Sanctified by Truth

 Sanctified by Truth On the inside front cover of my Bible, I scrawled a quotation from a Bible Study by John W. Ritenbaugh: "That God's law separates those who obey it . . . is an established biblical principle." In these trying times, we need a message to strengthenour faith and encourage, inspire, and help us remember just how unique and precious we are in God's sight. We can use an inspirational thought to remind us that we play an incrediblerole in His Plan. Moses writes such encouraging words in Deuteronomy 7:6: "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth" (emphasis ours). The word holy means "sanctified" or "set apart." With that in mind, what Jesus prays to His Father in John 17:17, referring to His disciples, takes on a deeper meaning: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." Only God can make things holy, and they remain holy, sanctified, or set apart when used for His intended purposes. By asking His Father to sanctify His disciples by His truth, Jesus requests that He set His elect apart from this world throughthe truth they learn. His people are very special to Him, and because of that, He gives His truth to make them holy. That does not make His disciples or the church superior to others. We must never forget I Corinthians 1:26-27, that most of us were nothing special when God called us. Elliot's Commentary for English Readers remarks, "[T]he Church is, in fact, a gradual triumph of the unlearned over the learned, of the lowly over the great." We start out foolish, weak, and base, but we are, as the apostle Peter puts it, to "growin the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18). The glory for all this goes to the Father for calling us, making us members of His Family by His truth, and giving us myriad giftsto help us along the way. The church of God is different from every other religious organization in the world today—indeed, every other so-called Christian church. The truth it espouses makes it distinctive, separate, set apart, and unique. We will briefly review five significanttruths of the many that run counter to nominal Christian beliefs. First, the true church of God keeps God's commandments. It does not believe they are "done away" by any means. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 5:17-18 that He did not come to destroy God's law but to fulfill it, and not even the smallest part would be removed until all is fulfilled. The word "fulfill" in verse 17 is the Greek word pleroo, which means "to fill to the full," "fill to the top," or "fill to the brim." Isaiah 42:21 explains that the Messiah would "exalt [magnify, KJV] the law and make it honorable," signaling Christ's work of demonstrating the spirit of the law. Revelation 14:12 encourages us, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Faith and obedience work hand in glove. The saints who comprise the Bride of Jesus Christcertainly have faith in their Savior, but they keep God's commandments, too! Second, the true church of God rejects the false trinity doctrine. Instead, it holds that our Supreme God has created all that exists through His Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16)—two separate God Beings. Godthe Father is the Highest of all (or "Most High"; see Luke 1:32, 35; 2:14; Mark 5:7). His Son, Jesus Christ, like the Father in every way (John 1:1-3), submits to Him (John14:28). Jesus' God, and our God, is God. The Bible reveals God as a Divine Family. Then what is the Holy Spirit? In Acts 1:8, Jesus explains it as God's power, which can do extraordinary things when activated. He created everything and performed all His mighty works through the power of that divine Spirit. He now gives the same Spirit to His disciples (John15:26; 16:7; Luke 24:49). The idea of a triune God comes, not from Scripture, but from the so-called Church Fathers, influenced by Neo-Platonism, to explain the "mystery" of the Holy Spirit. Third, those in the true church understand the meaning of baptism. The Greek word baptizo means "to immerse, to submerge, and to make fully wet." It derives from its root, bapto, which also implies submersion. We can observe the distinction between them in the writings of the third-century BC Greek poet and physician Nicander. In a recipe for making pickles, he writes that, to pickle a vegetable, one must first dip (bapto) the vegetable in boiling water, then dip (baptizo)it in vinegar. Both verbs involve immersing the vegetable, yet while the first dipping makes only a temporary change, the second dipping causes a permanent one. Baptism is the symbolic burial of the Old Man in a watery grave (see Romans 6). A person rising from the water represents a resurrection to a new life. Baptism is a public commitment to change and follow the example of Jesus Christ as a newperson, cleansed of old sin. If we remain committed, with the help of God's Spirit, given by the laying on of hands, we will not fail! Fourth, we know the Plan of God as revealed by God's holy days. We know what God is doing! We know mankind's future! The spring festivals—Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost—relate to God's Plan for the salvation of His saints. The fall holy days—the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day—reveal in type how God will work out His Plan of salvation for the rest of humanity. God's Plan assures us that, in time, the entire world will come under the rulership of Jesus Christ, and all its people, past, present, and future, will receive an opportunity for salvation and eternal life in His Kingdom. God is not unjustto limit salvation to a few but desires "that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). Once His Plan is complete, the entire earth will worship the true God! Fifth, the church of God believes and teaches the true gospel, the good news that Jesus brought: that God is recreating Himself through mankind. Human destiny is no less than becoming full-fledged members of the Family of God! Mark 1:14-15 reads: "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'" The gospel Jesus preached is about a soon-coming Kingdom that one can enter upon belief and repentance. The apostle Paul revealsin I Corinthians 15:49 that as we have borne the image of the man of dust, Adam, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man, Christ! The apostle John seconds this in I John 3:2, writing that when Jesus "is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is"! Revelation 5:10 adds that, in these glorified bodies, the redeemed shall be kings and priests in His Kingdom and reign with Him on the earth. There is no boasting in saying that we know and believe the absolute truth revealed by God. We certainly do not know everything, but God has opened to us enough for salvation. As Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:9-10: "‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit." What an incredible gift! But this gift causes sanctification, which in one sense is a double-edged sword. It gives us what we need to understand and grow toward the image of Christ, but it makes us different and separate from the world. This condition allows us to proclaimGod's praises (I Peter 2:9) and to be good examples to others—a wonderful privilege—but it also makes us a target for troubles, even persecution. It is not a giftwe should take lightly. Jesus says in John 8:31-32: "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." By His truth, God has set us apart for His holy use. We can remain sanctified by glorifying God in our humble submissionto His purpose for us and setting a godly example as we lead others to true freedom and the Kingdom of God! - John Reiss