Wed.’s Devo - We are God’s Holy Nation

Read: Ezekiel 45:13-46:24; 1 Peter 1:13-2:10; Psalm 119:33-48; Proverbs 28:11 The Temple we are reading about is the last millennium Temple which will be set up with Jesus as the prince and king. Everyone will be required to give the prince a small part of his earnings. For example, the amount to be given is a sixth of an ephah of an homer of wheat. So, if you had 50 gallons of grain, you would take 5 gallons of your 50, and from that 5 gallons you would take a sixth of that. If my math is right it is .16% of the grain, 1% of the olive oil and .5% of the livestock. I wish that was the percentages for our income tax! These will be given to make atonement for the people who brought them. In the first month of the religious calendar the people will bring a young bull to the Temple as a sin offering. The priests will take the blood from this bull and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and the gateposts at the entrance to the inner courtyard just like Moses told the children of Israel to do the night of the death angel. The blood applied to the doors will purify the people as they enter, from every sin they might have done through error or ignorance. On the 14th of that month they will celebrate the Passover with the prince providing the bull for his own sin and the sin of the people. He will offer a sacrifice every day for 7 days. The prince will repeat this at the Feast fo Tabernacles seven months later. The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six work days but opened on the Sabbath and on the days of new moon celebrations. The prince will enter this gateway and stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. The prince will bow down in worship inside the gateway and he will leave the way he came. The people will bow down and worship outside this gateway in front of it, but never enter it. On the Sabbath day, the prince will present the offerings to the Lord. He will leave the way he entered, but the people will always leave a different way than the one they came in. On the special feasts and festivals, the people are to bring a basket of flour with each bull and a basket of flour with each ram. The amount is up to the generosity of the giver. The prince will use these offering to offer sacrifices every morning. The prince can give gifts to his sons which are permanent. But, if the prince gives a gift to a servant then it returns to the prince at the Year of Jubilee which is every fiftieth year. Romans 11:29 says that God’s gifts and callings are without repentance or irrevocable. When God gives a gift to one of his children who are saved then they are permanent, but gifts are also given to sinners and these gifts will die with their soul. We will use our earthly gifts in God’s new kingdom. First Peter tells us to prepare our minds for action and to exercise self-control. We are to put our hope in Jesus, not in government or people. We are to be holy in everything we do because God is holy. We will live eternally as God’s people. We don’t stumble as the heathen, but we are God’s chosen people. We are royal priests, part of God’s holy nation and we can show others the goodness of God because he called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Lord, help us to live as your holy people. May we offer our lives as sacrifices for your kingdom.