He Came to Give Us Sanctification

Hebrews 2:11 says, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Jesus came to redeem us and to lead us to glory. In the meantime, He came to sanctify us. He came to set us apart as His brethren. He came to restore the relationship between God and man.

To sanctify means "to set apart" or "to make holy." "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (Heb. 10:14). We therefore stand before God in Christ as one who is pure just as God is pure, as one who is righteous just as Christ is righteous, and we are called His brethren because we, through faith in Him, share in His righteousness. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21).

Through Christ's death on the cross, sin's mastery over us was broken and His eternal righteousness was placed on us. We are "fellow heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17) because He has made His holiness our holiness. The righteousness of Christ not only makes us holy but makes us His brethren.

While positionally we are righteous in Christ, as believers who are human we still experience sin. And so Christ came to sanctify us. Through faith in Him we can begin to experience His righteousness in our life right now. Slowly, through practicing what we believe—spending time in the word daily, praying at every opportunity, spending time together in church—we can become more like Christ. We can begin to become righteous just as He is righteous. He came to give us sanctification—to make us like Himself. Amen.