sanctified

Following the LORD

A little more than a year after the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt they left Mount Sinai where Moses had received the Ten Commandments and traveled toward the land of Canaan. Numbers 10:11-13 tells us, “In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the LORD by Moses.” The King James Version of the Bible translates the phrase set out as took their journey. The Hebrew word naça (naw-sah´) implies a change in location, but the word journey gives us a clearer picture of what the Israelites experienced when they left the wilderness of Sinai. Naça “has the basic meaning of ‘pulling up’ tent pegs (Isaiah 33:20) in preparation for ‘moving’ one’s tent and property to another place; thus it lends itself naturally to the general term of ‘traveling’ or ‘journeying’” (H5265). In the case of the Israelites, the people weren’t traveling to a designated location, they were following the LORD who “went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night” (Exodus 13:21). The pillars of cloud and fire were manifestations of the LORD’s presence and were intended to guide the Israelites to the place that God wanted them to go. Exodus 13:22 states, “The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.”

The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were not the only means the LORD used to communicate his will to the people of Israel. Moses was considered to be God’s personal representative. “Moses was a type of Christ (Hebrews 3:2-6). He was chosen by God to be a deliverer (Exodus 3:1-10), functioned as a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15), and was faithful as God’s servant (Hebrews 3:5). Moses was a mediator between God and the Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7; 32:30-35), as Christ is for his church (1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1, 2)” (note on Numbers 12:7). In Numbers 12:6-7, the LORD made it clear that he was communicating with Moses directly. He said, “’Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself know to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD.’” You might think that having direct access to God would make it possible for you to know and do everything that God wants you to, but even Moses failed in his obedience to the LORD. It says in Numbers 27:12-14, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.’ (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin).”

The LORD stated that Moses had rebelled against his word and had failed to uphold him as holy before the eyes of the people. The Hebrew word that is translated uphold as holy, qadash (kaw-dashˊ) “is used in some form or another to represent being set apart for the work of God. Qadesh, or qadash, as verbs, mean ‘to be holy; to sanctify’” (H6942). Qadash is translated consecrate in Exodus 19 which focuses on the LORD coming down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. When Israel first encamped at Mount Sinai, the LORD called to Moses out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:3-6). John’s greeting to the seven churches in the book of Revelation eludes to the fact that the kingdom of priests that God intended to make of the nation of Israel was accomplished through the establishment of these seven churches. John wrote:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:3-8)

John’s synopsis of Jesus’ completed work of redemption mentions only the fact that believers in Jesus Christ have been freed from their sins by his blood (Revelation 1:5). The King James Version of the Bible states that Jesus washed us from our sins. The Greek word louo (looˊ-o) means “to bathe (the whole person)…Metaphorically: to cleanse and purify from sin, as in being washed in Christ’s blood (Revelation 1:5)” (G3068). Jesus talked about this cleansing when he washed his disciples feet. John wrote in his gospel message:

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” (John 13:5-11)

Jesus distinguished between the new birth and regeneration when he said, “the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean” (John 13:10). The difference that Jesus pointed out between being bathed and washed was what he referred to as being completely clean or sanctified. The Greek word hagiazo (hag-ee-adˊ-zo) “means to make holy and signifies to set apart for God, to sanctify” (G37). “Christians need constant cleansing and renewal if they are to remain in fellowship with God” (note on John 13:8).

The Geek word anakainosis (an-ak-ahˊ-ee-no-sis) stresses the process of sanctification and the continual operation of the indwelling of the Spirit of God. “Anakainosis means ‘a renewal’ and is used in Romans 12:2 ‘the renewing (of your mind),’ i.e. the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life; and stresses the willing response on the part of the believer” (G342). Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2). Being conformed to this world means that you are making yourself like everyone else, you are trying to fit in and to be accepted by your peers. Paul encouraged Roman believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. What Paul meant by a living sacrifice was that followers of Christ were expected to use their physical capabilities and resources to accomplish God’s will instead of their own.

The Israelites were told that they were delivered from slavery in Egypt and taken to the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because of God’s faithfulness (Deuteronomy 7:9) and were warned to not think of themselves as being responsible for their success (Deuteronomy 9:5). It was the LORD’s will for the Israelites to drive out the nations that occupied the land of Canaan “because of the wickedness of these nations” (Deuteronomy 9:4). Moses told the people of Israel, “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deuteronomy 9:6-7). The Hebrew word that is translated rebellious, marah (maw-rawˊ) means “to be (causative make) bitter (or unpleasant)…Marah signifies an opposition to someone motivated by pride…More particularly, the word generally connotes a rebellious attitude against God” (H4784). God noted that the Israelites had repeatedly tested him and would not obey his voice (Numbers 14:22) and said to Moses:

“None of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it” (Numbers 14:22-24).

