FBC Morning Light (11/18/2023)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We're gonna be reading from Ezekiel chapter 44 this morning, and we're gonna be looking at the sons of Zadok this morning and making personal application to all of us.

So there were a couple of different groups of Levites that are talked about in chapter 44. The first group was not faithful to the Lord during the time that the children of Israel went astray, but the sons of Zadok, however, they were faithful.

Let me start reading in verse 15. It says,. But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.

They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall come near my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. All right, so what we're gonna see about these sons of Zadok are several things. They are called to a special type of holiness.

They will be given special garments to wear, and they will be allowed to wear those only at certain times. They are called to make personal sacrifice in their position where they are able to worship in a special way that the rest of the people are not.

They are making...need to make certain personal sacrifices to be able to do that. And finally, in acting as priests, what is a priest? Particularly in the Old Testament, a priest is a go-between between the Lord and the people, offering the sacrifices that are hopefully acceptable to the Lord in the manner in which he has prescribed.

So let me let me continue reading here. In verse 20 of chapter 44, it says,. "...they shall neither shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.

They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.". So there's a certain amount of holiness in the way that they are to present themselves.

They're meant to be different. They're not allowed to marry just anyone. They are specifically required to have certain restrictions to maintain that holiness, and also in those things there's a personal sacrifice where they're just not not allowed to do everything that the people of Israel were allowed to do.

And then down in verse 25, I find this to be a tremendous sacrifice that they had to make. It says, "...they shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves.".

So if you think that if you've been to a funeral recently, if it was not for one of those close relatives, if you were a one of the sons of Zadok, you would not have been allowed to go. I think of recently in our church family, there is a man who lost a cousin, and that cousin was like a brother to him, but again not fully a brother, and so in that sense if he were in the priestly line of Zadok, he would not have been allowed to go to that funeral.

And I would think that particularly for that man, that would have been a tremendous sacrifice. So how does how do these things relate to us as believers today? So let me read to you 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.

It says, "...but you," that's talking to believers, "...are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.".

We are a royal priesthood, and so some of the ideas behind what was going what was commanded for the sons of Zadok, I believe, firmly apply to us. The idea that we would be committed to holiness, that our lives would now be different as saved people than they were before, that we would be willing also to make personal sacrifices, to see to it that our role as royal priests would be a priority, that it wouldn't be about what we want all the time, but that we would make personal sacrifices to share the gospel, because that gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and in sharing the gospel, that is how we perform our role as a royal priesthood, because that's what the power of God is in bringing unsaved people to salvation, as Romans 1 refers.

And finally, as that go-between, we get that honor as long as we are walking in the manner of Zadok. I don't mean with all of the rules and the ceremonial procedures in place, but with a commitment to holiness and that sacrifice.

It is a tremendous honor and typically is a very major blessing to be able to share that gospel. Let's think about these things, and let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this example of the sons of Zadok and the sacrifices that they made personally, and that they were a special people called to a special service of you in much the same manner that we are called to be that royal priesthood.

Help us, each one of us, individually and as your church, to be faithful to being that royal priesthood. It's in your Son's name, Jesus we pray, amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.