Did Israel ever experience the land flowing with milk and honey?
And the king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah (2 Chronicles 1:15 ESV)
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He promised to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. “Milk and honey” meant abundance, prosperity, wellbeing, etc. Did the Jews ever experience this sort of national wealth and wellbeing? The answer is yes. But we often do not hear about it for a reason. It was very brief.
The Old Testament record of Israel’s history is certainly not that of milk and honey but overwhelming that of tragedy. It is easy for us to miss the reality that God indeed fulfilled His promise to Israel. Solomon was the king par excellence in Israel. In his days, the scripture above says gold and silver were as common in Jerusalem as stones. Think about that for a second. That is national prosperity, not just for the king, but the entire kingdom beyond what any empire or nation has ever experienced.
The astonishing truth is that this is what God wanted for Israel year after year. Israel stumbled at that ancient stone, which remains a threat to all of us today. When we prosper, we become complacent and despise God’s Laws. Solomon, in the height of his prosperity, built an altar to an idol in Jerusalem. This milk and honey prosperity of Israel could not last beyond one kingly generation. It is a warning to all of us. One of the most vulnerable periods of our lives are moments when we are doing very well, prosperous, and enjoying God’s blessings. Remember the Lord, fear Him, and keep His Word at all times.
MEDITATE
Did God want the prosperity of Israel? Why is the OT rather full of one disaster after another?
APPLY THE WORD
The bitter truth is that many of us are not ready for prosperity. There are believers and ministers today that will go off track entirely if God brings them into prosperity. Be rooted and grounded in God. God’s blessings should not be the cause of your downfall because you are not established but can easily be carried away by the things of this life.
PRAY
Ask the Father to help you become deeply rooted in your dependency on Him.
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)
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.
Pray
Ask the Lord to help you in your daily walk of sanctification.
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