecrated and set apart to Him in these verses was referring to not committing idolatry – which ultimately was viewed by God as spiritual prostitution.

So again, it’s about relationship with the Lord, and the fact that He has already sanctified His people shows that He, the Holy One, has set them apart for Himself, and therefore was dedicating Himself to them. Now, He is expecting His sanctified people to be holy and set themselves apart for Him.
 
So again, it starts with Jehovah M’Kaddesh being the LORD who sanctifies us and then ought to be reflected in our lives as well by us staying consecrated to Him. Amen? 
 
 
 
WHO IS THE SANCTIFIER?
 
So since the LORD is our Jehovah M’Kaddesh, the LORD who sanctifies, it is clear that God first does this work of sanctification in things. Let me give you a few verses that teach us this …
 
In the Old Testament, the LORD oftentimes reminded Israel that they were His own special people, His treasures that He had picked out for Himself. While these verses don’t specifically refer to “sanctification,” they imply it – for the LORD’s calling them out to be His own special treasure reveals God setting them apart for Him.
 
But when turning to the New Testament, we see how what Jehovah M’Kaddesh originally did for Israel has also been done for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ, His Son.
 
First Peter 2:9-10 say, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
 
Again, this beautiful passage of Scripture clearly shows us that the sanctifying work that the LORD did for the children of Israel has been done for the Gentiles who are in Christ. Yes, we are now a chosen generation, His own elect! We are His royal priesthood, being His kings and priests! We are His holy nation, being made citizens of the kingdom of God! We are His own special people, His hidden treasure and pearls of great price!
 
Let’s look at some more Scriptures in the New Testament that show us this sanctifying work that He has done in us … 
 
Acts 26:18 – “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
 
In recounting his testimony, the apostle Paul described what would happen for those who are converted. And among all of the things, he ends with those who are sanctified by faith in Me – showing us that this setting apart takes place as we believe on Jesus.
 
First Corinthians 1:2 – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:”
 
So the apostle Paul refers to the Church at Corinth as those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus – not will be set apart, but ARE this way. Why? Because they are in Christ Jesus.
 
And that’s why He goes on to call them saints (a point we will revisit here shortly) …
 
First Corinthians 1:30 – “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption …”
 
Notice that Paul says here that Jesus became for us these things – righteousness, redemption, and sanctification. So it’s not you becoming sanctified for Him; He became that sanctification on our behalf.
 
First Corinthians 6:11 – “And such were some of you. (fornicators, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, etc. See verses 9-10) But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
 
So this verse implies that while we once were sinners – practicing all of these abominable things – since then, we were washed, justified, and sanctified – meaning, we were set apart when we were born again.
 
The Book of Hebrews likes to refer to this concept of sanctification …
 
Hebrews 13:12 – “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”
 
Hebrews 10:14 – “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
 
Hebrews 2:11 – “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,”
 
So how does this “sanctification” work? Sure, we’ve seen that it happens as we believe on Christ, but it happens through the Holy Spirit. Check out these verses …
 
Second Thessalonians 2:13 – “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,”
 
First Peter 1:1-2 – “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:”
 
These verses show us that we become God’s elect / chosen ones in and through sanctification by the Spirit – meaning, it’s by the Holy Spirit’s work that this sanctification occurs.
 
So it is clear that Jehovah M’Kaddesh has accomplished this “sanctification” for all those who believe on His Son. Yes, sanctification comes by faith and is a product of a work of the Holy Spirit in us, not the other way around.
 
However, like we’ve touched on already, there is a responsibility of us living sanctified lives too. Yes, the Lord desires our walks to reflect what has taken place in us through Christ. And this goes for everything that Jesus has done for us: The Lord wants us to live righteous lives because we’ve been made righteous. He wants us to love because we’ve already been loved. He desires for us to live holy because He has already made us holy.
 
And while we are on the subject of sanctification, I want to remind you of what part of our definition was for sanctify – it also meant “to make holy.” So the LORD is the One who sanctifies and makes holy. This is why I can say He has already made us holy.  
 
Now when you hear the truth that He has already made us holy, is that tough to swallow? I know a lot of us have been taught differently – that we are the ones responsible for making ourselves holy. But what we are learning today is that God is Jehovah M’Kaddesh – the One who sanctifies us and makes us holy.
 
Let’s look back at the Old Testament and then ahead to the New Testament and see how the same thing that God did for Israel then is what He has done for His church now …
 
A HOLY PEOPLE
 
Let’s begin in the Book of Deuteronomy, particularly, Deuteronomy 7:6-8. I want us to look first in this passage of Scripture because I believe God’s heart in choosing the people of Israel to be His own, chosen people mirrors what God did for us in Christ Jesus. 
 
In these verses, God began to say to the children of Israel— “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth…”
 
Now, first of all, when He began by describing them as a “holy” people to Himself, we need to understand that He was not using this term “holy” like we do today. No, He was not saying that they were perfect, blameless, or flawless. The children of Israel were far from that! No, what he was saying is that they were different “to the Lord your God”—meaning, they were not like the other nations, but were special, different, and precious to Him.
 
For example, oftentimes in the Old Testament, you would see the Lord say that certain items like things in the Tabernacle, etc. were “holy” unto Him. He called the tithe as holy unto Him, so what that meant was that particular kind of giving was different, special and precious to the LORD.
 
Another good example is how the Word of God is called “The Holy Bible.” What that means is that it is a special Book, and not to be considered like just any other book out there. It’s different in that it is inspired by God and ought to be precious to us. Likewise, Israel is called God’s own special people and precious to Him. We see this in the rest of verse 6 when He said, “…the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
 
Now can you imagine how this must have made Israel feel? “We are special to God! We are His favorites among all the peoples on the face of the earth!” But this was obviously not because they deserved it either. God set them apart for Himself before all of their mistakes and flaws, and why? This verse says it was because He “chose” to choose them.
 
Notice what the Lord went on to say in verses 7-8— “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
 
You see, there are two very important things to understand in these two verses about God sanctifying Israel:

1. He said that He did not set His love on them or choose them because of how mighty and strong they were in terms of numbers. What this is saying is that the Lord does not choose people because they are strong, smart, talented, or worthy of being chosen in any way. No, He actually delights in choosing the weak, the poor, the dishonored, etc. In other words, one is not chosen because they are sufficient in themselves or because of their own abilities and work. It is all by His grace, and as He goes on to say, because of His love.
2. But He also said that He chose them because He was keeping His promise which He made to their fathers. In other words, the Lord is a covenant keeping God. If He swore an oath to someone, He will keep it no matter what. And the great news for us is that Father God’s covenant is now with His Son! So, now God will keep the covenant that He swore to His Son! Glory and hallelujah!

 
But here is another good example of how “holy” can also mean to be different and special: First Thessalonians 5:26 says to greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. Now how many of you know that you are not to go around kissing other Christians like you would kiss your wife!?! You better not come to this church kissing on people like you kiss your spouse. No, a holy kiss would obviously be both a pure and a different kind of kiss—meaning, it’s not like other kisses out there while at the same time being void of any impure motives.
 
Well, just like we have a “Holy Bible” and “holy kisses”—which are precious and pure things—God’s church is said to be holy and without blame before Him in love. That means that He views us, spiritually speaking, as “infallible, without error, precious and prized.” Yes, we are different, His own peculiar treasure, that is passionately loved by our Creator!    
 
Church, I believe this is the way the apostle Paul used this term “holy” in Ephesians 1:4 when he said that God chose us in Him “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
 
Now when we look at the terminology here, we can read it as saying that Jesus chose us in Christ so that someday we should become holy and without blame before God. But that is not what Paul was saying here. He was saying that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we should, at the moment we receive Him, be holy and without blame before God. In other words, in Christ Jesus, we are holy and without blame at the moment we are born again and remain that way as we remain in Him. Amen! 
 
And notice how this verse says that we are holy and without blame before Him: You see, we might have a different opinion of ourselves, and others might have different opinions of us, but it’s not anyone else’s opinion that is important; it is God’s opinion that truly matters. And if He views us as “holy” (i.e. special, precious, different, and prized) and “blameless” (We will look at this in a moment) then that’s the way we are. Period. Amen?
 
SAINTS!
 
Now one of the ways that you know how someone views you is by how they refer to you. And when we look in the mirror of this new covenant that you and I are in with God, we see a term that is commonly used to refer to us—the word “saints.”
 
Of course, this term is used when someone like the apostle Paul was referring to one of his churches, but again, we need to take these references like “beloved, saints, etc.” like God is talking to us, as all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and these men were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the things they did. Therefore, when we see that we, as a body of believers, are referred to as “saints,” then I take that as how my Heavenly Father sees me.   
 
In fact, I have found that we as the body of Christ are referred to as “saints” over 50 times in the New Testament! (See Romans 1:7, 8:27, 12:13, 15:25-26,31, 16:2,15; First Corinthians 1:2, 6:1,2, 14:33, 16:1,15; Second Corinthians 1:1, 8:4, 9:1,12, 13:13; Ephesians 1:1, 1:15,18, 2:19, 3:8, 3:18, 4:12, 5:3, 6:18; Philippians 1:1, 4:21-22; Colossians 1:2,4,12,26; First Thessalonians 5:27; Second Thessalonians 1:10; First Timothy 5:10; Philemon 5,7; Hebrews 6:10, 13:24; Jude 3,14; Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4, 13:7,10, 14:12, 15:3, 16:6, 17:6, 18:24, 19:8, 20:9). That’s a lot! In fact, it is used many more times than the term “Christians, believers, etc.”—any of these other titles that we give ourselves today as followers of Christ. So, apparently, this is one of the predominant ways God sees us. Glory!
 
You know, the way that we generally use the term “saints” today is to either refer to old Christians or dead ones. That’s right—we like to call the elderly Christians who have lived somewhat “holy” lives this, and some also like to refer to the renowned Christians who did great things many generations ago this way too. But again, the Bible doesn’t share these same sentiments. Like we said, it refers to every born-again believer this way time and time again in the New Testament.
 
Now someone might then gravitate towards watering down the meaning of the word “saint” when they see it refers to every Christian, but it does essentially mean what we have believed it to mean. It comes from the Greek word hagios which literally means “holy ones.”
 
In fact, this word hagios is the very same word used to describe God’s “holy” law (See Romans 7:12), the “holy” apostles and prophets (See Ephesians 3:5), the “Holy” Scriptures (See Romans 1:2), the “Holy” Spirit (Romans 5:5), the “Holy One,” Jesus Christ Himself (See First John 2:20 & Revelation 3:7), and, yes, the Lord God Almighty Himself who has the hosts of heaven constantly declaring that He is “Holy, holy, holy!” So, do you know what that means? It means if we are His holy ones, then we are in the same boat with the rest of these other Most Holy things! 
 
Romans 11:16 gives us this same principle: “if the root is holy, then so are the branches.” We might say that, according to Jesus’ word in John chapter 15, if the Vine is holy, then the branches are truly holy as well!
 
Now I understand that there are those out there who might say, “Well, don’t the Scriptures say that we are to be holy even as He is holy? (See First Peter 1:16) Yes, but the context here specifically refers to being holy in all our conduct, and we need to understand that there is a big difference between our “who” and our “do.” No, I am not talking about your hairdo, but about your actions, conduct, etc. So, yes, there is a difference between who you are and what you do.
 
Speaking of hairdos, this is one of the very things some church people think makes someone holy—how they wear their hair. They take Scriptures like First Peter 3:1-6 and say, “See there, if you are going to be holy, then you can’t be fixin’ your hair, wearing jewelry or nice clothes.” No, no, no. That’s not Peter’s point here. He was not saying that a Christian should not wear nice clothes, put on jewelry, or wear makeup. Listen, if an old barn needs painting, paint it, bless God! Just don’t make your outward man your priority. So, what Peter was teaching them was that we shouldn’t “merely” be concerned with adorning our outward man—for its beauty is fleeting—but we should give our attention to what we are wearing on the inside for that is what is very precious in the sight of God. And I’ll tell you, the hidden man of our heart is what is important! It is to God and ought to be to us as well!
 
So, should we walk in holiness? Absolutely! We need to live lives that correspond with who we are in the spirit and reflect our holiness for all the world to see. What we should avoid, however, is basing our holiness on our actions. We are not holy because of what we do; we are holy because of what Christ has done. 
 
Let’s look at another verse in this Mirror that reflects the same truth, just in a different way:
 
 
 
WITHOUT SPOT OR WRINKLE
 
In the Book of Colossians, which is a mirror book to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight - if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul, became a minister.” (Colossians 1:21-23). What a powerful passage of Scriptures!
 
