The Daily Word

 

Back in the Old Testament, when God set up the Tabernacle and defined the tribe of Levi as the priestly tribe, acting as the representatives of the whole of the Children of Israel to God, a ‘go-between.’ The rest of the 11 tribes had to use the priests, as they were not allowed to approach God directly. There was a tremendous amount of symbolism attached to the priestly role and particularly the High Priest. To approach God they had to be physically clean and their clothing also spotless, so there was a lot of hand and body washing that had to go on before and during service to God.

In I Corinthians 6, Paul is comparing what had gone on spiritually for each believer to be able to approach God, and he uses the symbolism of the Old Testament worship to explain what happened at the moment of salvation. And the first thing he says about our spiritual state after coming to Jesus is that “We were washed”. But instead of us washing ourselves with water to enable us to approach a holy, pure and righteous God, we have been washed, symbolically and spiritually, in the blood of Jesus, which He shed when He sacrificed Himself to pay the price for our sin.

And unlike what the High Priest had to do, washing every time He approached God on behalf of the common people, our washing only needed doing once, just as Jesus’ sacrifice for sin only needed doing once. “ But this Man, having offered one sacrifice for sin for ever, sat down”. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church