“But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13, NKJV).
To sanctify is to make holy. It means to be set apart for God. When something or someone is declared sanctified, it means that such a thing or person belongs to God. What an intriguing thought to contemplate that God chose us for salvation from the beginning “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” One fact becomes immediately clear from this; our salvation is not merely a happenstance. It is not an afterthought on the side of God or a patch-patch event God put together to make the best of the tragedy of man’s failure at the Garden of Eden. According to our text, God made His choice “from the beginning.” When is the beginning? I would guess Paul here refers to the same beginning he spoke about in his letter to the Ephesians –“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). God chose the believers in Christ before the foundation of the world. Our choice for salvation predates the creation of the world and of human beings. It predates the call of Abraham and the birth of the nation of Israel. It predates religion or any system of worship ever invented by man. God made his choice in prehistoric eternity “according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5). God’s choice for “the heirs of salvation” was not based on human merits but solely on His unsurpassable kindness out of which He draws great pleasure. God did not reveal for general knowledge those He has chosen for salvation, but provided the benchmark for identifying them, namely “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”
God’s plan: acquire a Bride for Jesus. ‘Come!’ – invite others to water of life. Get involved, preach, gather with Jesus, bring multitudes to Him.
Our Lord made it clear that “He who is of God hears God’s words” (John 8:47 NKJV). Hearing God’s word always implies obeying what is heard. Again He said, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37 NKJV). Hence, those who are God’s not only delight in His Word but also embrace it as truth. Paul explained, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13 NKJV). Believing the word of God as truth is a clear mark that one is chosen. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32, KJV). There is a great and crying need for the revelation of the word of God now to free people from all kinds of bondages that are holding them in this season. Our Lord prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17 NKJV). The Word of God, which is truth, is God’s key way of accomplishing the sanctification of His children. Therefore our Lord said, “You are clean through the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). The Holy Spirit cleanses the believer with the Word of God as he receives and meditates on it daily
Unlike regeneration, justification and adoption which are one and unrepeatable events, sanctification is both an immediate and a continuous process that lasts throughout the lifetime of a believer. The believer’s sanctification is immediate based on his spiritual union with Christ at the moment of his conversion. Several scriptures present the sanctification of the believer as a done deal. Example, “…But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV). As the basis of the Christian’s justification is the imputed obedience of Christ (Romans 5:19); so the basis of his immediate sanctification is his real spiritual union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:6-7). On the other hand, the believer’s sanctification is a continuing process that will consummate when he sees Christ face to face (1 John 3:2). The Holy Spirit aims at bringing every believer into conformity with Christ through all the means of grace available for Him to do that. When you trust Christ for your salvation through faith, you become one Spirit with Him and you are immediately set free from the slavery to sin into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Once a child of God, you are required to make conscious effort to live according to the leading of the Spirit as He continues the job of continuous sanctification in you.
We need to cry out for the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit in the church today. There seems to be too much christianity without commensurate manifestation of Christlikeness. Our world will not believe in Christ just because we talk about Him but more because we live like Him and do His works. The goal of sanctification is to produce vessels of honour that can bear and showcase the glory of God to the world that is steadily drawing away from Him. God needs a people He can entrust His glory and power for the salvation of the world. May He find such a person in you in Jesus name.
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