The History of the Life of the Priest of God (10)

     Job 1: 5 has been the point of our meditation this far, taking him, Job, as a kind of priest of the ages before the institution of the Mosaic priesthood. We are continuing with the history of the life of the priest of God in these days.

    We continue with this in Ezekiel 44: 17 – 18:

 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woollen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple…. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.

        Rest, the Grand Finale of Grace

          Christ is seated at the right hand of God; He is inclusively our representative before the Lord. It means that we, including the Lord are both seated at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1: 6). The inner court is not a place of sweating; it is a place of rest. God swear in his word, “ … if they must enter into my rest…”  and then again in the 9^th verse of the same Hebrew chapter 4, “There remained therefore a rest [or the keeping of Sabbath] to the people of God.”

             The priest in his walk into the inner court, away from the people, begins the entering into rest, beginning from the “gates of the inner court.” He does not wear sweat-inducing clothes like woollen. This speaks strongly of grace. The priest does not struggle to be or to do anything; he learns to rest by faith on the arms of the Lord. Ringing in his ears is the Spirit’s injunction to “come boldly to the throne of grace to receive grace for needs (Hebrew 4: 16). In the location of the inner court, he is able to look back and is amazed at what God has done for him.

We were brought up to resist sin and sins. We know the bible says that he that is born of God does not commit sin because the seed of God is in him (1 John 3: 9). Yet we find certain habits, evils and hated thoughts struggling in us, in our hearts. So we despair and begin to wonder whether we were truly saved, thinking, If  I were saved, why do I still have these unrighteous tendencies?  We cry; we agonise and despair of ever living above the problem.

            In a world known for its stratification and competitions for the scarce resources of life, we find it easy to envy brothers  “more blessed ” than us because it is as if God is more favourably disposed to help them than us; we feel that this means they are closer to God than the rest of us. Imagine this scenario: we were both single sisters and prayed for husbands. God answered her prayers, but mine He did not hear. Years went by, many more sisters joined the marital bliss, as they call it and I was yet to be one of them. Then everybody was giving birth to children and riding Jeeps, being financially blessed too. Each time good news came my way of the blessings of God to this or to that brother or sister, a twine of envy twisted my heart in its surging strength. This was immediately followed by pangs of pains and shame and anger against myself for the realisation that the possibility to envy or to resent was still deeply seated in the depth of my soul; evil was still present with me. And I was in a double jeopardy. I did not want to envy, yet I could not help it; the emotion always ran ahead of me before I could control it. Again, I was ashamed that I could still envy.

              The priest learns to stand on the ground of the Cross of Christ. I am of God and have His  seed in me. I cannot envy because of Who is in me. But here is me caught in the whirlwind of emotion of envy. I acknowledge that this is me in reality. Now, I stand out off the ground of my self-goodness, self righteousness, which is a contemptible ground that You want to save me from. I stand on the ground of the Cross of Christ. I am not depending on myself but on the finished work of the Cross. I am looking away from self to declare that I do not have my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of faith in Christ Jesus. This, Lord is my rest. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live; the life that I now live I live by faith of the Son of God who loves me and gave Himseltf to me. By the Cross I overcome the spirit of envy and live above envy…

           Over the years, though I am still single with no child and no heavy financial presence, I truly, as I review the past, found that I am truly more than a conqueror.  My heart has come to a place of stability that does not fear or is envious any more. Now this is rest.

         In this position, the priest does not exact personal strength as he struggles with the rams and goats in the outer court. He has come to the throne of grace and have received mercy and has leaned rest. Abundance of grace is being ministered to him. He has come to completion as he lifts the nation, the church and situations before the throne of mercy.

Lord, we come boldly to the throne of grace and we obtain  mercy and we do find grace to help in this time of needs. We stand not on our own righteousness but on the righteousness which has been made good for us on the cross of Christ. We are able to live above all powers of the enemy. On the ground of that blood that speaks better things, we testify that we are able to do all things unto pleasing You who called us to the grace of your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord for making us unto Your priests and, even, kings.