The exiles were encouraged to go far from Israel by those
who chose to remain. Safely in a distant
land, they would not be a burden to those who stayed in Jerusalem. Those inhabitants had not believed the word
of the Lord concerning the fate of the city.
Now, after the destruction of the city, the Lord sends word to Ezekiel
that He will give the land to these exiles.
They are to remove all the abominations from the land, all the idols,
all the Asherah poles, and cleanse the land of its polluted worship. In order to make that possible, the Lord
promises a new heart and a new spirit for the people who return, a spirit that
will desire to keep the Law and to follow Him.
We are those who have received that Spirit from the Lord. How then shall we live?
The disciples return from their mission trip and rejoice
that even the demons were subject to them in His Name. Such things are wonderful but Jesus says
there is something greater, He says, “rejoice that your names are written in
heaven.” Power is great but more
important is that we are known by God and will be His throughout eternity. We can get caught up in the work of ministry
and forget that Jesus’ rejoicing was over the fact that these received the
truth as little children, in faith, not like the wise and understanding, who
could never have gone on this mission trip and done the things these had done,
they could not believe. Faith, like a
child, is always the key to effectiveness.
When we rely on Him rather than our cleverness, wisdom and understanding
we are living from the Spirit. These
seventy two who had faith to believe that Jesus gave them power saw what kings
and prophets longed to see.
The writer continues to pick up on this Melchizedek as one
without origin, whose priesthood is directly from the Lord, and compares him
with Jesus. The Aaronic priesthood was
one of descent, if you were in the line of Aaron, you were a priest, if you
came from Levi, you had an obligation to serve.
This Melchizedek comes before all that was instituted, he is truly a
puzzlement. Jesus is seen as a priest
after this man as He is both priest and king whose anointing is from God. Jesus’ priesthood is directly from the Lord,
not through lineage as He is from the tribe of Judah, a non-priestly tribe, a
kingly tribe, descended from Davidic origins.
We receive Him as priest on faith, the faith that believes He has passed
into the throne of His Father and makes intercession for us there. That faith also believes we have received the
Holy Spirit.
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