All glory, honor, praise and thanksgiving be unto the LORD JESUS Christ!
"And for their sakes I sanctify Myself." -John 17:19 [KJV] Let thy morning thoughts, my soul, be directed to this sweet view of thy Saviour. Behold thy Jesus presenting Himself as the surety of His people before God and the Father. Having now received the call and authority of God the Father, and being fitted with a body suited to the service of a Redeemer, here see Him entering upon the vast work; and in those blessed words, declaring the cause of it - "I sanctify Myself." Did Jesus mean that He made Himself more holy for the purpose? No, surely: for that was impossible. But by Jesus sanctifying Himself, must be understood (as the Nazarite from the womb, consecrated, set apart, dedicated to the service to which the Father had called him), a voluntary offering-an holy unblemished sacrifice. And observe for whom: "for their sakes;" not for Himself; for He needed it not. The priests under the law made their offerings, first for themselves, and the...