God said that Caleb had a different spirit and that he had followed him fully. Caleb went against the rest of the men that gave a bad report after spying out the land of Canaan. Numbers 13:30 states, “But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” The Hebrew word that is translated well able, towb (tobe) “naturally expresses the idea of being loved or enjoying the favour of someone” (H2895). Rather than looking at the size of their enemies or the rough terrain of the country, Caleb saw the blessing that God wanted him to experience and believed that he was able to do what God expected him to in order to receive it.

The individual inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan were determined by lot (Joshua 14:1-2), except for Joshua and Caleb. Joshua tells us:

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” (Joshua 14:6-12)

Caleb gave God the credit for keeping him alive for forty-five years and said that he was as strong at the age of eighty-five as he had been when he was forty. The strength that Caleb was talking about was more than likely divine power, spiritual capability that came from God, but physical strength was also necessary for Caleb to be successful because he would have to actually go on the battlefield and face the Anakim, the people of great height who made the spies seem like grasshoppers to them (Numbers 13:32-33). Caleb knew that his success wasn’t dependent on his fighting capability, but on his relationship with the LORD. He declared, “If the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said” (Joshua 14:12, NLT).

Caleb’s statement, “If the LORD is with me, I will drive them out of the land” (Joshua 14:12) was in part an acknowledgement that God was not obligated to be with him. The Hebrew word that was used to communicate the idea of God being with Caleb was ʾeth (ayth). ʾEth is properly translated as “nearness” (H854). When Jesus’ birth was announced to Joseph, he was told:

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:20-23)

Jesus’ mission to save his people from their sins and the name that he was called, Immanuel, which means God with us, convey an important point about the way that God works in people’s lives. We have to be near God in order for his power to save us to be effective.

Jesus used the words “follow me” when he wanted someone to be a part of his ministry (Matthew 4:19; 9:9 John 1:43). The Greek word akoloutheo (ak-ol-oo-thehˊ-o), which is translated follow, is properly translated as “to be in the same way with, i.e. to accompany” (G190). Jesus made it clear to his disciples that they would have to disconnect themselves from the things that they were used to in order to be with him. Luke tells us, “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:57-62). Jesus associated his followers with the kingdom of God and indicated that there was nothing more important to them than accomplishing God’s will on earth. Rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, Jesus said of his Father’s will, “’I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise, and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it’” (Luke 10:21-24).

The Apostle Paul talked about the end result of following the Lord in his letter to the Philippians. Paul said that he counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus and that he had suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish (Philippians 3:8), so “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11). Paul considered the resurrection from the dead to be ultimate goal of being a follower of Christ. Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own” (Philippians 3:12). Paul thought of the resurrection from the dead as a possession, something that he had to press on to make his own. The Greek word that is translated press on, dioko (dee-oˊ-ko) means “to follow” or “to follow after” (G1377). In order to make the resurrection from the dead his own, Paul compared his life to a race and said, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Paul emphasized that effort was required to attain his goal and indicated that he had to strain forward to what lies ahead. The Greek word that Paul used had to do with stretching oneself in the sense of reaching beyond one’s grasp. Paul may have been thinking of heaven as a place that he couldn’t quite grasp, a place or state that was beyond his comprehension or imagination. Paul concluded with the statement, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved” (Philippians 3:20-4:1).

The choice

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians included a list of spiritual blessings that every believer has as a follower of Christ. Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6). Paul told the Ephesians that spiritual blessings are distributed by God based on adoption into his family and also indicated that God’s children are predestined for adoption based on a choice that God made before the foundation of the world. “Being ‘chosen’ by God brings people into an intimate relationship with Him” (H977). The Greek word that is translated predestined, proorizo (pro-or-idˊ-zo) means “to limit in advance, i.e. (figurative) predetermine” (G4309). Paul discussed predestination in his letter to the Romans. Paul said, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30). Paul outlined the process that God established to conform believers into the image of his Son. God started with foreknowledge and predestination and then, called, justified, and glorified everyone he planned to adopt into his family. The purpose of being adopted into God’s family is to be conformed to the image of his Son or rather to be assimilated into the same kind of relationship that Jesus had as a man with God the Father.

