Refuge Week 5: Jehovah Mekoddishkem & Jehovah Tsidkenu

This week, we’re studying Jehovah Mekoddishkem, the LORD Who Sanctifies You, and Jehovah Tsidkenu, the LORD our Righteousness. These are two of my favorite names of God as they directly relate to our relationship with a holy God and how we live the Christian life. Jehovah Mekkoddishkem is first seen in Exodus 31:13 which says, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you [Jehovah Mekoddishkem]” (NASB95).

The word “sanctify” is a verb meaning to consecrate or set apart. “With the Lord as the subject, the word describes establishing something as holy. The Lord Himself consecrated, or made holy, His people” (Zodhiates, CWSB H6942). Holiness is the end result of sanctification, “without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). God requires His people to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-17). He says in Exodus 19:5-6, “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (NASB95).

Paul quotes this in 1 Peter 2:9 speaking to believers: “But you are a CHOSEN RACE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD’S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (NASB95). For the Israelites, adhering to the Law was the intended path to holiness, but their inability to keep it was addressed through the priestly service and sacrificial system, which only provided temporary atonement and sanctification.

“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4 NLT).

We, too, are incapable of keeping the Law and face condemnation under it. The purpose of the Law was to reveal our inability to obey it perfectly, highlighting our need for a Savior. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4 NASB95).

“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10-12 NASB95).

Sanctification occurs in three stages: positional sanctification, where we are declared holy at salvation; progressive sanctification, the ongoing process of growing in holiness (being conformed to the image of Christ) through the Spirit’s work; and ultimate sanctification, when we are glorified and fully perfected in holiness in heaven.

Every believer is on a journey of being sanctified. “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:7 NASB95). “As we grow in grace, we are gradually – but steadily – changing to be more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). This occurs in a process of daily spiritual renewal (Colossians 3:10)” (gotquestions). We cannot sanctify ourselves by doing good works and must guard ourselves from a legalistic, check-box mentality. Sanctification is a work of the Spirit and only happens when we die to self and say yes to Jesus! The process of sanctification produces a Spirit-filled life.

God uses His Word in our sanctification. We see this in Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (NASB95). Romans 12:1-2 perfectly expresses this. “Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (NASB95).

“This is the will of God, your sanctification;”

1 Thessalonians 4:3a (NASB95)

Sanctification involves total dependence on Christ. This is why the imagery of the Sabbath is so important. I am amazed that God revealed Himself as Jehovah Mekoddishkem in the context of the Sabbath. This revelation was so important that He established the Sabbath as a perpetual sign to remind them forever that He was the One who sanctified them. But the Hebrew word for “sign” carries a deeper meaning beyond just a reminder. It refers to the miraculous and “is used most often to describe awe-inspiring events [such as] God’s work to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt, [and] miracles verifying God’s message” (Zodhiates, CWSB H226). I believe the sign of the Sabbath foreshadows the sanctifying work God alone can do in the life of a believer. We can’t live the Christian life in and of our own strength. The fruit of the Spirit can only be produced by the Spirit! As someone once said, “The Christian life is not my responsibility, it is my response to His ability.” The Sabbath rest is a picture of this.

Exodus 31:17 says, “It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed” (NASB95). The rest required for the Sabbath points us to the rest we have in Christ and His finished work. Hebrews 4:9-11 says, “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience” (NASB95).

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. “He had the right, power, and authority to dispense it in any way He pleased. The Lord of the Sabbath had come, and with His death and resurrection, He became the fulfillment of our Sabbath rest. The salvation we have in Christ has made the old law of the Sabbath no longer needed or binding. When Jesus said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27), Jesus was attesting to the fact that, just as the Sabbath day was originally instituted to give man rest from his labors, so did He come to provide us rest from laboring to achieve our own salvation by works. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, we can now forever cease laboring to attain God’s favor and rest in His mercy and grace” (gotquestions).

“This is holiness, the sense of dependence and availability to God. This is what makes the world sit up and take notice as they see Christian men and women living the kind of life that is always adequate for every circumstance.”

Ray Stedman

The characteristics of Jehovah Mekoddishkem, the LORD Who Sanctifies You, and Jehovah Tsidkenu, the LORD our Righteousness, are intimately connected as they reveal God’s work in making His people holy and righteous. As Jehovah Mekoddishkem, God sets us apart in sanctification. As Jehovah Tsidkenu, God provides the righteousness needed for holiness, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6; 1 Corinthains 1:30). Together, these names show that God not only declares us holy, but also imputes His righteousness through Christ, enabling us to rest in His completed work (Hebrews 4:9-10).

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26 ESV).

