Step 1: Purification

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 5:11

When the priests came forth from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions),

Insights:   In the first ten verses of this chapter we find the priest bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies in the newly built Temple.  Now starting in this eleventh verse we begin to see three steps which were followed in order for the children of Israel to encounter the Lord God.  The first step is found in today’s verse.  The people purified themselves.  Notice the verse tells us in the parenthesis that all the priests who were present sanctified themselves.  In other words, they dealt with their sin before entering into the presence of the Lord.  The Lord commands us in the Bible to be holy because He is holy.  We understand from a New Testament standpoint that our holiness is actually imputed to us through Jesus Christ.  It is His holiness that becomes our holiness.  It is His righteousness that is accredited to us as our righteousness.  We are not capable in and of ourselves to be holy or righteous.  We, like the priests at this dedication service, must come before the Lord broken and without excuse.  We must confess our sin to Him and ask Him to cleanse us.  We all too often just treat sin flippantly and then walk into our worship services and “praise” Jesus without any preparation of purification.  We then wonder why we do not experience the power and grace of our Lord in our daily lives.  Our love affair with sin and its temporary pleasures are of greater value to us than a genuine relationship with the Lord of glory.  Beloved, this ought not to be.  We must understand the seriousness and weightiness of sin and run to Jesus for the cleansing.  He is always faithful and just.  He will always receive us with open arms.  If we are to truly encounter Him, then repentance is the first step.  We must be purified before the Lord.

Questions:

1. Do you have any known sin you are harboring?
2. How long will you remain in your sin before you release it and experience the freedom found in Jesus?

Prayer: Father, why do I so often settle for the temporary pleasure of sin, when I have already experienced the pure joy found in my relationship with You?  Lord, I repent of my sin (name it specifically) and ask You to grant me the courage and boldness to deal with the consequences in Your strength and power. Amen.