Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you” (Lev 20:7-8).1
The Responsibility
It is unlikely that the part of the Scriptures in which these two verses are found is a “favorite passage” of anyone reading this magazine. In the two preceding chapters (18 and 19) the Lord has instructed His people against many vices, including causing members of one’s family to “pass through the fire to Molech” (18:21) and turning to “them that have familiar spirits” (19:31). Now, at the beginning of chapter 20, He states those corruptions again (Molech, vv2-5, and familiar spirits, v6), but this time He gives the punishments for such actions, and they are severe indeed: being put to death by people (v2) and being cut off by God (v6).
Before going on to detail the penalties for other evil deeds (vv9-27), the Lord pauses, as it were, and, in the two verses quoted at the top of this article, emphasizes to His people the need for personal sanctification: “Sanctify yourselves therefore.” The uncompromising instructions that God has just given and the sentences He has pronounced on the disobedient show how serious a matter this is. His people have a responsibility to sanctify themselves. The word “sanctify” at the start of verse 7 is the same as that at the end of verse 8 (and the word “holy” in verse 7 is derived from it). So while, as we shall see, God sanctifies His people, it does not “just happen” automatically; they have a responsibility to see to it that they sanctify themselves, that they are holy people. And that holiness is expressed in guarding and doing what He commands: “Ye shall keep my statutes, and do them” (v8).
The Reason
The Lord uses the little word “for,” which introduces the reason why they are to sanctify themselves. Twice He states that reason: “I am the LORD.” The One giving them these solemn instructions is none other than “the LORD,” Jehovah, the only true God, standing in total contrast to false gods, like Molech, the worship of whom was so despicable, and the evil spirits involved in necromancy and other detestable practices. A consciousness of who God is, including His uniqueness, His power and His holy character, provides an unanswerable reason to sanctify oneself, to be holy, to hold and to obey the teachings in His Word.
The Relationship
There is more: it is not just that it is the LORD who is saying these things, but those to whom He is speaking are in relationship with Him. Twice in these two verses He highlights that relationship: firstly, “I am … your God” and, secondly, “I … sanctify you.” They are in covenant relationship with Him, and in that sense He has already sanctified them, as He states later in the chapter: “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” (v26). They are His, separate from all the other peoples, for whom the wicked practices described in these chapters are part of normal life. He is holy, and His people are to be holy, as He is. So their obedient behaviour manifests their separation, and at the same time plays an indispensable role in maintaining it. So the need for holiness, seen in obedience to Him, is not only because of the severe punishments for disobedience, and not only because it is the Lord who is commanding (vitally important as that is), but also because they, uniquely among all nations in the earth, are in relationship to a holy God and are therefore to be holy.
The Resource
While He has sanctified them in separating them off as a nation unto Himself, there is also the practical side. The use of the word “sanctify” at the start of verse 7 is practical, and, in part at least, “sanctify” at the end of verse 8 (“I am the LORD which sanctify you”) is also practical. Here is a solemn – yet encouraging – statement. Their responsibility to sanctify themselves and to stand apart from the wickedness all around them could never be done in their own strength. However, they are not left to their own resources. This is a work which God does in them. He forms the desire in them to be sanctified people, and He gives the needed strength so that this desire can be fulfilled. He sanctifies, and they are to sanctify themselves. There is a beautiful balance between the provision of divine grace (v8) and human responsibility to act in accordance with it (v7).
The Relevance
So far, all that has been said pertains to the relationship between the Lord and the nation of Israel many years ago. Is this relevant to us in 2026? It surely is: God has not changed, and, as His people in the present day, whose calling and blessings are on a far higher plane than those of Israel then, our responsibility to sanctify ourselves and to be holy is no less great than theirs was. And the wickedness in this world around us may not be expressed in precisely the ways it was then, but it has not changed one iota in character, and the danger of our being influenced by it for evil is greater than we like to admit. We do not face the harsh punishments the Israelites faced for disobedience, but that should not cause us to think that God takes a lighter view of sin now than He did then. He does not, and He is still the Lord, our God, who has separated us unto Himself, who requires that His people be holy, as He is, and who provides the resources needed for this to be so. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1Pe 1:15-16). The fact that Peter lifted this command straight out of Leviticus and placed it before his Christian readers, without diminution or qualification, shows that the truth of Jehovah Makadesh2 is as relevant to us today as it was then: “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy … I am the LORD which sanctify you.”
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
2 Other forms in which this title appears include (but are not limited to) Jehovah M’Kaddesh and Jehovah Mekoddishkem.
