But the divine-human God-man can never be satisfied with negation if He died and rose again to separate us from sin. He ascended into heaven and was exalted to the throne that He might separate us unto the Lord. The work of the cross is to be perfected through the work of the throne. What the Savior began the Sanctifier is to continue. The ascended Lord lives to keep us holy through His Spirit.

This He does as our great High Priest, our Advocate, and our Intercessor. He has lived on earth and knows how unceasingly we are in contact with that which defiles us. He knows the insidiousness of Satan’s temptations and how he takes advantage of our times of trial, affliction, weariness, loneliness, sickness, disappointment, stress, and sorrow to press upon some vulnerable spot in our character to tempt us into sin. So, there He is as our Representative before the Father’s throne, pleading our case, and as we turn to Him in a frank, open confession of our sin, He applies the precious blood that cleanses and enables us to walk again in the light of his holy presence. Christ has come not only to save us but to save us to the uttermost. A life as pure and perfect as his own is His only standard for us. For this, He intercedes constantly on His Father’s throne.

1 John 2:1

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Hebrews 7:25-26

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”

But how could the believer’s conscience become enlightened to discern the presence of sin, and how would his heart be made to recoil from its defilement and his spirit resent its intrusion? Here again we see the perfection of God’s grace in the gift of the Holy Spirit by whom the initial work of sanctification in us is begun and through whom its progressive work is carried on. It is He who makes us feel the need for cleansing and leads us to Him, who alone can cleanse.

1 Peter 1:2

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”

2 Thessalonians 2:13

“God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

A holy God has opened the way into His presence and has taken unto Himself a people to live there in abiding communion with Himself. Blessed the man or the woman who has found his way into that holy sanctuary and delights himself in the Holy One! Upon such, God sets His seal, signifying that they are His own possession forever and that He has begun to work within them conformity to the image of His Son. This seal is none other than the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”

2 Corinthians 1:21-22

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Dear Lord, how can we allow ourselves to be deceived and neglect so great a salvation You offer us?