Ezekiel 45
COMMENTARY:
: 4 The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister to the LORD: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary. (8334 “ministers” [sharath] means serve, to serve a deity by doing various commanded religious practices, wait on, be in service to God, attend to the service of God, to wait upon, or be attendant to.)
DEVOTION: Each tribe had their responsibility toward the LORD. The tribe of Levi had the greatest responsibility as they were the ones who took care of the house of the LORD and ministered to the people.
This was their responsibility to make sure that the people worshiped the LORD in Spirit and in truth. They were to make the times of worship special each week and each time there was a special day.
This is the responsibility of those who led the worship times. It is still the responsibility of those who lead the worship time in the church today. They are supposed to make sure that they put the LORD and HIS blessings and their responsibility to HIM in front of the people to make sure that those who attend are truly worshiping the LORD in spirit and in truth.
Too often today there is more entertainment instead of genuine worship of the LORD. HE wants us to come together to praise HIM with all of our hearts and souls. Part of that is to make sure that our relationship with HIM is genuine through a regular time of confession of sin and service to HIM throughout the week.
The children of Israel were sometimes guilty of coming to the place of worship without preparing their hearts or bring their offerings to the LORD. This not only happened in the Old Testament but happened in New Testament times as well.
Those who are in control of the service have to make sure that they are prepared properly to worship, so that, they can help the people worship the LORD properly.
CHALLENGE: If those who lead the worship are not prepared properly then the people in the pews will see it and realize that coming ready to worship is not all that important if the leaders are not ready.
: 9 Thus says the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, says the Lord GOD. (1646 “exactions” [garushah] means violence, expulsion, dispossession, driving out, oppression, or forcible expulsion.)
DEVOTION: This passage is dealing with the future and the present. The princes at present were taking advantage of those who were poor. They were using false weights and not giving them their money’s worth of product. They were not giving them correct change either. They were cheating them two ways. The LORD didn’t like their actions. So HE warned them to stop. It was something that wasn’t going to happen in the future, so it shouldn’t be happening in the present.
The present princes were also not giving good judgment in court for those who were poor. They were treating them violently. They were robbing them. They were driving them out of their property, so that, they could take it over.
Does it sound like today? It seems that things don’t change much for than to now. However, today most of those who are cheating their neighbors are those who are not followers of the LORD. In the past it was Jewish leaders cheating their Jewish neighbors.
Today those who are genuine believers should not be cheating those around them. Christian businessmen should not be cheating their customers. The customer should receive their money’s worth of product from those who claim Christ.
I worked for a man who claimed to be a Christian but seemed to enjoy cheating his customers out of service and product. It was wrong and he was caught doing it once while I was working for him. He was cheating a Christian nursing home of some things they had paid for but the director caught it and told him to leave the product at his location.
We should never put ourselves in that predicament. Honesty in our treatment of others pleases the LORD. It is also a good testimony to the world that enjoys cheating every chance they get. Leave a good testimony behind everywhere you work.
CHALLENGE: Don’t use your position to take advantage of those who work for you or those you work for. The LORD will bless you for your actions.)
: 20 And so you shall do the seventh day of the month for every one that errs, and for him that is simple: so shall you reconcile the house. (3722 “reconcile” [kaphar] means to cover, purge, forgive, pacify, make an atonement, or cover over with pitch.)
DEVOTION: We continue the instructions regarding the building of the Millennial Temple and the responsibilities of the people during this time period. One of the responsibilities is the continuous use of sacrifices during this time period. The leaders of Israel were not to be violent toward the people. They were not to use false measuring instruments. They had the responsibility to care for the people. They had the responsibility for providing the animals for the sacrifices.
One of the purposes of the sacrifices was to make an atonement for the people. Another was for the ones who erred or were simple. The ones who erred were individuals who went astray from the path the LORD laid out for the children of Israel. The simple were those individuals who were easily deceived by people. They were naïve.
These two groups could be guilty of sinning and not knowing that they had sinned. The either didn’t know what they had done was sin because of ignorance of the particular rule of the God or they did something before they realized they were doing it and it was too late to undo it. So the sacrifice covered the sins of ignorance or unintentional sins.
Each New Year the children of Israel were to purify the Temple. This verse deals with the seventh day of the New Year and is thought to replace the Day of Atonement. The priests were to offer an offering for the people. The offerings of the priests were used to purge or cover over the sins of the people. This covering was done until Christ came and died on the cross to forgive our sins once and for all. The prince in this chapter is not Christ because he had to bring a sacrifice for his own sins first.
Christ made the atonement for our sins: past, present and future once we chose to follow HIM. We have a ministry of reconciliation. That is one of the responsibilities of each Christian to his brother and sister in the LORD. Christ paid the price for our sins, so that, we can be reconciled to the Father.
When we chose to follow the LORD, we have a responsibility to help our fellow believer stay in fellowship with the LORD. Are we doing our job? Are we helping others that are hurting? Are we helping those who are questioning? Are we helping those have a need to learn more about the LORD? Are we helping those who have failed in their growth in the LORD? It is our responsibility. We are to be encouragers of the brethren!!!
CHALLENGE: There are many who really don’t understand what it means to be a believer. They don’t know the rule because they were never followed up after their time of commitment. We are to stand in the gap and help them not condemn them!
: 20 ….for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance …. (NLT)
One of the characteristics of a new believer or a young believer is that they have not learned a lot about the Bible. They only know the basics. They know the big sins that can cause a believer to fall but not the small details of the Christian life. This can cause them to do something wrong and not know it.
This verse is covering those sins for the people of Israel. There were many people who were ignorant of the rules of God and some that just couldn’t get it when the rules were taught to them.
This doesn’t give excuses to those who really know the truth of the Word of God and chose to ignore it because they want to sin. Those individuals need to confess their sins and get right with God.
On the first day of the year there was a sacrifice for the sins of ignorance or the sins of the simple. It is good for us to each time we take the LORD’S Supper or communion to examine ourselves to see how we are doing. We also need to ask older Christians if some of our actions are displeasing to the LORD and if they tell us that they are we should listen to them after checking out the Scriptures that deal with that sin.
:22 And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. (6213 “prepare” [‘asah] means to make, to give or supply, create, to labor, act with effect, to produce by labor, or doers of the work.)
DEVOTION: It is not just those in the pews that need to confess their sins and ask for the LORD’S forgiveness. The leaders of the church need to examine themselves and confess their sins as well.
Sometimes we think that those in leadership have learned to stop sinning. That is not true. They should be the first ones to the altar to confess their sins to the LORD. They should set the example for the people in the pew.
At one church where I ministered, they had bucket at the front of the church for all the people to put their sins in before they took communion. They were to write down their sins on a piece of paper and put it in the bucket as a means of asking the LORD to forgive them their sins that month. Once everyone put their piece of paper in the bucket the pastor put his list in too and then set the bucket on fire. This showed that the LORD completely forgave sins that were confessed. They were gone when the fire was out. That is true today.
If the leader is not willing to confess it is harder for those in the pews to confess their sin. Sometimes there is comparison between the people in the pew with their pastor. Some think they sin less than their pastor. It may be true but our comparison is between us and the LORD. HE was sinless. We will never be sinless but we have an advocate who can forgive our sins and bury them in the deepest sea. Praise HIS name.
CHALLENGE: Our sin offering is Jesus Christ when HE died on the cross for our sins. Our repentance and confession when genuine will establish our relationship with HIM for eternity.
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