Called to Holiness . . .

 

READ Ezekiel 41–44

This reading has a long, detailed description of the Jewish place of worship. Most of it is unfamiliar to me. My first thought is the NT passages that refer to our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit and to be holy because God is holy.

Also, Jesus referred to the temple where the people worshiped. He was not happy to see the money-changers who sold pigeons to the poor for their sacrifices had moved into the building. He drove them out and overturned their tables saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:15–17) These references reflects Ezekiel’s words to the priests who had strayed from their duties:

They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. (Ezekiel 44:23–24)

Someone was not doing what God told them to do. When the Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus why He had tossed the money-changers (they should have known), He also spoke of Himself as the temple of God . . .

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. (John 2:19–21)

After Jesus died, rose again and ascended, the temple was referred to mostly as the literal building, but by the time Paul began writing his letters, symbolism was used. He said:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16–17)

He added, “ . . . let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” These and other Scriptures indicate that the OT descriptions of the temple point to the NT completion and perfection in the lives of those who believe in Jesus.

The above verses from Ezekiel also point to the will of God for all His people as well as call for the integrity of His servants. Spiritual leaders should teach the difference between the holy and the common, and show God’s people how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. They must discern God’s will and act as judges in disputes, themselves focusing on personal holiness, just as Paul said to young pastor Timothy:

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:21–26)

The battle against sin in the NT is an echo of the same battle in the OT, but with a difference. God has given His people, me included, the Holy Spirit and His power to “be holy, for I am holy.” Living in yielded obedience to Him is one thing, but I cannot do that without Him. I must “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” and I can do that because He lives in me and He is my holiness!