What does the Bible say about consecration?

In considering a little the wonderful typology of this chapter it may be well first of all to get clearly before our minds the meaning of this word Consecration. It is a word that is often confused with Dedication. There are three scriptural words which we often use in the meetings and it may be a help for some if we consider a little the distinct meanings of them. The three words are:— Sanctification, Dedication and Consecration. We judge this to be their right moral order. A concordance will show that Sanctification means — "set apart to". Dedication — "give up to". Consecration — "hands filled". All three can be seen in this chapter, for not only do we see Aaron and his sons set apart to the service of God, they are also given up to it. Moreover, their hands are filled with the right material to offer to God for His Pleasure. To enlarge the three things a little we may say that Sanctification views them as set apart to the service of God. Dedication as given up to the service of God. Consecration as filled for the service of God.

Consecration - a word of comparatively rare occurrence in the Holy Scriptures, but where used fraught with the deepest and most precious meaning - is of infinite import and blessing to our souls. In ordinary speech it is generally understood as the entire devoting to God of self or substance, and thus is linked intimately with sanctification. That this thought is scriptural is clear from 1 Chr. 29:5, where David invited the congregation to consecrate their service to the Lord; and 2 Chr. 29, when in Hezekiah's day, after the apostasy of Ahaz, the congregation of all Israel is anew consecrated to the Lord. We learn too, from the same chapter (v. 33), that "things" were consecrated or made sacred to the Lord.

*Compare the law for cleansing of the leper in Lev. 14, remembering that there it is a question of cleansing from sins, and not, as here, of consecration to the priesthood.

In the next place, parts of the ram of consecration (v. 22), "and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer," etc., were put in the hands of Aaron and his sons to be waved for a wave-offering before the Lord. The loaf, the "oiled bread" (v. 2 compared with Leviticus 2) was a meat-offering, representing Christ in the perfection of His humanity, or rather the holiness of His life in devotedness to God, the entire consecration of every faculty of His soul to the will and glory of God. Taken then in connection with the parts of the ram, their hands were, in fact, filled with Christ, with Christ in all that He was in life, and all that He was in death to God. Now the meaning of the word, which is translated in this chapter "consecrate," as may be seen from the margin, is "to fill the hand." This gives us the scriptural signification of consecration. The general thought is, that it lies in our yielding something to God, and hence the soul is thrown back upon itself to seek for strength to devote itself and all its energies to God's service; and, indeed, with this view, it is often called upon to attain it by a solemn act of self-surrender. Scripture reveals a better way. It lies, as seen in this chapter, in being filled with Christ. It is Christ possessing, absorbing, and controlling our souls. It requires no effort therefore on our part, though indeed it requires the maintenance of constant self-judgment, the abiding refusal of the flesh in every shape and form. For Christ is willing yea, desires, to possess us wholly, and if the Spirit be ungrieved, He will dwell in our hearts by faith; and as then He becomes the alone object of our lives, so He alone will be expressed in our walk and conversation. This is consecration according to God — as prefigured by filling the hands of Aaron and his sons.

(3.) We now come to the third thing spoken of, namely CONSECRATION. That there is a wide-spread desire for fuller consecration to the Lord, the religious history of the last few years abundantly shows. And who can doubt that, spite of the large admixture of error with truth in the various "holiness" movements that have been witnessed, thousands of souls have found partially what they sought, and thereby entered upon largely increased spiritual blessing? It should indeed be always remembered that God meets the soul, not according to its intelligence, but according to its felt need. Wherever, therefore, saints have congregated, with yearning hearts, to wait on the Lord, they have found an ample response to their cries; and many have, from that moment, entered upon a life of peace and liberty with God. They may still use terms that are not exactly scriptural, and may mistake the exact relationship in which the Lord stands to them; they may still be ignorant of the full grace of God in redemption, and of the blessed hope of the Lord's return; but the Lord has now a place in their hearts which He never had before, and He thus becomes both the Object before their souls, as well as the Centre to which they gravitate, and the consequence is unspeakable blessing. All this we gladly admit — and admit it to the full. The only thing we contend for is the importance, in order to even fuller blessing, of understanding God's own thoughts concerning the consecration of His people.

This, then, is the question now to be considered: What is consecration? The prevalent idea is that it consists in the giving up of ourselves wholly to the service of God in an act of self-surrender. Sometimes, indeed, it is said that this may be accomplished by an act of the will, that by a fixed and constant resolution we may offer ourselves — head, heart, hand, and soul — to the Lord for His disposal; and meetings are often held at which those who are assembled are exhorted, there and then, to dedicate themselves in this way to the Lord.

