#118 The Purpose of Preparing Ourselves

From Meditations on the Epistles of John, by Samuel Froehlich

I John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

It is to be noted that John does not say, “And every man that hath this hope in him shall purify himself," but “purifieth himself." It is not an outer command, but an inner impulse of the Spirit of Christ in the children of God, for the very reason that they have the hope of glory as the goal toward which they press, that they may reach it. For every impurity and defilement that makes us unfit for entry into the kingdom must here and now have been put aside, seeing that anything which carries any defilement with it remains on one, and purity is not an impossible thing with those who have once been cleansed (washed) in the blood of Christ of all their former sins. They shall merely preserve what they have received, and everyone who has actually been purified has, through that, at the same time, received the strength and ability of the Spirit to guard himself from new defilement.

Otherwise the cleansing in the blood of Christ would be useless, if it made no difference whether we defiled ourselves again afterwards, and if baptism were only the purification of our former sins and would not, at the same time, offer the strength and protection against new ones, it would, of course, be best that we saved baptism until the end of life (as was once the custom). Then, least of all, should we baptize little children at the beginning of life.

However, the main thing about baptism is precisely this ensuing power of the life of Christ, since Christ does not come with water alone but with water and blood and Spirit, because no one can be saved as a sinner but only as a saint, or Christ would have come and died in vain and a new birth from the kingdom of God would be superfluous. But John says exactly the opposite: Christ was manifested to take away—put an end to, abolish—our sin, as the Lamb of God, and in him is no sin, so that anyone who is in Him and abides in Him does not sin either, but the devil—and whoever is in him and abides in him—sins.

But sin and its purification is the least thing that man troubles himself about (for what?), for they too expect to be saved as sinners and children of the devil, and strive only for that which is of this world because they do not realize the purpose of their being here or of their life. Our lifetime on earth is given, granted and meted out to us by God, only for this, that we should prepare ourselves for the revelation of His Kingdom by purifying and sanctifying ourselves, even as Christ the High Priest is pure and holy and without sin, so that we may become firstfruits of the creatures of God and belong to the church of the Firstborn, who are written in heaven. Therefore John uses the same word here as in John 11:55:

John 11:55 And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.

Just as the Israelites were required to purify themselves before the Feast of the Passover so that they could be pronounced levitically pure to eat the paschal lamb, so has the time following our conversion been appointed to us, that we should purify ourselves for entering into the holy place as priests of God (Revelation 20). For all who will attain to the Millennium of Christ must be saints who have not stained their garments, or have not loved their life in this world, even unto death, but who have resisted unto blood in the struggle against sin.

Hebrews 12:4 “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”

So that we may not be provoked or allured by the perishable lusts of this world to apostasy of the heart from Christ, we must put every restraint upon ourselves and not spare our right eye or our right hand that would mislead us into sin.

Matthew 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Mark 9:43-48 “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Here we shall guard ourselves most against the first defilement, because one likes best to keep a clean garment clean and does not mind so much soiling anew an already soiled garment.