The Book of Revelation focuses on the separation of believers from unbelievers and describes a period of time referred to as the Great Tribulation. During that time, a person known as the Antichrist will seek to be worshipped by everyone on earth. John described the Antichrist as “a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads” and said, “Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 13:7-8). John indicated that everyone who was chosen by God before the foundation of the world had their names was written in the book of life and were not subject to Antichrist’s authority. John went on to explain that Antichrist will seek to establish a kingdom on earth that is not subject to God’s sovereignty, but he will be defeated by Jesus and his followers. John said:

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:1-14)

John’s vision revealed that Antichrist would “rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction” (Revelation 17:8) and that his kingdom will go to destruction with him (Revelation 17:11), but those whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will want to follow Antichrist because he imitates Jesus’s death and resurrection (Revelation 17:8). John concluded with a declaration that Jesus Christ is “Lord of lords and King of kings” and John said that those who are with him when he defeats Antichrist are “called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

The first mention in the Bible of anyone being chosen by God is in Numbers 16 which deals with Korah’s rebellion. Korah and his followers assembled themselves together against Moses and Aaron because they claimed, “all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them” (Numbers 16:3). Numbers 16:4-5 states:

When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him.”

The Hebrew word that is translated chooses, bachar (baw-kharˊ) is “a verb whose meaning is to take a keen look at, to prove, to choose. It denotes a choice, which is based on a thorough examination of the situation and not an arbitrary whim” (H977). Moses’ statement that the one whom God chooses he will bring near (Numbers 16:5) had to do with service in the tabernacle of the LORD. The Hebrew word that is translated near, qarab (kaw-rabˊ) means to approach. “This word stresses to approach or draw near and is often used of man’s entrance into the presence of the living God; a nearness of the closest and most intimate kind (Numbers 16:9; Psalm 65:4)” (H7126).

Drawing near to God is discussed in the Book of Hebrews in the context of believers acting in the full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19-39). The writer of Hebrews talked about redemption through the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:11-28) and said that the Old Testament sacrifices could not make perfect those who draw near to God (Hebrews 10:1), but believers “have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Hebrews 10:11-14 states:

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

The writer of Hebrews indicated that all who were chosen by God before the foundation of the world were perfected forever by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, but referred to this select group of individuals as “those who are being sanctified” suggesting that the final state had not yet been achieved. The Greek word that is translated sanctified, hagiazo (hag-ee-adˊ-zo) means “to make holy (G37). Hagiazo is derived from the word hagios (hagˊ-ee-os). “Hagios fundamentally signifies separated, and hence, in Scripture in its moral and spiritual significance, separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God, sacred…Hagios expresses something more and higher than sacred, outwardly associated with God; something more than worthy, honorable; something more than pure, free from defilement. Hagios is more comprehensive. It is characteristically godlikeness” (G40).

Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created man in his own image, after his likeness. The Hebrew word that is translated likeness, dᵉmuwth (dem-oothˊ) “means ‘pattern,’ in the sense of the specifications from which an actual item is made” (H1823). Man is like God in that he has the same functional capabilities as was demonstrated by Jesus’ physical birth and life on earth. The image of God is his essential nature. “God made man in His own image, reflecting some of His own perfections: perfect in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and with dominion over the creatures (Genesis 1:26). Being created in God’s image meant being created male and female, in a loving unity of more than one person (Genesis 1:27)” (H6754). The argument that the serpent used to tempt Eve to disobey God’s command was that the knowledge of good and evil would make her like God (Genesis 3:5), but the part that the serpent didn’t tell her was sin, disobedience to God’s command, would separate Adam and Eve from God forever because of his holiness (Exodus 19:21-22).

The Greek word Hagios is sometimes translated as saints, a term that is used throughout the Bible to refer to God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 33:3; Psalms 16:3; Daniel 7:18; Acts 9:32; Ephesians 1:1; Revelation 5:8, KJV). Hagios is also translated as Holy and is used to refer to God as the Holy Spirit. Paul designated the work of the Holy Spirit in believers as renewal and said, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:4-6). Regeneration and renewal refer to different aspects of a single event that Jesus referred to as being born again (John 3:3). Regeneration “is that free act of God’s mercy and power by which He removes the sinner from the kingdom of darkness and places him in the kingdom of light; it is that act by which God brings him from death to life. In the act itself (rather than the preparation for it), the recipient is passive, just as a child has nothing to do with his own birth.” Renewal, “by contrast, is the gradual conforming of the person to the new spiritual world in which he now lives, the restoration of the divine image. In this process the person is not passive but is a fellow worker with God” (G3824).

