The Temple had finally been completed 21 years after it was begun. Many times the enemy stopped the work, but never completely and now it was time for its dedication to God. It was smaller and less grand than Solomon’s temple, but it was God’s house none the less. The people were ready and He could now tabernacle among them again. Just as He did so long ago in the Garden. Relationship has always been His ultimate goal.
The Dedication
Ezra 6:16, 18, “Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.”
“They assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to their divisions, over the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.”
When the dedication is come; when the church God is building is ready to be presented to the world, He will set the priests and the Levites in their respective assignments.
The timing for each person is different. Solomon was a child of 12 years when he ascended to the throne. His father, David, was 15 years old when he was anointed King, but endured 15 years of trials and testing before he sat on the throne. Moses spent 40 years in the desert before God called him back into Egypt to free his people. Jesus spent 30 years unknown in obscurity before God presented Him. Then His ministry was only three years long. Yet it still impacts the world today. Only God knows when the right time is to present His child to the world and usher them into their purpose.
The Passover
Within weeks of the dedication of God’s Holy temple, the people celebrated the Passover.
Ezra 6:19, “And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.”
Passover literally means “to jump” or “skip”. It is Strong’sH6453 – peh’-sakh. This is the celebration remembering the release from bondage in Egypt. The last of the plagues, the death of the first born, was major occurrence during the first Passover. The angel of death passed over all whose door posts were covered in the blood of the lamb of sacrifice.
Ezra 6:20, “For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean. And they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.”
The priests and Levites were purified together; all of them were made pure before the celebration.
The Church, covered by the shed blood of Jesus, is made pure and righteous in God’s eyes. We are washed clean of our sins and impurities.
Ezra 6:21, “Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel.”
The Church today, as God’s Holy Temple, must lay aside the belief that the only way to bring people to Jesus is to use the methods and tactics of the world. We are not to look as the world looks, we are to look like Jesus. We must separate ourselves from the ungodly ways of the cultures and people of this world and instead imitate our risen Lord. John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
The Separation
Ezra 6:22, “And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”
They kept the feast of unleavened bread. They removed all leaven from their lives. Everything that puffs up and ferments was removed so that they might be pure.
As the Church walks in obedience to God’s call in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17,
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people. Therefore Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”
They will be blessed and filled with the joy of the Lord. The church will experience the favor of God like never before as we go forth into all the lands and fulfill the Great Commission.
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