Pastor Joseph
Set-Apart: The First Way To Live The Sanctified Life
“And you are to tell the Israelites: ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil throughout your generations. It must not be applied to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.”
– Exodus 30:31-32
Holy Oil was a sacred commodity in ancient Israel. It was to be used only for specific purposes. Any use outside the specific purposes defined by God brought severe consequences to the offender. This oil was the visible favor or acceptance of God bestowed upon the anointed. If you were privileged to be anointed with the Holy Oil, you were favored by God. The favor of God was so intense that the anointed individual was set apart for God’s exclusive use. When you received the anointing, you were no longer your own; you became the literal servant of God. What God desired, you did. This sacredness was exclusive in the Old Testament. While God had a covenant relationship with all who sought him through the Law, he ordained the anointing of select individuals. Not every Israelite or foreigner who converted to Judaism was anointed. Only those whom God chose. You could view the Holy Oil anointing as selective in the Old Testament. It was restrictive. This is why God warned Moses not to use the recipe for the Holy Oil in ordinary cosmetic products. The oil was sacred because it was restrictive, set apart unto God and his good purposes.
When Jesus sealed the New Covenant with his blood on Calvary, the restrictions on the Holy Oil were abolished. The anointing of God became spiritual and universal. It was no longer physical and selective. Since Holy Oil anointing was no longer physical and selective, it was no longer mediated by human hands. Under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit is the dispenser of Holy Oil anointing, or as we call it today, sanctification. When an individual comes to the foot of the cross metaphorically through the supernatural drawing of the Spirit and confesses their sins through repentance, they are positionally sanctified. Positionally sanctified believers are counted as righteous by their faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The blood of Jesus erases the debt they incurred through willful rebellion. They are new creatures, buried with Christ and risen to new life in him. Yet, their sanctification is not on earth as it is in heaven. While they are counted as sanctified in heaven, positionally, they have yet to comprehend this sanctification on earth. Earthly sanctification is a process called progressive sanctification. Every day that you surrender to God through submission of your will to his, the Holy Spirit presses you deeper into the mold of Christ. You become progressively more like Jesus through the daily crucifixion of your flesh.
As you walk in the light with God through the indwelling of His Spirit, you become less entangled with the things of this world. Essentially, you become set apart. Living in the light sets you apart from darkness. If you use the headlights on your vehicle, which I assume you do if you drive, you understand that the space illuminated by the headlights is set apart from the unilluminated space around your vehicle. There is a separation between the light and the darkness. This separation is distinct. You can tell where the light ends and the darkness begins. Progressive sanctification defines this separation more starkly as we walk closer to the source of spiritual light, God. The closer you get to the source, the stronger the light. The first few feet in front of your vehicle’s headlights are the brightest because they are near the source of light. Anything that comes into this circle of illumination will be clearly seen. Why? The light reveals it. Nothing harmful can stay in this circle of illumination unexposed. Thus, the harmful things recede because they prefer the anonymity of the darkness. With nothing harmful blocking the source of light, we can clearly see the distinction between the light and the darkness.
Total surrender is the only way to pursue a life of progressive sanctification. We must empty ourselves so God can fill us. There can be no “us” left. Everything has to be laid on the altar. Finances, relationships, possessions, health, and self-preservation must be surrendered to God. To see the earthly reality of your heavenly sanctification, you must be set apart. When you give yourself to God through total surrender, he will step in and guide you daily through the empowerment of His Spirit so that you may become all he created you to be – a sanctified vessel useful to the Master.