The word propitiation means “to expiate, or atone” and is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for “mercy seat.” Spiros says, “The lid or covering of the ark of the covenant [the mercy seat] was made of pure gold, on and before which the high priest was to sprinkle the blood of the expiatory sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, and where the Lord promised to meet His people. Paul, by applying the name [propitiation] to Christ in Romans 3:25, assures us that Christ was the true mercy seat, the reality typtified by the cover on the ark of the covenant (Heb. 9:5). Therefore, it means a place of conciliation, of expiation (atonement), an altar or place of sacrifice. Jesus is designated not only as the place where the sinner deposits his sin, but He Himself is the means of [atonement]. He is not like the high priest of the Old Testament whose [atonement] of the people was accomplished through the blood of something other than himself” (Heb. 9:25 Zodhiates, CWSB 2435).

“The mercy seat was sprinkled with the blood of the [animal] victim slain on the annual Day of Atonement. The covering of the ark, the mercy seat in the Old Testament, having been sprinkled with the blood of the victim, became the proof of the sacrifice offered. Likewise, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the shedding of His blood on the cross, we have the evidence of the better sacrifice that God chose to make on behalf of all humanity. No priest had ever before sacrificed his own blood for the sins of the people. Jesus Christ is not only the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but He is also our High Priest whose sacrifice applies not only to Israel, but to the whole world” (Zodhiates, CWSB 2435).

Jehovah Tsidkenu is the Millennial name of Jesus Christ, prophesied in Jeremiah 23:1-6, as the righteous Branch who will one day rule from David’s throne over the entire world. “And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness [Jehovah Tsidkenu]'” (Jer. 23:5b-6 NASB95).

What an amazing Savior we have in Christ Jesus! He not only sanctifies us as we yield to Him, but He also gives us His righteousness. That’s why we can rest in Him, knowing that He satisfied the demands of the Law. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB95). Paul desired to “be found in Him, not having a righteousness derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:9 NASB95).

“Under the Law with its ten-fold lash, learning alas how true, that the more I tried the sooner I died, while the law cried YOU! YOU! YOU!!!

Hopelessly still did the battle rage, ‘O wretched man’ my cry, and deliverance I sought by some penance bought, while my soul cried, ‘I! I! I!!!’

Then came a day when my struggling ceased, and trembling in every limb, at the foot of the Tree where One died for me, I sobbed out ‘Him! Him! Him!!!’ (author unknown)

Oh friend, have you rested from your works and received His righteousness? He alone can sanctify you, but you must make the choice to say, “Yes, Lord.” This choice results in a future reward for the praise of His glory. “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24 NASB95).

Week 5 Reflections

Day One: Jesus, our Sabbath Rest

1. Read Exodus 31:12-17. What do you learn about the Sabbath? Why is it important that the Sabbath reminds them of Jehovah Mekoddishkem?
2. Read Ezekiel 20:12-17. Unfortunately, Israel chose to desecrate the Sabbath and was kept from entering the Promised Land. This situation provides us with a picture of what happens when we try to live the Christian life in our own strength and forfeit the abundant life God offers to us by resting in Him.
3. Read Mark 2:23-28; Colossians 2:16-19; and Matthew 11:28-30. How do these passages point to the Sabbath rest offered by Christ in Hebrews 4:9-11?

Day Two: Our Sanctification

1. Read 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:1-2. What do you learn about positional sanctification?
2. Read Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; 1 John 3:3; Romans 8:28-29; Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 10:12-18; John 17:17; and Galatians 5:13-26. What do you learn about your daily journey of sanctification (progressive sanctification)?
3. Read 1 John 3:2-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Romans 8:18-19; Colossians 3:4; and Jude 1:24. What do you learn about the completion of your sanctification (ultimate sanctification)?

Day Three: Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness

1. Read Romans 3:21-26; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Matthew 6:33; Ephesians 4:20-24; Romans 6:13-18; Romans 1:17; Phil. 1:9-11; Isaiah 64:6; 2 Cor. 3:2-6; and Ezekiel 36:26 . What do you learn about righteousness?
2. Read Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Jeremiah 33:14-16. What do you learn about Jehovah Tsidkenu?

Journal Prompts

Can you think of times when you have tried to get abundant life in Christ by doing certain things, instead of just running to Jesus with your inability? How did this make you feel? Have you rested from your works? Have you ever associated the Sabbath with a physical day of rest on Sundays? Do you now see that it is not about a day, but about a life lived entering into His rest? How are you being sanctified? Is there a test or a trial that is refining you? Thank God that He is our Righteousness and that it doesn’t depend on us, it depends on Him. All He asks of us is that we say yes to Him!

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