Chapter Ten

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The Hebrews were born Holy and Sanctified

In the previous chapter, we determined that all the participants in a Blood Covenant of Friendship must ratify it with blood. We also discovered that God ratified the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 17 with the blood of birds and animals. We also learned in Genesis 17 that God required Abraham and his descendants to ratify it with their own blood via the rite of circumcision.

You remember that circumcision required the personal blood of Abraham as well as the personal blood of his descendants. You also remember that God spent none of His own blood to ratify the Abrahamic covenant until Jesus came. We also learned that God finally ratified it with the blood of Jesus. Furthermore, we discovered in Acts 20:28 that Jesus’ blood was the blood of God himself. Therefore, the blood of God himself presently ratifies the Abrahamic covenant.

Acts 20:28

28                Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (KJV)

Now, where does all this take us? What does all this have to do with these Hebrews? Remember that most of these Hebrews refused to accept the blood of Jesus. They refused to accept it as the final sacrifice for sin under Moses’ law, and they refused to accept it as God’s ratification of the Abrahamic Friendship Covenant.

What does all this have to do with these Hebrews? It has everything to do with them. You see the blood of Jesus was not only their final sacrifice under Moses, it was also God’s final ratification and perpetuation of the entire Abrahamic System. This will become clear as we progress.

Now we must understand that the sanctification our Author mentioned in Heb 10: 28-29 is Old Testament Judaism to the core.

Heb 10:28-29

28            He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

29                Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Italics mine) (KJV)

You remember by now that these Hebrews were born with all the blessings contained in the Abrahamic covenant. You also remember that God added Moses’ law so that they could maintain their Abrahamic blessings even when they sinned. You remember that all a Hebrew had to do when he sinned was make the proper Mosaic sacrifice and his blessings continued for him without interruption. You also remember that if he failed to sacrifice properly, he lost every blessing he possessed by birth. He became as the heathen.

You remember that the Hebrews were born with healing, prosperity, family well being and salvation. In addition, they were born with more than these four blessings. They were also born holy and sanctified because of their place in the Abrahamic covenant. Wow! They were born holy and sanctified.

We must note here that the words “holy” and “sanctified” translate the same basic Hebrew root. Consequently, many times “holy” and “sanctified” are used almost interchangeably. In our context here, these words “holy” and “sanctified” mean “to dedicate for a specific purpose” or “to set apart for a specific use.”

The Scriptures below demonstrate this for us. Dear Reader, the following word study removes most of the mystery from these two misunderstood words.

Study the following three Scriptures carefully. In all three of them, the words “holy” and “sanctify” translate the same Hebrew root. As such, these words are almost synonymous of each other.

Exod 29:37

37            Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy. (Italics mine) (KJV)

Exod 30:29

29            And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. (Italics mine) (KJV)

Exod 40:10

10            And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy. (Italics mine) (KJV)

In all three Scriptures above, “holy” and “sanctified” translate the same Hebrew root and in some instances the same identical Hebrew word itself.

Next, we let Vine, Unger and White verify the above statement that the Hebrews were born “holy” or “sanctified.” Then we shall let the Scriptures demonstrate to you (beyond a doubt) that the Old Testament Hebrews were, indeed, born “holy and sanctified.”

To put it differently, God decreed them to be holy and sanctified. The most startling thing is that their faith or obedience had nothing to do with it. God decreed it and it was so!

 Vine, Unger, and White declare, “God has dedicated Israel as His people. They are ‘holy’ by their relationship to the ‘holy’ God. All of the people are in a sense ‘holy,’ as members of the covenant community, irrespective of their faith and obedience.” (Italics mine) (VUW Page113)

They also said, “All Israel is holy, separated to God’s service. . . .” (Italics mine) (UVW Page 212)

Then, Vine, Unger and White give the following Scripture (Num. 16:3) to demonstrate that all the Hebrews are holy irrespective of their faith and obedience.

Num 16:3

3                    And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? (KJV) (Italics mine)

In the verse above, “holy” is translated “sanctified” in many, many other Scriptures. In other words, God dedicated them to be His exclusive people. As such He separated or set them apart for such. This “setting apart” is their sanctification. This is their holiness. Their faith and obedience had nothing to do with any of this.

Now, the Scriptures below demonstrate that God actually dedicated, separated and set apart the Hebrews for His very own people and inheritance. In other words, God separated the Hebrews—for Himself--from the balance of the human race. 

Exod 33:16

16            For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.  (Italics mine) (KJV)

Lev 20:24

24            But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.  (Italics mine) (KJV)

In the verse below, the word used is not separated, but severed. God literally severed or cut the Hebrews right out of the fabric of humanity for His very own.

Lev 20:26

26            And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. (Italics mine) (KJV)

Can’t you see it? These Hebrews are God’s special people. He dedicated them to be His. He set them apart. He separated them from all others. He severed them from the cloth of the human race. He cut them out by personal selection from the fabric of humanity. He sanctified them. He declared them holy. They are His holy, sanctified people to this very hour. But where did all this start?

It started in the Abrahamic covenant. You remember that the covenant contained Sixty Promises to Abraham and his Seed Group. Here we look briefly at 3 of them--Promises # 35, 36 and 37.

In these three Promises, God declared and decreed three things: (1) He declared that the Abrahamic covenant would be eternal. (2) He declared that He would be God to Abraham. (3) He declared that He would also be God to his seed. Gen. 17:7 below contains these Three Promises.

Gen 17:7

7            And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (KJV)

In the preceding verse, Promise #35 states that the Abrahamic covenant is an everlasting covenant. In Promise #36, God declares to be Abraham’s God during the everlasting duration of the covenant. Finally, in Promise #37, God vows to be God to Abraham’s seed during the everlasting duration of the covenant.

Now, when He promised to be God to these people during the everlasting duration of the Abrahamic covenant, He literally selected, severed and separated them from the rest of humanity. You see, He never promised to be the God of any other group of people anywhere in this world. In all the history of the human race, He promised to be God only for the Abrahamic Seed Group.

Nowhere, at no time since creation, has God ever declared to be God for any group except the Abrahamic Seed Group. They are God’s exclusive people. They are set apart for Him. They are separated from the rest of humankind for Him. They are severed from all others for Him. Consequently, they are holy. They are sanctified. They are exclusively His!

By now, Dear Reader, you can certainly see that the sanctification of the Hebrews is Old Testament Judaism. Of old, God decreed them separated, severed, set apart and dedicated for Him. He declared them to be holy and sanctified. In the next chapter, we shall consider the blood of Jesus as the covenant blood that sanctified them.

Before we leave this chapter, study carefully the Scriptures below, which sets it in concrete: God decreed the Abrahamic Seed Group to be holy and sanctified.

Deut 7:6-8

6            For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

7            The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

8            But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (KJV)

Deut 14:2

2            For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. (KJV)

Deut 26:18-19

18            And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

19            And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken. (KJV)

Deut 28:9

9            The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. (KJV)

In the next chapter, your faith will soar and you will thrill as you see how Jesus’ blood sanctified the Hebrew people.

 

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