purification – Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

*Consecration of the Levites, by Dutch artist Jan Luyken (1649-1712)*

The Lord said to Moses: “Take the Levites from among all the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. And so they will purify themselves. Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.

“Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting and assemble the whole Israelite community. You are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them. Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the Lord.

“Then the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, using one for a sin offering to the Lord and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the Lord. In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

“After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the tent of meeting. They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself. And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in Israel.

“From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”

Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses. The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them. After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses. (New International Version)

Holiness is very important to God; therefore, people are to be properly set apart for special divine work.

Perhaps we might think about this in the context of a professional vocation – which requires a good deal of training and development. The process, as well as the participants, need to be certified by a certification body. Without a specialized training, their work may hurt others, and even harm themselves.

Setting apart the Levites for the special work of caring for all the aspects of worship required a particular sort of calling, initiation, and ritual in order to have them ready – without harming themselves, or others. Because God is holy, things must be done in a way that helps, not harms.

The ritual for preparation essentially involved de-sinning the Levites, and purifying them from any ceremonial uncleanness. The community was to lay their hands on them, setting them apart for service as representatives of the people.

The Levites served before the Lord in a vicarious position, that is, all Israel came to God through them. They performed the needed sacrifices, handled the worship symbols and implements, and protected the sacred objects in the tent of God’s presence, the tabernacle.

With the Levites in their sacred role, they were near to the people, but distinct from them. They acted as a conduit between God and the people. Levites were something like the sunglasses protecting the people from the bright sun of the Lord’s presence; and like the workers laboring to make people thrive and flourish before God.

In the holiness of worship, the Levites were living sacrifices, offered to God for sacred purposes. So, as such, they understood their need to be continually pure of heart and free from anything that would defile them.

Sacrificial service was literally the job description of the Levites. They absolved themselves of any self-assertive ambitions, and pursued God’s will for the lives without question. This is, of course, the expected ideal, which would soon become deflated in the lives of the two older sons of Aaron the high priest.

Nevertheless, the descendants of Levi were a permanent visual aid and a daily reminder for God’s people of their unique status before Yahweh, as well as the redemption secured for them from Egyptian slavery. Whenever the people saw a Levite – consecrated to God – they knew that the Lord was with them.

God had said that the Levites belonged to him, were completely given over to the Lord, and set apart for dedicated holy and divine work. Moving into the New Testament, every Christian belongs to God, and those who labor for Christ and maintain holiness of life, demonstrate God’s ownership and special relationship to them.

Self-surrender and commitment to the common good of everyone in the community is supposed to be a hallmark of every Christian person. Whereas others may give themselves to self-discovery and self-fulfillment, followers of Jesus are to wholly dedicate themselves to self-sacrifice.

All believers, much like the ancient Levites, are called to a different life, with Christ as their constant mentor and model.

Loving God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may the holy sacrifice of your Son cleanse my soul, strengthen my heart, pardon my past, and restore me in your peace. May I always adore you through my sacrificial service, fueled by your divine love. May I learn to sacrifice my own comfort, plans, and dreams, if it is not for your glory and the good of others. Amen.

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old and was king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. In God’s opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David.

In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah, having first repaired the doors of The Temple of God, threw them open to the public. He assembled the priests and Levites in the court on the east side and said, “Levites, listen! Consecrate yourselves and consecrate The Temple of God—give this much-defiled place a good housecleaning.

Our ancestors went wrong and lived badly before God—they discarded him, turned away from this house where we meet with God, and walked off. They boarded up the doors, turned out the lights, and canceled all the acts of worship of the God of Israel in the holy Temple. And because of that, God’s anger flared up and he turned those people into a public exhibit of disaster, a moral history lesson—look and read! This is why our ancestors were killed, and this is why our wives and sons and daughters were taken prisoner and made slaves.

“I have decided to make a covenant with the God of Israel and turn history around so that God will no longer be angry with us. Children, don’t drag your feet in this! God has chosen you to take your place before him to serve in conducting and leading worship—this is your life work; make sure you do it and do it well….”

The priests started from the inside and worked out; they emptied the place of the accumulation of defiling junk—pagan rubbish that had no business in that holy place—and the Levites hauled it off to the Kidron Valley. They began the Temple cleaning on the first day of the first month and by the eighth day they had worked their way out to the porch—eight days it took them to clean and consecrate The Temple itself, and in eight more days they had finished with the entire Temple complex.

Then they reported to Hezekiah the king, “We have cleaned up the entire Temple of God, including the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and the Table of the Bread of the Presence with their furnishings. We have also cleaned up and consecrated all the vessels which King Ahaz had gotten rid of during his misrule. Take a look; we have repaired them. They’re all there in front of the Altar of God.” (The Message)

*Hezekiah Destroys the Idols, by Maerten de Vos, 1585*

This is the time of year when many of us begin to plan for some Spring housecleaning. And it’s definitely needed! All the rooms of the house, along with the garage, are in need of going through all the contents contained in them, as well as a good old fashioned scrubbing down and thorough cleaning.

And that is really what the Christian season of Lent is intended for on the spiritual level of things. We seek to identify any and all hindrances to living the Christian life and get rid of them; spruce up the things we keep that are helpful to us; and do the hard work of scraping off all the encrusted barnacles on our hearts.

Hezekiah was a faithful king, having come from a long line of faithless ones. In the beginning of his reign, Hezekiah’s first act of royal business was to thoroughly cleanse the Temple. And did it ever need a serious cleaning!

The evil kings who reigned before him did not treat the Temple as a sacred space devoted specifically to the prayer and worship of the one true God, Yahweh. Instead, they defiled it by introducing all sorts of unhealthy practices from other gods. As a result, the holy implements used in the Temple, as well as the structure itself, fell into terrible neglect.

Therefore, Hezekiah assembled an impressive team of people, and tasked them with getting the Temple in shape again with a complete and thorough purification that would make any German house frau proud. Hezekiah sought to restore things so that the Temple could once again be used as it ought.

The team of Levites meticulously took their time and worked diligently to consecrate the Temple and give it a good and sacred cleaning, tossing everything unholy into the Kidron Valley – the garbage dump.

Perhaps there is no better passage of Scripture than today’s Old Testament lesson, in order to embody what the season of Lent is really all about. We are to do the holy work of carefully consecrating our hearts, so that our lives are prepared and ready for the new life of Easter.

This task of spiritual Spring cleaning and heart purification is hard and courageous work. Just as Hezekiah had the bravery to uphold the Temple’s true purpose through cleansing it, so we are to bravely enter the shadowy places of our hearts, bring out the sin within, and toss it in the metaphorical incinerator. It’s definitely not a pretty process, but a necessary one.

One of the greatest needs that many believers have today is the courage to be vulnerable, to expose and bring into the light our besetting sins, so that they can be carried away and tossed into the dump.

Instead of spending inordinate amounts of energy and time trying to hide our true selves, it is much better to let the example of Hezekiah clear a path forward by confronting the darkness within.

Holy God, my life is a Temple of your Holy Spirit. I invite you to come in and do the sort of cleansing work that needs to be done so that my words and actions are thoroughly consecrated to you. Help me have the courage to go to the places within that frighten me, for the sake of Jesus, my Lord. Amen.