What’s In A Name?, 10: M’Kaddesh
1Peter 1:13-25 13Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”17Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Exodus 31:12-13 12Then the LORD said to Moses, 13“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
1Thessalonians 5:23-24 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. 24The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
Leviticus 20:7-8 7“ ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. 8Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
The Hebrew M’Kaddesh is the abbreviated form of Mekaddishkem. The word has two parts: Mekaddish which derives from the Hebrew word meaning “sanctify,” “holy,” or “separate;” and kem which simply means “you.” In combination with YHWH or Jehovah, the phrase means “The Lord who sets you apart,” or “The Lord who sanctifies you.” This seems simple enough on the surface but isn’t actually. The trouble lays in the meanings of “set apart” and “sanctify.”
If M’Kaddesh only meant set apart we might get the idea that all we had to do to get close to God would to withdraw from the world. This would not be a new idea as the monastic lifestyle, which had its roots in the Essene lifestyle in the 1st Century, had risen to a common practice in the early Middle Ages. The Monks and Nuns soon found that in attempting to avoid contamination by the world’s practices they simply brought their own sin nature into their own restrictive community. They discovered that distancing oneself from sin isn’t possible because one’s own sin nature is the ultimate source of trouble.
A partial though incomplete solution to that problem lays in the other meaning of M’Kaddesh. If we are to become holy or sanctified we can’t do it by ourselves: We must have Christ’s strength. But we do have a part to play in that we must choose to devote our lives to Him. By this I do not refer to that moment of conversion where we give our lives over to Jesus. This is our first and only step towards salvation but it is our first of many steps toward sanctification. Being set apart or sanctified has nothing to do with location. A person can be holy or profane in a ghetto or in a cathedral. It is attitude that counts. We must choose to focus ourselves on the things of God and turn away from that sin nature which so plagues us. Is such a thing possible without God? No. But it is in the act of choosing to turn that we are in fact choosing to become righteous.
Galatians 2:20 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Romans 12:1-2 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
2Timothy 2:22-23 22Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels.
Ephesians 5:3-4, 15-20 3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving…..15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So sanctification is not so much the turn away from the world as it is a turn towards God. If we allow YHWH M’Kaddesh to live up to His name and if we listen to that still, small voice that is a call to return to intimate fellowship with Him, then we will begin to distance ourselves from those evil things we used to do. We will avoid drugs and alcohol, or sexual impropriety, or profane vulgarity, or self-reliance. We will in fact turn to God in faith and trust in Him.