Christ Our Wisdom

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV)

If you say Christ gives us wisdom, you are perfectly in line with scripture. However, Christ giving us wisdom is only tasting a sniff of the full aroma of a profound truth. Christ does not only give wisdom. He is wisdom to us.

As discussed in Deshen Daily “Christ Our Strength,” Christ is the power of God working in us. But note the jaw-dropping revelation from Paul above: God made Christ our wisdom. Scripture reveals that Jesus, as the Word of God, is the very wisdom of God. Since He has always been wisdom, we would not expect Him to be made wisdom again. But God made Him—who has always been wisdom—to be wisdom to us. It is one thing for Christ to be wisdom, and it is another for Him to be wisdom to us. So whatever the wisdom in us is, God has made Christ to become it!

Therefore the wisdom that is in you as a believer is Christ. When we exercise wisdom in any capacity, we are living Christ’s life. Oh, what a life! As I mentioned before, we are yet to see the fullness of what God has created called the new creature. The world is yet to see the full glory of the sons and daughters of God!

But how is Christ our wisdom? In the same way, He is the power that works in us. He came as the Holy Spirit and functions in us not only as of the spirit of power but as the spirit of wisdom. Wisdom is spirit just like power as described in “Christ Our Strength.” See it beautifully illustrated here:

“And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.” (Acts 6:10 KJV)

As you grow in wisdom, increasing in the spirit of wisdom, Christ increases in your heart. Picture what your life will look like with divine insight into life’s situations, and always knowing what you ought to do in every case to have the desired results. Christ is your wisdom, and that wisdom is not limited to “Christian things” but includes all its facets and applications. Of course, its primordial role is for you to know the will of God, but it also spills over into every other aspect of your life. For instance, helping you understand what to do to solve that marriage crisis, overcome fear, break free from poverty and want, improve your health, etc.

So Christ not only gives us wisdom, but He is our wisdom. We are wired to be victorious from the new birth. Arise, shine, for your light indeed is come!

What is the difference between Christ as wisdom and Christ as our wisdom?

Let Christ fill your heart! Let the Holy Spirit fill you with power and wisdom so that you can function on earth as Christ functioned while He was still living here. This is why we grow spiritually. We fill our hearts with the Word and spend time with Him in prayer and fellowship with other believers so that Christ will be fully formed in us. Let Christ increase in your life!

Thank the Father for making Christ to both wisdom and power to us.

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Leviticus 20:7–8, KJV)

Jehovah Mekaddishkem showing washing gloves, cleaning fluid and sponge

As the Great I AM that I AM, God revealed Himself as the Lord who sanctifies His people in the Old Covenant—Jehovah Mekaddishkem. But this was only a shadow of something greater that was coming in the New Testament.

Jehovah Mekaddishkem is the English transliteration of the Hebrew words for “I am the Lord which sanctify you” ( “mekaddish” = sanctify, “kem” = you). Divine names and titles in the Old Testament often reveal an aspect of God in relation to His people.

There are three keywords that underlie the meaning of sanctification: “wash,” “consecrate,” and “separate.” Sanctification essentially means to make something holy. Sinlessness is a core aspect of holiness, but there is more to holiness than sinlessness. It is the very nature of God. However, when used in reference to us humans, it means to be cleaned from sin, set apart for God, and consecrated to Him.

In the passage above, God tells the people first to sanctify themselves and then reveals He is the One who sanctifies them. Thus, He gives us the two sides of sanctification—the God side and the human side. There’s something God does and something His people do for their sanctification.

This truth was only a shadow in the Old Testament. It is in Christ that we see God fully revealed as Jehovah Mekaddishkem to His people through the sanctifying work on the cross. In speaking to the Corinthians, Paul revealed,

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, KJV)

This is Jehovah Mekaddishkem fulfilled in Christ: We were washed and sanctified. Note that these are in past tense, describing something God has already done. The day you received Christ, you received the bath of your life, a heavenly bath by the Spirit of God that removed every stain of sin through the precious blood of Christ. And as you continue to live on earth, the Spirit continues to sanctify you daily.

Following the sanctifying work He has already done in us, He commands us,

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, KJV)

Now that you are clean, washed, and sanctified, He tells us to put that sanctification to work outwardly. Paul explicit states it is what God wants—His will. He gives us a very specific example of sanctification here: abstain from sexual immorality. Few things defile us, like sexual impurity. But sanctification certainly includes more than abstaining from fornication or adultery. As above, it includes living a consecrated and separated life to God daily in the way we talk, act, think, feel, and handle our bodies.

He is Jehovah Mekaddishkem, the God who has Sanctified you in Christ and continues to sanctify you every day.

Meditate

Is our sanctification completed, ongoing, or both?

Apply the Word

This is the crucial part of this devotional. Until you receive the truth that God has already sanctified you by His Spirit, you will not be empowered to be sanctified practically. Put God’s sanctification power to work in your life daily by faith in the finished work of Christ.