Chosen to be Holy

At the beginning of Chapter 3, we hear a recounting of a story from Chapter 10 of the Book of Leviticus. In that story, Aaron's four sons were learning how to worship God. Two of the sons did something wrong, and they died in the process. The deaths of two of Aaron's sons happened less than a month before this census of Levites took place.

The point for us is that the worship of God is to be taken seriously. The idea for us is that God is to be worshipped His way. To put it another way, we come to serve Jesus on His terms, not ours. We can't just say, I believe in Jesus; now leave me alone and let me go live my life. The idea is we are called to serve Him by making the effort to make a difference for Jesus based on what talents we are given and what needs to be done within our local church body.

In verses 11-13, the LORD also said to Moses, "I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the LORD."

Did you know there are more references to Levites in the Book of Numbers than in any other book in the Old Testament? In fact, there’s more about Levites in Numbers than in any book in the Bible. It is also interesting that all the priestly and Levitical ministry responsibilities are assigned to just one tribe.

The Levites themselves are the very picture of God’s election of us to salvation and service. It’s the tribe of Levi that’s chosen by God. Not by Moses, not by Aaron, not by vote, not by straw, not by ballot, not by suggestion, but by God. Levi is chosen by God as the tribe that is going to serve as priests. But they’re chosen to serve, so in Israel, they’ve been saved by God’s choice as He chooses them as His people and brings them out of Egypt, but He calls them to service.

The election of the Levites is a work of grace. Nadab and Abihu were struck down dead because they had offered unauthorized fire on the altar of God. Aaron’s other two sons are listed as serving. And this shows us that God didn’t choose Levi because they were morally superior to everybody else. They were, unfortunately, just as susceptible as everybody else to sin. No, He chose out of His grace. It wasn’t based on some sort of moral superiority.

But as Ephesians 1 verse 3 tells us, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

God has chosen us before creation not because He saw something good in us but according to the riches of His grace. But the purpose of choosing us is that we would be holy and blameless. We cannot presume on the grace of God like Nadab and Abihu and escape the consequences of sin. God is holy, and He expects holiness in our lives.

Application Question:

God has chosen us to be holy. Is this your goal and purpose in life?

Quote:

In order to live a life of holiness, we must first receive new life from God - we must be born from above. -J. Vernon McGee

Prayer:

Lord, I thank You for helping me to understand that You have chosen me to be holy and not just to get into heaven. Amen.