A name of God
Jehovah Mekoddishkem, the LORD Who Sanctifies
In the middle of Israel's laws about holy living, God pauses to remind His people who is really doing the work. It is easy to read Leviticus and think holiness is a ladder we climb by keeping rules. But in Leviticus 20 verse 8, and again in Exodus 31 verse 13 concerning the Sabbath, God says something that changes everything. Keep My statutes, He says, and know that it is I, the LORD, who sanctifies you. He gives Himself the name Jehovah Mekoddishkem, the LORD who sanctifies you, the One who sets His people apart and makes them holy. Israel did not make itself sacred by effort. The living God reached down and claimed a people as His own and set about making them like Himself. Holiness, from the very start, was His gift before it was our task.
“And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.”Leviticus 20:8
“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”Exodus 31:13
What the name means
Jehovah is the covenant name, the LORD. Mekoddishkem comes from the Hebrew root qadash, to be holy, to set apart, to consecrate, with a form that means the One who sanctifies you. So the name means the LORD who sanctifies you, or the LORD who makes you holy. To sanctify is to set apart from common use for a sacred purpose, to consecrate. In Scripture holiness begins with God, who alone is holy in Himself, and flows outward as He sets apart people, days, and places for Himself. The name insists that this setting apart is His action. He is the sanctifier, the one who does the making holy. His people receive holiness as those claimed and transformed by Him, not as those who earn it by their own striving.
Where it appears
The name Jehovah Mekoddishkem is drawn from passages in the law where God repeatedly identifies Himself as the LORD who sanctifies His people. In Exodus 31 verse 13, giving the Sabbath as a sign, He says it is so Israel may know that He is the LORD who sanctifies them. In Leviticus 20 verse 8, amid calls to keep His statutes, He again declares that He is the LORD who sanctifies them, and the refrain returns through Leviticus 21 and 22 concerning the priests and the offerings. The setting is Israel's covenant life, its worship, its calendar, its priesthood. Over and over, as God asks His people to live set apart, He reminds them that He Himself is the source of the holiness He requires.
How you see it in Christ
The New Testament announces that this sanctifying work is accomplished in Jesus. Hebrews 10 verse 10 says we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, and Hebrews 13 verse 12 says He suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people through His own blood. First Corinthians 1 verse 30 says that Christ is made unto us sanctification, so that the holiness we could never manufacture is given to us in Him. This is the fulfillment of Jehovah Mekoddishkem. The LORD who set His people apart in Leviticus now makes them holy not by their striving but by the blood of His Son. We are consecrated because Christ offered Himself, and His Spirit continues the work, forming His holiness in us over time.
Questions people ask
Does God sanctify me, or do I have to make myself holy?
Scripture holds both, but the order matters. The name Jehovah Mekoddishkem, and passages like Hebrews 10, say God is the one who sanctifies. Holiness is His gift given in Christ before it is our effort. Yet we are then called to live it out, cooperating with His Spirit. We do not manufacture holiness by striving. We receive it in Christ and grow into it as He works in us.
What is the difference between being justified and being sanctified?
Justification is God declaring you righteous, forgiven and accepted, the moment you trust Christ, a completed verdict. Sanctification is God making you actually holy, an ongoing work of setting you apart and shaping your character over a lifetime. First Corinthians 1 says Christ is both our righteousness and our sanctification. The same Savior who declares you right also, patiently, makes you holy through His Spirit.