Cross & CrownSample

Sanctification & Access to God

At the moment of salvation, Jesus sanctified you with His blood by applying it to your life (Heb. 13:12). This means you were set apart as God’s child to live for Him from that time onward. The best way for me to describe sanctification is to compare it to a period that comes at the end of an event. You were saved, redeemed, justified, reconciled, and sanctified, period. But this period does not end. It turns into a line that continues throughout your life.

Sanctification is the process by which the Lord is continually transforming His children into the image of Jesus Christ. The entire Christian life is in that line; it just keeps lengthening as we grow in godliness, obedience, and understanding. Salvation is not the endpoint but the beginning of God’s purposes for believers. His goal is to renew every area of our lives so that we can become His valuable servants and ambassadors of Christ to a lost world.

This process will continue throughout life because the Holy Spirit resides within every believer, guiding and empowering each one to move forward. He'll never leave us—there’s always another step to take in our progress toward Christlikeness and fruitful service for the Lord.

Key to that progress is being able to confidently enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19-22). In the Old Testament, the Holy of Holies was the inner room of the tabernacle or temple where God dwelt above the ark of the covenant. The high priest was the only one who could enter this most holy place, and he could do so only once a year to make atonement for himself and the nation. After carefully preparing himself with sacred rituals, he would enter with animal blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat.

Today, the only reason Christians can approach God is because, spiritually speaking, they're covered in the blood of Jesus. When Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, the veil of the temple—which separated God from the people—was torn in two from top to bottom. This supernatural event signified the Father’s acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice, which opened the way to His presence.

Because we’ve never participated in the Old Testament sacrificial system, we usually take for granted our access to the Lord. There’s now no need to sacrifice a lamb when we want to approach God. Each time we enter the Father’s throne room in prayer, it’s as if Jesus looks to us and says, “Here’s one of Ours … the blood has been applied.”