Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
Dear God,
How wonderful to meet with You every morning and to be forgiven of my sins, and know that the blood of Jesus will cleanse them all away. The good news is, that the Holy Spirit comes and equips me and fills me with all He knows I need, to overcome temptation and more than I have prayed for. The spiritual discernment and blessings given, when I ask the Holy Spirit to be my guide, are most powerful and very precious to me. Especially when my mind has been much engaged, with other matters and it is only Your wisdom and workings that will answer the needs I have at that time.
Today as I have read in Leviticus 21 and 22, I have been impressed with the need for the priests to be perfectly formed, without blemish, as they represented God in the wilderness temple, as well as being ritually cleansed, before doing any tasks within the outer court, and even more within the temple itself. The entire precinct was holy, because it was related to services to You, but the place in which You dwelt, the Most Holy Place required special preparation and services, and attendance by the high priest, as prescribed in absolute reverence and awe; because the presence of You, Most High God was there.
I now more fully understand, that the individual body of each priest must be perfectly formed, without blemish, as well as their actions being in perfect obedience to Your requests, for they signified what Christ now does in the Heavenly Temple, of which the earthly one was built as a copy.
Only sin which originated from Satan (who hated Jesus) had produced malformation, defeat and sickness, along with self-willed rebellion in the people of earth. God and His beloved Son are absolutely holy and unblemished by sin, and so any person in a blemished condition, could not represent Jesus in the temple services or come before God. The animal sacrifices pointed forward, to the sacrifice of the life of Jesus for our sins, and therefore the animals also had to be perfectly formed, without blemish. Jesus was our perfect sacrifice, for He was perfectly formed of body, and He never sinned; never having rebelled against God, whilst on earth.
Matthew 28 presents a glorious word picture of Jesus, throwing off death and arising to life again and in so doing he had defeated sin and death, the devices of Satan, to make people miserable, as well as to take all on earth down with him, in the day of God’s judgement.
After Jesus had arose from the tomb, He appeared to the two Mary’s and then to the disciples. He spoke important words for all who have lived since that time, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth”. His work on earth was now over, and He would return to heaven shortly; not to wash His hands of us, but to take up the new redemptive phase on our behalf in the heavenly temple.
I praise Your holy name, dear Jesus, and in your love, strength and power, I determine to live obediently to Your will.
Amen