Set-apart-ification (part 2)

by Tyler Zach

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In my last blog, I tried to show you that God uses a "shaking" in our lives to sanctify (set us apart) to be used for His purposes:

"The funny thing is that the only way to separate the DNA from everything else is to shake it violently in the machine. Do you ever feel that God is shaking you violently through pain, tragedies, rebukes, hurricanes, etc.? Well, perhaps He is using those things to sanctify you… so that you can finally be used for His Kingdom purposes. This “setting apart” process is never smooth, but always comes with tension."

Well, I was reading some Hebrews (Message version) today and here is what I read:

"His (God's) voice shook the earth to its foundations; this time - he's told us this quite plainly - he'll also rock the heavens: "One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern." The phrase "one last shaking" means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered."

I really missed an important piece of the puzzle in my last blog. Yes, we are being continually set apart from the world - as I write this - so that we can be used for God's purposes. And yes, we are being continually cleansed from our former sins, being made perfect in the image of Christ.

But, there is something bigger going on here. Often, we think that God is going to separate the sheep from the goats in the end. You know, draw His people to Himself and send the other group away from Himself forever. But, could it be, that He is already in the process of doing that? The Old Testament prophets claimed that the Messiah would usher in the new Kingdom. And many people in Jesus' time didn't want to believe in Him because they were expecting a Kingdom to go along with the King. But the Kingdom that Jesus spoke about wasn't a physical Kingdom, but a spiritual one. There is in fact a spiritual Kingdom among us right now!

So, what if our perception of God's "separating sheet and goats" mentioned in the bible (a physical separation in our minds) was really an analogy for His spiritual dividing up between those going to hell and those going to heaven? Could that being going on right now in the heavenly realm?

I'm not stating this as truth. I'm just expressing my thoughts and questions in writing. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think there will be a physical separation in the end? Or do you think that God has started the separation already through His process of "setting us apart?"