It means a full and complete surrender
of oneself unto the Lord. And this is consecration, the setting aside
of oneself to do the Lord's will.
[330]Those who are selected to be members of the body of Christ, which
selection is done during the gospel age, must be justified in order that
they might be accepted. They are justified only for the purpose of being
accepted as a part of the sacrifice of the Lord. On the typical day of
atonement when the high priest of Israel slew the animals, the Lord's
goat pictured this class who come to the Lord in consecration. That goat
must be perfect, without any blemish; thus foreshadowing how that all
who are presented unto the Lord to be accepted as a part of the
sacrifice of Jesus, and hence to become members of his body, must be
perfect; and since man is imperfect himself something must be done for
him in order to make him stand before the Lord Jehovah as perfect. He
must be justified. Justification means to be made right with God. This
must all be done in the acceptable time of the Lord. (Isaiah 49:8; 61:2)
Any one coming to the Lord Jesus with an honest desire to be presented
to the Father in the acceptable year or time may be assured that he
will not be cast out, because Jesus said: "Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out". (John 6:37) He would not decline to present any
genuine consecration before the heavenly Father.
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