Separated

Leviticus 21:26 ESV

“You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

As the people of Israel have come out of the bonds of slavery. They have crossed the Red Sea and are in the throes of remaking and redefining themselves. Much as the newly liberated teen heading to college is given the opportunity to define themselves apart from their parents and decide what type of person they will be so the nation of Israel is given this opportunity upon leaving the captivity of Egypt. Yet, their Baptism in the Red Sea was a real baptism. They were not given they ability to fully define themselves. Having been baptized they were to be defined by their relationship to God. Leviticus tells us some of what this was to entail. It was to make them a peculiar people, a holy nation, one set apart for God and his glory.

The people of Israel were to be a peculiar people from their eating habits to their bathing habits. Their worship was to look different also. No image was to be used representing their God. The Holy of Holies was not to house an image but a thrown, a seat of mercy, upon which their God could sit and dwell with, or tabernacle with, his people, camping in the very midst of them. A Hebrew community was to be different from the moment a stranger would enter it. Yet, it was also called to be so hospitable that the stranger would immediately not only recognize the difference but long to be a part of it.

This call has not changed towards the people of God. Those who have trusted him as Lord for their salvation follow him into the waters of baptism. They persist in calling themselves by his name because new life has come upon them. Death was on one side of the waters and life on the other, and that life taken up is lived in his name. Those taking upon them the Baptism of Jesus Christ are given a calling to be a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:10)

The welcoming nature of God is to be palatable in the presence of his servants. It is to permeate every aspect of their lives and homes, because they are holy and set apart for his glory. They have been told how this holiness and glory is to play out in their lives from day to day. They are to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit” that his excellencies and marvelous light might shine into the darkness of the people and homes around them. How are you going to accomplish this today? How will your life be set apart for his glory, the growth of his kingdom, today?

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO