Sanctify Yourself | The Institute for Creation Research

Sanctify Yourself

“And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3 5).

Although this was an Old Testament command for a particular occasion, it can well be applied also to the New Testament Christian’s whole life in Christ. The words “sanctify” and “make holy” are the same. In both Testaments, the meaning is essentially to “set apart” unto God.

In one sense, the process of sanctification is a work that God does in us, for Christ “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification” (I Corinthians 1:30). “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

Yet in another (though similar) sense, we must sanctify ourselves, for the Scripture commands: “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (I Peter 1:15). This command to be sanctified, holy, set apart, has many very practical and physical implications. For example: “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (I Thessalonians 4:3).

Just how can we sanctify ourselves? In the upper room, Jesus prayed for His followers thus: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). In the same vein, Paul reminds us that Christ “loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25,26). It is Christ who sanctifies us-positionally by His sacrificial death, then day-by-day through application of His word (the Holy Scriptures) to our lives. Our part in this sanctification process is simply to read, and believe, and obey His word.

Then, as sanctified believers, set apart to the Lord Jesus and His will, God can (as He did in the days of Joshua) “do wonders among you.” HMM

The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Getting the Gospel into People's Hands | Creation.Live Podcast:...
Can God use an atheist airline pilot to reach other nations with the truth of the Gospel? The answer, obviously, is yes.   Host...

NEWS
Chimp Genome Only 75% Similar to Human?
An oft-repeated claim of evolutionary propaganda is that chimpanzee and human DNA are 98.5% identical. This high level of DNA similarity, which has...

NEWS
''73-Million-Year-Old'' Alaskan Salmon
Fish evolution remains an enigma. Evolutionists can only say fish first “appeared” over a half-billion years ago.1 Creationists...

NEWS
God's Memorial Day
“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of...

NEWS
The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes are multicellular organisms that contain diverse differentiated cell types. Within almost every cell there are subcellular compartments called...

CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...