Leviticus 21:1-8, “And the LORD said to
Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one
shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, (2)
except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his
daughter, his brother, (3) or his virgin sister (who is near to him
because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). (4) He
shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane
himself. (5) They shall not make bald patches on their
heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their
body. (6) They shall be holy to their God and not
profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD's food offerings, the
bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. (7)
They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled,
neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is
holy to his God. (8) You shall sanctify him, for he offers the
bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the LORD, who sanctify you,
am holy.”
In this chapter we have instructions and commandments given
specifically to the priests and their families. They are urged to keep these
commandments as failure to do so will result in them being removed from their
office of priest and unable to serve in the temple. These various commandments
are very specific, even more stringent than those given to the nation as a
whole. Therefore we ask, why does God raise the standard even higher for the
priests and their families?
The reason why, is because of who the priests are, what they do and
who they seek to approach. The priests have been set apart by God specifically
for the work and the privilege of serving Him in the tabernacle. No one else in
all of Israel will have the kind of access to the tabernacle and to serve God
like the priests would. For certain priests, who were chosen to be the high
priest, or those who have been anointed with the oil, they were to be all more
cautious and diligent in keeping the Law as they had been set apart,
consecrated and anointed with the holy oil in order to offer up the various
sacrifices and do certain acts of service in the tabernacle.
The priests and their families needed to constantly understand the
importance of their work, and the fact that to serve in the tabernacle was to
be serving in the very presence of God. This meant that they were serving in
the presence of the One who is absolutely holy, therefore their lives, their
work, duties and service all had to reflect this attitude of reverence,
humility and holiness. They need to be pursuing after personal holiness, seeking
to live in obedience before God, so that God would be pleased by their service
and accept the sacrifices that they offer up to Him on behalf of others. Their
lives need to reflect that God whom they serve and whom they represent to the
people and they need to know the importance of preparing themselves to worship
and serve God in the right manner. They had to guard against taking their
responsibilities lightly, not seeing their sin as serious, and not to think
that they could merely walk into the tabernacle, into God’s presence without
any thought or regard for what they were doing and before whom they were doing
it.
This chapter highlights a very important and much neglected practice,
the practice of preparing ourselves to worship God. As believers in Jesus
Christ we may not have the same limitations and restrictions of Old Testament
worship, but that doesn’t mean that we should take it lightly. It is a
disturbing reality that most Christians arrive at church on a Sunday having
given almost no thought to what they are about to do, nor have they taken time
to prepare themselves as individuals and their family as a whole. Furthermore,
many of us have little regard for God during the week, we use our lips to speak
lies, to swear, curse, insult or even blaspheme. We raise our hands in anger,
or use them to carry out our sinful desires. Our mind, heart and flesh indulges
in sin time and time again in the course of week. Do we then think that we can
with no fore-thought, no preparation, no searching of the heart, no repentance,
simply come into church to worship God corporately? We sing songs of praise to
God through unrepentant lips, we raise our hands in worship, hands still with
the dirt of sin upon them, we pledge our love and submission to God with harden
hearts and minds. Do we think God takes pleasure in such worship?
It is of vital importance that we develop the daily habit of preparing
to worship God, whether it be worshipping God in the quiet of our own home
during our devotional time, or if it is in preparation for a Sunday service. We
need to demonstrate that we understand who God is, who we are and how we are to
approach Him in worship and service. Our desire should be to worship God in
truthfulness, humility and holiness. In order to do so, we need to spend time
asking God to cleanse us, forgive us of the many times in that day or week that
we have strayed. We need to spend time meditating on who God is, why it is that
we are able to worship Him and why it is that we want to worship Him. We need
to spend time preparing our heart, soul and mind so that we can give ourselves
completely to the worship of God. Let us stop taking the worship of God so
lightly, rather let us restore it to its rightful place in our lives and within
the church.
All-glorious and majestic God, You alone
are worthy of all the worship. But we have to confess that we spend so little
time worshipping You, and even less time preparing our hearts to worship You.
We pray that You might help us to change, so that we give ourselves to worship
You daily, and worship You in a manner that is true and pleasing in Your sight.
May we understand the importance and the benefit of preparing our hearts to
come before You in worship, and may we set ourselves to doing this constantly.
Most of all we thank You that You have turned us from the worship of ourselves,
back to the worship of You, through the work of Christ. Thank You that because
of Christ, You now take delight and pleasure in our worship and You invite us
into Your presence and blessing. May we understand all the blessings that have
been made ours through Christ, and may that cause us to worship You all the
more. Amen.
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