Living With Our God In A "Most Holy Place"

Today's Word of Encouragement from Wayne:

"It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary"

Ezekiel 45:3

How important, and special, does God consider ministering to the Lord? Well, in this portion of Scripture, from Ezekiel 45: 1-8, God spoke of dividing the land around the temple. First mentioned, before the allotment for the prince and the 12 tribes, was the "holy allotment" (Ezekiel 48:10) for the sanctuary of God and for "the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord." God wanted His ministers of the inner court to live as close as possible to His sanctuary, closer than anyone else. Continuing with this theme, in the closing chapter of Ezekiel, the Lord said, "It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept My charge, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray as the Levites went astray. It shall be an allotment to them from the allotment of the land, a most holy place, by the border of the Levites" (Ezekiel 48:11-12). Closer than the twelve tribes, closer than the prince, closer than the Levites: nobody lived closer to God than His ministers of the sanctuary. That’s the way God wanted it then and this principle is still true today.

It is the ministers of the Lord, "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), who care the most about His presence and spend devoted time with Him in His presence. While many Christians may be thinking about the "many mansions" (John 14:2) which Jesus spoke of, when we will live with Him in eternity, the minister of the Lord receives, and understands, the blessing of God now, in this life, for us to live with Him in the Spirit at all times. We can live in this world, as Christians, and feel alienated from our God. Or we can live with our God now in what He describes as "a most holy place" as He stated through Ezekiel. Personally, I would rather dwell in a "most holy place," as close to the presence of God as possible, than to occupy space in a less holy place. Amen? The great spiritual truth presented here is that the minister of the Lord lives the closest to the divine reality of our union with God, our being one with Christ. This is God’s will for all of His children, to experience and live with this higher understanding, obeying Jesus’ intention when He said, "I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father."

The minister of the Lord runs with joyful abandon to this blessing while, very often, other brothers and sisters simply stare in unbelief at this invitation and expressed will of our Lord for us to live close to Him and His sanctuary. It is so basically simple: God has come to live with us, "‘Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’" (Matthew 1:23) , so that we might live with Him. "Ministering to the Lord," in my forty plus years of being a Christian, is truly living as close to God as possible, with the blessed, amazing grace understanding that it is our God, Himself, Who is presently desiring our presence in His presence, for His greater glory to be known amongst His own, and to this unbelieving world. Thank God today for this beautiful "most holy place" allotment that He has given to you, His special gift to His most beloved new covenant priesthood child. Hallelujah!