Fri.’s Devo - The Prince

Read: Ezekiel 44:1-45:12; 1 Peter 1:1-12; Psalm 119:17-32; Proverbs 28:8-10
The eastern gate was to remain shut because the Lord had entered through it and it was for the prince. The prince would the the only one worthy to sit inside the gateway and eat in the presence of the Lord. He was to enter by the porch of that gate and exit the same way.
Jesus is the prince and he is sitting by the door waiting for a signal from God to come through that gate again.
Next, Ezekiel was taken to the north gate and once again witness the Holy Spirit coming through that gate and filling the temple. One day, God was sending his Holy Spirit down to earth and filling his temple on earth. He did this on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. They were to learn from this because they had not been faithful to keep charge of God’s holy things.
No uncircumcised person or stranger will be able to enter into God’s temple. (No unsaved person will be able to enter into heaven.) The priests who caused Israel to sin by worshipping idols would be judged for their sins and be kept from the temple. But the Levites, the sons of Zadok that were faithful will be able to minister to the Lord and enter his temple. They will be clothed in white linen as a picture of holiness. They were not to sweat because man’s work and man’s worry will not be allowed in God’s temple. Their walk was to be holy and full of life.
God gave Ezekiel the plan for the city and its dimensions and the placement of the temple. The prince was to have land bordering both sides of the temple. The prince was to be a safeguard for the presence of the Lord and the people. The princes they had had stolen from the people and were not just. They would be judged for wrongly representing Jesus.
Peter identifies us as God’s elect and strangers in this world. We have been chosen by the Father who chose us from the foundation of the earth that we would be cleansed by the Spirit and sprinkled with Jesus’ blood. We have been born again to a living hope though the resurrection of Jesus Christ and into an inheritance that can not be taken from us but is kept for us in heaven.
Now, we live in this would which is full of trials which God uses in our lives to purify and strengthen our faith.
Thank you for the great inheritance you have stored up for us who endure. Give us grace to overcome.