Life Worth Living ~ Be Ready, Faithful Servants

We find in the opening verses of 2 Chronicles 30 that Hezekiah, King of Judah, is determined to restore the observance of the Passover. God’s chosen people had been commanded to keep the Passover as a memorial of the night when the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian Bondage. The timing and manner of this feast are described in Exodus 12 just before the last plague of ten came on Egypt. This plague w...as the worst of all because the first born “of man and beast” associated with any house where the blood of a lamb was not found on the sides and top of the door frame died when the Lord in the role of a “Destroyer…passed over” the land.

It was an extremely important commemoration referred to as a “holy convocation.” So Hezekiah’s intention to restore its proper observance was essential to the Israelites identity as God’s own people. But Hezekiah ran into a problem. Verse 3 of 2 Chronicles says, …they could not keep it at the regular time, because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves. There was a process through which the priests had to go in order to be considered holy, that is, ’set apart” for the sacred role of slaying the lambs that would be a part of the Passover meal.

We too, as the body of Christ, are God’s own people. This is not in place of Israel as the recipients of all the promises made to them per se. But in this current stage of the Story of God’s Redeeming Love, Gentiles have been grafted in among the “holy branches” of Israel (Romans 11) by faith in Christ. One of the privileges of this inclusion is that the Lord’s Church is now… a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [we] may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). This means that we, like the priests of the Old Covenant bear the responsibility of holy service to God. God forbid that it should ever be said when we are called to serve that “a sufficient number have not consecrated themselves.” The priests of Hezekiah’s day had retained their identity as priests but their personal holiness had been compromised and they were not fit and ready when the call came.

Let’s be ready, dear fellow servants. The call is urgent. Let’s walk in our identity as “set apart” from the world and consecrated to Holy Service. Let us pray always, listen diligently, hide His Written Word in our hearts, flee evil and pursue good along with all the other beautiful life-giving instructions of His Holy Priesthood Manual. Let’s be ready always because we are consecrated always.