It is quite possible that when a soul is consciously in the presence of God (and this may often be the case at such meetings), some hindrance, some besetting sin, or some evil habit or association may be brought into the light, and there and then confessed and judged; and there will undoubtedly be in such a case larger blessing. But this is not consecration; and the question remains, whether this kind of setting one's self apart, or self-surrender, to which some are exhorted, is found in the Scriptures?

We may now state distinctly a few points which will enable the reader to understand in a simple way the truth of consecration. We say, then, at once, that consecration lies in Christ having full control over the bodies of His people, so that they may be organs for the expression of nothing but Himself. Two scriptures will make our meaning clear. — "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). The same apostle writes, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Cor. 4:10). In both of these passages we have the same thing — that Christ only is to be manifested through the bodies of His people. The difference is, that in the first, self is altogether displaced — it is "not I, but Christ liveth in me;" whereas in the second, the means are given by which the manifestation of "the life of Jesus" is secured. This, then, is consecration — Christ instead of self, Christ reigning supreme within, and using us as the vehicle for the display of Himself amid the darkness of this world.

It may now be helpful if we inquire how this consecration — the desire of every true-hearted believer — is reached. We have pointed out the fact that we gladly accepted, through the grace of God, Christ as our substitute on the cross; that when we are led into the truth of deliverance, we as gladly accept Him instead of ourselves before God; and now we must proceed a step further, and accept Him instead of self as our life in this world. Like the apostle, we must say, "Not I, but Christ liveth in me." This will lead to the refusal of self in every shape and form, because we have learnt that self is only evil. Christ then will become the motive, object, and end of all we say and do. He Himself, though ever the perfect One, blessed be His Name, has shown us the pathway to this end. He never spake His own words, and never wrought for Himself; He did not speak for or act from Himself, — that is, He did not originate His own words or actions (John 5:19; John 14:10). Both alike were from the Father; or, as He Himself said, "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." On the same principle, He within us should, in the power of His Spirit, produce our words and actions, that both alike might be a testimony to Him and to His glory.

Even though therefore I start with the acceptance of Christ for my life here instead of myself, consecration can only be maintained by the constant, daily, hourly, habit of selfjudgment in the presence of God. That which maketh every thing manifest is light; and in the light as God is in the light, if I am consciously there, I instantly detect every thing which is not according to it; and then, if I judge myself, confessing my failure, my communion is restored, my consecration is maintained (See 1 John 1). So far, then, from the common thought that consecration is reached by one resolute act of self-surrender, we see that it commences rather with the acceptance of Christ instead of ourselves, — with giving Him His true place of pre-eminence within us, and that it is maintained by the unceasing refusal of self in the power of the Holy Ghost. And such is the consecration to which God, in His infinite mercy, leads the delivered soul.

The marginal reading, “Now ye have filled your hand to the Lord,” is very instructive here. Consecration for us implies not only that we are cleansed and set apart for God, but that our hearts and hands are filled with that which is pleasing and fragrant to God.

Notice the primary force of the word consecration is Godward. It is “unto the Lord.” If He finds pleasure and delight in seeing Christ, His well-beloved Son, reproduced in you, then yours will be “a consecrated life” in its highest sense.

But the second ram of consecration distinctly severed to God by its blood the entire priestly family: as has been shown already, their service in the inner and the outer man was henceforward to be according to Christ's blood. No less a standard could God allow in those that enjoy access to Him in the sanctuary. Consecration means the hands filled. It is not man's desire, purpose, or effort, but that which the inward energy of Christ in His offering up to Jehovah, and of His active life in the power of the Spirit, put on the hands of Aaron and his sons (Christ and His own house), and waved before Him.

We have already seen that dedication (v. 1) is something which we are to do as having apprehended and appreciated what God has done for us. Then in verse 2 we see that our dedication is maintained by sanctification. Both these verses speak of that which is from our side, what we are to do, whereas consecration refers to what God supplies from His side to enable us to carry out our dedication in devotion to His will. There is no suggestion that we are consecrated only as the result of our being dedicated and sanctified. Verse 3 would show that that is not so; but if we are to walk in the power of our consecration we must be both dedicated and sanctified. Through lack of these two features much that God has furnished the saints with for His present service has been lost.

So far as I understand them I think SANCTIFICATION means "set apart to the service of God". DEDICATION means "given up to the service of God". CONSECRATION means "filling of the hands". That is the order in which they come. We must begin as sanctified by God as the fruit of the work of Christ. Then comes a moment like the one in this chapter, when we have the privilege of giving ourselves up to the service of God, and this in turn necessitates that we should be equipped for this service — the filling of the hand. The truth of sanctification has been before us in the first eight chapters of this epistle. At the beginning of this chapter we have the privilege of dedication, followed lower down by the distribution of gift, which answers to consecration.