Sanctity - Demand, Inducement, Promise
W. Clarkson Leviticus 20:7, 8 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be you holy: for I am the LORD your God.… Once "again" (verse 2) Moses utters the Divine will in this great matter of holiness (see Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2). We have - I. GOD'S IMPERATIVE DEMAND OF SANCTITY. "Sanctify yourselves." "Ye shall keep my statutes, and do them." The Creator of the universe, the Author of our being, the Father and Sustainer of our spirits, has sovereign right to speak to us in such decisive tones. He demands of us that we shall be "holy," i.e., (1) that we shall expel from heart and life all those sinful habits by which men have defiled themselves: thus shall we "be severed from other people" (verse 26), whose spirit and life are hateful; and (2) that we shall approach him, honour him, and pay him the tribute he asks of us, and also act righteously and blamelessly toward our fellows, "keeping his statutes and doing them." II. THE HIGH INDUCEMENT HE PRESENTS TO US. "Be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God." We may gird ourselves to good and great things, animated by different motives; of these some may be higher, others lower. God summons us to be holy for the highest reason of all, viz. because we shall thus resemble him. "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). Other reasons abound: holiness (1) is the best thing in itself; (2) saves us from many and great spiritual evils; (3) delivers us from dark and awful penalties; (4) allies us to the noblest created beings, etc.; but the best and loftiest of all considerations is that (5) it makes us like God, the Holy One, himself. His spirit is our spirit; his principles, our principles; his life, our life. We are "the children of our Father who is in heaven." III. HIS PROMISED HELP. "I am the Lord which sanctify you." The action of God upon our souls has been treated, both by the foolish and by the wicked, as a reason for human impassiveness. Foolish men have said, "God is working for us and in us, therefore it would be irreverent for us to attempt to do anything; we should only interfere." Wicked men have said, "God works for us, therefore we may safely live in comfortable unconcern and guilt while we wait his time of deliverance." The "children of wisdom" have said, "God is ready to work with us, there[ore let us strive with all our energies, for, with his help, we shall not strive in vain." This is the apostle's argument: "Work out your own salvation,... for it is God which worketh in you," etc. (Philippians 2:12, 13). All our endeavours might be unavailing; we might contend against the strong current of sin and be baffled and borne along its stream, but if God himself is sanctifying us, we shall prevail. Let us go forth unto the struggle, for we shall assuredly succeed. God sanctifies us in such wise that he acts with us while he acts in us and for us. He sanctifies us by (1) the truth of his Word (John 17:17): this we are to consult; by (2) the privileges of the sanctuary (Ezekiel 37:28): of these we are to avail ourselves; by (3) his providential discipline (Hebrews 12:10): to this we are to submit; by (4) the indwelling of his Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16): for this we are earnestly to pray and expectantly to wait. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. WEB: "'Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God.