“Sanctify them by Your truth.
Your word is truth.”
(Jesus speaking in John 17:17 NKJV)
These words were spoken by Jesus on the night before
He was crucified on a cross to pay for our sins.
According to Webster to sanctify means:
to cleanse, purify, or make holy.
Sanctify also means to “set apart”,
or “to consecrate”.
Jesus’s death was a sacrifice
which was necessary to set us apart,
to consecrate us to God.
His death would
cleanse us, purify us,
and make us holy before God.
Jesus speaking to His Father says:
“Your word is truth”
In a different translation,
written in the early 1600’s we read:
“Thy word is truth”
Jesus is stating the very word of God is truth.
In today’s world, it is hard for us to discern when
people are telling us fact or fiction.
How do we know if a salesman is really
giving us his best lowball price?
How do we know for sure if a recipe which
claims to be “the best Lasagna recipe ever”
is really the best Lasagna recipe ever?
How do we really know if a politician
will deliver on most, or some, or any
of his/her promises?
We live in a world where it is hard to
separate truth from fantasy.
The image above recalls the adage
about falling for something:
“hook, line, and sinker”.
If we consider the two sentences of this verse together.
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
We could infer ‘Sanctify them by Your Word’.
Make them holy,
separate them unto you Father
by Your very word.
Jesus was thinking of us,
you and me,
on the night before
He went onto the cross for us.
So we would be holy, and someday,
be in the presence of a holy God.