The Israelites’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt was a type of salvation in that it freed them from the bondage that was keeping them from realizing their destiny. Moses explained to the Israelites that God had chosen them and that it was because of his love for them that he had redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt. Moses said:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-11)

The covenant God made with the Israelites was “a conditional divine pledge to be Israel’s God (as her Protector and the Guarantor of her blessed destiny), the condition: Israel’s total consecration to the Lord as His people (His kingdom) who live by His rule and serve His purposes in history” (Major Covenants in the Old Testament, p. 16, KJSB). The Israelites entered into this covenant with God at Mount Sinai when they were given his Ten Commandments, “And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD” (Exodus 24:3-4). Forty years later, the covenant was renewed in Moab (Deuteronomy 29:1-15) and Moses gave the people of Israel the choice to be blessed or cursed by God (Deuteronomy 30:19).

One of the things that Moses pointed out when he renewed the covenant in Moab was that some of the Israelites’ hearts were already in the process of turning away from God and everyone was going to suffer because of it. Moses warned the people:

Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. (Deuteronomy 29:18-19)

The Hebrew word that is translated safe in Deuteronomy 29:19, shalom (shaw-lomeˊ) is usually translated as peace. Shalom expresses the root meaning of “to be whole” and “signifies a state in which one can feel at ease, comfortable with someone. The relationship is one of harmony and wholeness, which is the opposite of the state of strife and war…Shalom as a harmonious state of the soul and mind encourages the development of faculties and power. The state of being at ease is experienced both externally and internally” (H7965).

Moses set the record straight about claiming the benefits of salvation (shalom) without submitting oneself to God. Moses said about the man who walks in the stubbornness of his heart, “The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven” (Deuteronomy 29:20). Moses’ reference to the stubborn man’s name being blotted out from under heaven is connected to the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20:11-15. Revelation 20:15 states, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Jesus talked about names being blotted out of the book of life in his message to the Church in Sardis. Jesus said, “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’” (Revelation 3:1-6).

The Book of James focuses on the ethical aspects of the Christian life (Introduction to the Letter of James). In his letter, James argued that “true faith results in outward acts of obedience and righteousness.” James addressed his letter to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion (James 1:1) and said, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:21-25). James went on to say, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead” (James 2:14-17).

James’ admonition echoed that of Moses in his final discourse. Moses said, “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). Moses pointed out that God’s laws were not based on a divine standard, but were meant to correct man’s sin nature. Moses concluded his discourse by giving the Israelites a choice between life and death, blessing and curse. Moses said, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live…But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish” (Deuteronomy 30:16-18). Moses made it clear that the Israelites’ disobedience was a result of their hearts turning away from God. The only way the people could keep God’s commandments was by exercising their faith, making the choice to do what God told them to. Moses said, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).

Sexual purity

Paul openly declared to Christians that they were expected to live differently than everyone else. He stated:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, ESV)

Paul used three terms to describe the born-again Christian; washed, sanctified, and justified and implied that believers have a supernatural type of purity that can only be attained through the name of Jesus Christ and Spirit of God. According to Paul, believers are considered to be completely clean, innocent of all charges that might be brought against them that are of a spiritual nature. In other words, Christians are sin-free.

In spite of the believer’s purified state, Paul argued that restraint was necessary to ensure that a Christian’s purity was not compromised. He stated, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Paul’s reference to being brought under the power of any was likely meant to indicate spiritual bondage or demonic influence. I think Paul was trying to subtly suggest that sin and Satan go hand in hand; any door that we open through sin, Satan is likely to walk through.

Paul’s primary concern related to purity was fornication or sexual sin. He told the Corinthians, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20, ESV). Paul’s practical advice to the Corinthians was to get married if sexual temptation was an issue for them. He said, “I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn” (1 Corinthians 7:8-9).

Paul instructed Christians that were married to stay married even if their spouse was not a believer. Paul’s argument for remaining in the marriage was that the unbelieving spouse could be influenced by the godly life of their Christian partner (1 Corinthians 7:14). The only exception to that rule was if the unbelieving spouse chose to abandon the marriage. Paul said, “But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace” (1 Corinthians 7:15). In other words, Paul didn’t expect believers to live in conflict. Paul concluded with the statement, “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 7:39-40, ESV).