with Elder Elico Manenji
Leviticus 21:1-15: Laws concerning Priests' way of life.
As priests represented a more perfect priest in the person of Christ, they were to be holy and without defilement.
All that offered or ate the bread of our God must be holy in all manner of conversation, never again profane themselves in prostitution, defects of character, marriages or preservation of their physical outlooks such as dressings and shaping of their bodies or else they profaned the sanctified name of the Lord.
As priests were not to degrade themselves in their marriage by marrying a woman of ill fame that either had been guilty or was suspected to have been guilty of uncleanness, or a harlot or a woman defiled in whoredom, or marry an ousider but only a virgin, so Christians should remain chaste, undefiled in their behaviour for the hon or of God's name.
Even the children of ministers and of Christians ought to take heed of doing any thing that is scandalous, amongst them nothing scandalous should be mentioned for will be punished accordingly by him whose name is Jealous.
The Apostle says, "Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know you not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, said he, shall be one flesh" (1Corinthians 6:15-16)
Text: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
Leviticus 21:16-24: Priests with physical defects could not represent people but enjoyed the benefits of the sacrificial offerings
A priest or minister of the gospel by ordination, display of their talents, their attainments and their eloquence in services of the Lord should be representative of their lifestyles. Never should their ordination, talents and eloquence be against their lifestyle for by so doing they defile the ministry of their calling and so defile the name of the God they misrepresent.
Actions speak louder than words, character is more eloquent than rhetoric. What a man is has more weight than what he says and so in the same proportion an unholy life weakens a minister’s influence, their uprightness, their fidelity, and consistency will thus be questionable as a representative of the God of heaven.
As the priest was required to be properly and purely mated as a type of Christ in all other respects, so was they also in their espousals.
As represenratives the Lamb, who is espouses to His Church, His affianced bride, He has the members of His Church as a chaste virgin. So Christ will preaent His Church as undefiled, pure and holy without blemish.
The Apostle says, "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ"(2 Corinthians 11:2).
To be a child of God is one thing and to be in the enjoyment of priestly communion and priestly worship is quite another.
Many of us have to mourn over our spiritual defects for there is lameness of walk, defective vision, stunted growth as children of God as we allow ourselves to be defiled by contact with evil and to be weakened and hindered by unhallowed associations. The Apostle says, " But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot... Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned love of the brothers, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently"(1 Peter 1:19,22)
*_🗝️Text_* *"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and stays for ever"(1 Peter 1:23).*
*_🅰️Appeal_*
As Jehovah could not have a blemished priest at His altar or a blemished sacrifice thereon but that both the priest and the sacrifice were to be perfect, so He expects His children to be perfect for now we have both the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice in the Person of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of our souls, let us walk circumspectly before His presence. The Apostle says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise....Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God"(Eph 5:15, 20,21).* Amen!!!
Elico Manenji
(+263712952704)
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