Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.
—John 17:17
In His great intercessory prayer, our Lord spoke of the words that the Father had given Him, of passing them on to His disciples, and of their having received and believed them. It was their keeping these words that would enable them to live the life and do the work of true disciples. Receiving the words of God from Christ and keeping them are the signs and power of true discipleship.
“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” The great objective of God’s Word is to make us holy. No diligence or success in Bible study will really profit us unless it makes us humbler and holier. In our use of Holy Scripture, this must be our main objective. The reason there is often so much Bible reading with so little real result in a Christlike character is that “salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13) is not truly desired.
“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” This holiness through the Word must be sought and waited for from God in prayer. It is necessary to know God’s Word and meditate on it. It is necessary to set our hearts upon being holy and to make this our primary objective in studying the Word. But all this is not enough. Everything depends upon our asking the Father to sanctify us through the Word. It is God who makes us holy by the Spirit of holiness who dwells within us. He works in us the very mind and attitudes of Christ who is our sanctification.
“There is none holy as the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:2). All holiness is His, and He makes things holy by His holy presence. The tabernacle and temple were not holy by cleansing, separation, or consecration. They became holy by the incoming and indwelling God. God makes us holy through His Word bringing Christ and the Holy Spirit into us. The Father can do this only as we wait before Him and give ourselves to Him. When we pray by faith, “Sanctify me through Your truth. Your Word is truth,” our knowledge of God’s Word will truly make us holy.
The morning watch is a sacred time. It is the time devoted to the yielding of ourselves to God’s holiness, sanctified through the Word. Remember, the one aim of God’s Word is to make us holy. Let this be our prayer, “Father, sanctify me through Your truth.”