Now when Paul begins with the words “And you,” what he is doing is continuing along the lines of what he said in the prior verse about Jesus making peace through His blood and reconciling the world unto Himself. So, a good paraphrase of these truths might be: “Not only has God reconciled all things back unto Himself through Jesus Christ, He also has reconciled all of mankind that receive His Son Jesus Christ to Himself.” Glory to Jesus! This will become important when it comes to what he said next …
 
Paul goes on to say, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.” Notice that this says we “who once were.” That’s a far cry from “who now are.” But it sure doesn’t feel this way sometimes, does it? Sometimes those “wicked works” can leave us feeling in our minds like we are alienated from and enemies of God, can’t they? Yes, when we miss it and fall short of God’s glory, we are left feeling “alienated,” which literally means “to be excluded, separated, or foreign to.” This means that His life can feel “foreign” to us. Not only that, but we can even feel like God is hostile towards us.  
 
But I want you to notice where the core-root of this alienation from and hostility towards God was located— “in your mind.” In other words, what we experienced was a result of the way we were thinking and what we believed in our heart. So, what this means is that if it was our “stinking thinking” that led us away from God in the first place, then the renewing of our minds must be part of the process of restoring us back to God. In other words, if this alienation began in our minds, it is possible that we can continue to experience alienation in our flesh & soul until our thinking changes.
 
And I am telling you the truth, the majority of Christians who have been fully reconciled to God do not sense or experience that reconciliation, and they live their entire lives feeling like God is way up there somewhere and they are stuck way down here all alone. This ought not to be so, church! This verse goes on to say, “yet now He has reconciled.” Not, “yet in the future He will reconcile,” but “now He has reconciled.” Therefore, all who have put their faith in Christ have been and currently are reconciled unto God! Glory!
 
Once you renew your mind to that truth—when you own it as yours—then say goodbye to feeling like you are alienated from God and His enemy! Praise God! You will experience that peace that comes through His reconciliation!
 
Then notice the glorious truths of verse 22— “in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach in His sight…” So, Jesus offered up His life as a sacrifice for our sins in order to present us to God like an offering that is holy, blameless, and above reproach in the sight of God!
 
Now we’ve already touched on this word “holy,” but let’s look at the other terms used to describe our reconciled condition in Christ …
 
The word “blameless” refers to being “faultless & without blemish”—like the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were to be without blemish. In fact, this word “blameless” is the same word used in 1 Peter 1:19 to describe Jesus as the Lamb “without blemish” and without spot. Therefore, we have been presented to the Father like pure and spotless lambs because we are in the Lamb of God who is pure and spotless! That means we have no spots, no wrinkles, and are presented that way to our Holy Husband (Compare with Ephesians 5:26-27).
 
Notice the next words— “above reproach.” This literally means “not called in” (i.e. “not called to account”). This phrase describes being totally free from any charge being on our account. You see, not only are we made without blemish, but all the charges that we previously had on our account have been washed away in the blood of Christ! Glory! But wait, it gets even better …
 
Paul goes to say that we are holy, blameless, and above reproach “in His sight.” This is the same “sight” that all things are naked and open to the eyes of (See Hebrews 4:13). The Greek word for “sight” literally means “to look down it,” denoting a deep inspection and a penetrating gaze. You see, God has so thoroughly cleansed us, made us blameless, and erased the charges we once had, that not even God’s most thorough and penetrating inspection can detect a flaw in our newly recreated spirit! Glory!
 
Again, the picture that Paul is painting here in verse 22 is of God’s most desirable offering under the Old Testament. He began by showing how Jesus—who truly was the perfect sacrifice—died for us so that He could present us—who were imperfect in ourselves—as “holy, blameless, and above reproach in the sight of God.” Yes, Jesus Christ—the Lamb of God who is without blemish and without spot—suffered in our place—so that we could become His perfect and holy people, that even under the most complete and thorough inspection of God Himself would be found to be perfect and complete before Him! Glory to God!
 
Church, we must set these truths ever before us and proclaim them in the face of all temptations to believe otherwise. Yes, when our flesh, our own heart, or the devil tries to tell us that we are impure, unclean, or not special, it is then that we need to proclaim that we are “Holy!” When our mind or the enemy tries to tell us that we are to be blamed, it is then that we must proclaim that we are “blameless.” When any of these things try to bring an accusation of something we may have done, it is then that we must proclaim that we are “without reproach.” Yes, we can declare today and everyday that we are sanctified because He is the LORD our SANCTIFIER! Amen!