1 Thess 5:23 [NIV]
23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sanctification is the process by which man is transformed into the likeness of God and brought into the governance of the Lord. It begins in the spirit – the inner most being of man. Sanctification then affects the soul, and finally the body. Sanctification is a reality within us that is foreshadowed by the temple in the Old Testament that was made up of the Holy of Holies, the Inner Courts, and the Outer Courts. The process manifests itself after it flows from the inner most part of the man, to His soul and to his body. The Spirit will sanctify the man through and through in order to make him pure and blameless before the Lord.
The process of sanctification can take a lifetime, like gold refined by fire as the dross and impurities are burned away to produce the pure gold. It was created so for the purpose of showing how a man is sanctified and of the greatest value. Anything that does not fall into this process of sanctification will be burned away, so that only the pure and holy things will remain. Sanctification is the process of producing the fullness of Christ in us. It brings the Mind of Christ to a man which matures him. This is how God brings about perfection in us which is the life of Christ.
It involves learning to be governed by the Holy Spirit, which begins with yielding to the leading of the Spirit. An infant does not reflect the character of the Father in the beginning. But as you mature as a son you do increasingly reflect the character of the Father. As you become acquainted with the ways of the Spirit, the Father and the Son will be revealed. Your life must first come into order with the ways of the Spirit, and then the Glory of God will come.
The Spirit has substance and weight. When the heart is right and truly desires the Lord, the Spirit will come. The Spirit does not yield to the interests of man, but brings discipline in order to produce the necessary result for sanctification. This is done in love and is used to train the son in righteousness.
The Glory of God is invisible. The Lord can’t wait to pour His Glory into us, for He desires to do so. We are the vessels for His Glory. This begins with others laying the firm foundation of Christ Jesus. Then we must be put into order for the Glory to come. We are brought into order for the purpose of being established in the Lord and to keep us from being moved by external things. Our spirit, soul, and body must come into the order and governance of the Spirit of the Lord. We must come into this order before the Glory will come. Just as the temple had to be built and completed for the Glory to fall, so we must be built according to the order of the Lord for the Glory to fall on us as well. We are the temples of the Lord in which His Spirit dwells.
This is _Part 2_ in the series Three Compartments of Man and the Work of Sanctification. To continue with this series, click on Pt 3. To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series and Pt 1.
Photo credit: frok303