Jesus Sanctified Himself By Luz Cintrón   05/23/2002   Web Site:http://www.thepearlsofwisdom.net

 
 
 

This morning I was in the house of prayer (cityihop) we were praying for the restoration of the tabernacle of praise. As in days before, the theme of Holiness unto the Lord became central and a scripture in John 17:16-19 was quickened in the Spirit.

"They are not of this world, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth."
John 17:16-19

It had shocked me the first time I read that Jesus "sanctified" Himself. Is it not Him the Holy One? But again sanctified means separated. As the Webster says :

Sanctify = to set apart for a sacred purpose or to religious use.

Then it was an ongoing thing in His life, not an isolated act that got forgotten afterwards. It was something exercised daily, a way of life.

Consecrated to the worship of God, that is the sanctification Jesus Christ devoted Himself to, for the sakes of those entrusted unto Him. We who have been entrusted by God to receive and hold the light of the gospel of Christ; how do we bear the responsibility that comes with it? Responsibility we hold before God unto those who see us.

For we have been made priests and kings of the Most High. And if priests as Jesus Himself is after the order of Melchizedek, established in His life and death the pattern, fulfilling the form, who do we follow in our lives? What are we building into?

Where there is no vision the people perish. The vision of the priest is the Holiness of the Lord unto which He is consecrated to, before the people. We read that Christ sanctified Himself before His disciple for their sakes. What exactly does that means?

The book of Hebrews tells us that there remains a rest for the people of God. “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10)

This is the rest I see in Jesus, that He did not do or speak but only those things given by the Father, the ones He saw and received to do. And knowing the things given Him to suffer, we see Him that He prayed the night before His death:

“who in the  days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,
Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek,
Of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”

Hebrews 5:7-11

He, though He was a Son He learn obedience through the things that He suffered, living like this,  in this way He was consecrated to sanctify Himself until He would become our Way and Our Life.

There is much lack of power and the signs and wonders are looked and pursue as the great things of the gospel. Indeed they are given to go with the gospel but there remains one sign and wonder that is more powerful to draw men to Christ than any prophecy or miracle that can be done. One that when given attracts all to Him for it shows the way and sheds the light of His gospel to the people living in darkness… One who brings judgment and deliverance when given.

Jesus understood it and He said; unless the Son of Man be lifted up…. We read:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(John 3:14-15)

And again in John 12:32:

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me.

There was hidden the power of the cross, of the gospel to deliver souls. To it He submitted His whole being, and learnt obedience through suffering, sanctifying Himself for the sakes of others. He showed the way of trust to the heart of God. He showed the weakness of His human nature not hiding it, for it was with “vehement cries and tears” that He prayed, but He was heard only because of His godly fear.

The godly fear of the Son. Where is it in us?  The godly fear which ignited His heart, to bring down the Holy fire of the presence of God unto the earth.  The passionate heart of the Beloved One. The fear that  held Him in distress until this baptism of fire was consummated. Do we live in distress? What are we distressed for?

I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how distressed I am till it be accomplished!
Luke 12:49-50

And again:
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
Mark 9:49

How can we approach these scriptures and keep the safety of our comfort zones?

There is something inherent in the heart of our flesh that tends to create in us a dullness of hearing. The first generations of believers faced it. Isn't it written in Hebrews 5:11…

"of whom we have much to say and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing…”

But Faithful as He is, His Most Holy Spirit still speaks to those who hear. He speaks of  priestly and kingly ministration for which we were brought from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. He speaks of the Way and the Life hidden in Christ for us to follow and if He be lifted up in our lives, the power of the gospel is released to attract all men unto Christ.

Upon what is Christ lifted up? For in the same way He submitted His whole life to the Gospel entrusted to Him, the lifting of this revelation can only be uphold by the lives freely given to learn as He did, to learn obedience through the things given us to suffer.

This is our priestly ministration before the Lord. That if we do not give our lives in trust to embrace His truth, no light will be found in us, no fire kindled from the coals of His Presence will be found in us, no power of the cross to overcome the devil, the flesh and the world will be found in us.

We may find indeed the power of the human soul, its exaltation, its merchandising, its promotion, but it will be void of divine habitation. We can settle for less, many before us have, many after us will. We can build a kingdom or build and emporium, we have the freedom to choose. Both require work, one is the work of man, the other is the rest, in which when we look upon it find only the works of God, for man have ceased from its works, entering the Way defined by Christ, in which nothing is said or done except that which is given from above.

And He :

 He sanctified Himself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. For the truth is that the revival we seek so earnestly can come only through the way of death of all that is flesh in us. For no flesh can stand before God. And when it falls where it falls (the fire from heaven called “revival”) it will be brought down from heaven through the lives of those who have followed the Son in sanctifying themselves for the sakes of others.

And it will be a day of judgment, a day of  the Word wielded as a sword, upon the lives of those  who have consecrated themselves as Levites unto the Lord through their blood, and the blood of all that was held dear unto them, who had embraced the first commandment until it became all there was left in them. For in that day the Word will pass upon the camp and will make all things manifest in its judgment upon our flesh and our lusts.

In that day “Holiness unto the Lord” will be revealed as a tablet engraved on the forehead of His consecrated ones, in every step and decision of those who have laid their lives for the sakes of others. At this revelation men will understand their weakness, their real condition, the real level of mercy offered through grace and will fall on their faces before the Holy One.

For we can fall on our faces now, repent and  learn obedience  by the things we suffer… or we can wait and fall on our faces in that day when we hear Him say: depart from Me, I knew you not. It is my prayer that we may find grace to stand and faith to endure until His glory is revealed in the fullness of His will upon our lives, for it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs but on God who has mercy ( Romans 9:16).Oh, that through His grace we may become relentless in our pursue of Him. Holiness unto the Lord!
 
 
 

Your servant in His love;

Luz Cintrón
Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honour to Him: for
the marriage of the Lamb is come
and His wife hath made herself ready
...Revelation 19:7.