Post 9: Thankful for the Many Names of God!

Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

Leviticus 20:8

Yahweh-M’kaddesh [yah-way-meh-kad-esh] means the Lord Who Sanctifies or Makes Holy. When written as Jehovah Mekoddishkem, it means “The Lord who sets you apart”¹. With this name, God shows us that He wants His people to be holy and that He alone is the One who can sanctify His people². It occurs twice in the Old Testament, Leviticus 20:8 (above) and Exodus 31:13 (below).

“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”

Exodus 31:13

While Yahweh-M’Kaddesh only appears twice, the Hebrew word qâdash from which Mekoddishkem is derived is used 173 times¹. It means sanctify, holy, or dedicate. Some of its uses include:

What does this name mean for us?

Sweet friend, in the Old Testament sanctification involved being physically set apart. The Sabbath was for focusing on God and resting. God’s tabernacle was His holy house, set apart for Him (which is part of why Jesus was so upset about the money changers and their business in His Father’s house). Old Testament sanctification was tied to frequent sacrifice and to good hygiene, bathing and avoiding unclean things (like touching the dead or eating certain foods). The emphasis was on setting apart the outside and making sure it was without blemish.

In the New Testament, we see a change in the process of sanctification. Through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ sanctification becomes something that happens just as much or more on the inside than the outside.

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Hebrews 9:13-14 (underlining added for emphasis)

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Hebrews 10:4

Dear heart, Yahweh-M’kaddesh, the Lord Who Sanctifies, sent His Son Jesus to free us from ceremonial sacrifices that had to be repeated frequently and physical rules about what to eat or touch or do and what day to do them on. Our Savior died once for all so that we can be sanctified from the inside out (Romans 6:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21). In Christ we gain the Holy Spirit and through Holy Spirit’s guidance we enter a process of sanctification, changing our worldly mind to a Christ-like mind (1 Corinthians 2; Romans 12:2).

As Followers of Christ, we are living in the world, but we are not of the world. We should look and sound and behave differently than the world, not for the purpose of “outward appearance” but because we are being made different from within and that difference, our sanctification, is working its way to the outside.

Beloved, the Lord Who Sanctifies has set us apart from the world, but we still have a part to play in the world.

Because God is also the Lord Everlasting and the Lord of Hosts, the sanctification He offers through Jesus Christ is for all people, through all time, for all time. Brothers and Sisters, we have been set apart for service to God, to grow up in Him, to share the Good News, to complete good works which He has prepared for us in advance (Ephesians 2:10). Embrace the Lord Who Sanctifies! Walk and talk as one who is complete and holy through the blood of Jesus and dedicated to the cause of Christ!

Father God, You are the Lord Who Sanctifies and Your Sons and Daughters are eternally grateful that we do not have to sanctify ourselves through our works or our adherence to ritual! Without Your sanctification through the blood of Christ, we would forever be incomplete, wandering, unclean. But God, You love us too much to leave us as we are and in Christ we embrace Your sanctification process! Lord God, prune away the branches of our lives that do not bear fruit, dig up the soil of our hearts that has grown too hard so Your seeds may take hold in us. May we be a people who walk in the good works You have prepared for us, who stand out as different but do not separate ourselves from those in need of Your love, who lift holy hands and hearts to You! Amen.

References:

1. Blue Letter Bible. 2022. The names of God in the Old Testament. https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm
2. Got Questions. 2022. What are the names of God and what do they mean? https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html