Jehovah-Mekaddishkem the Lord our sanctifier.
Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Leviticus 20:8
What does it mean to be sanctified? It means to be set apart or consecrated for a specific use. God wanted certain things to be ‘set apart’ from regular secular life. They were considered ‘holy’. To keep His statutes and commandments was the duty of the faithful and God then would ‘sanctify’ them. There were many things in Hebrew life which were to be considered ‘holy’. Things that had to do with worship and the Tabernacle were all consecrated and considered holy.
Matthew Poole’s Commentary says this about this verse…
“Who separated you from all nations, and from their impurities and idolatries, to be a peculiar people to myself, and therefore I will not suffer you to follow their examples. Or, who really sanctify you, and give you my grace to do what I require, i.e. to keep my statutes. Or the argument is this, Those idols and idolatries will defile you and make you worse, but I only and my service will sanctify you and make you better.”
Today in the new covenant we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit’s work within us. Our body is His temple. So we actually should be aware to keep His temple ‘undefiled’.
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. 2 Corinthians 6:19-20
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:8
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Do you feel ‘set apart’ for His work? Can you tell when you are straying into forbidden territory from the warnings the Holy Spirit is giving you? Or have you shut Him out and continued down the path?
Consider how much He values you. Consider what He was willing to sacrifice to sanctify you to Himself.
Father … sanctify us and make us worthy of Your use.