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Bride of the High Priest

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Being an Old Testament priest was a demanding profession, full of rules and restrictions about what you must do and what you couldn’t do.  For the one high priest, it was even more challenging.  Within the first 5 books of our Bible (also called the Pentateuch, or the books of Moses) there are long lists of rules for these people to follow that didn’t apply to anyone else.  And sometimes with these rules we find interesting pictures of Jesus, our High Priest.  Today I’m writing about one example of that.

In Leviticus 21:13-15, God tells Moses, and then to the people through Moses, about who a high priest may marry:

“And he shall take a wife in her virginity.  A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people, that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.”

These verses would be good advice for most people, but for high priests these things are required[1].  The point is to keep the high priest, and those closest to him, as holy and dedicated to God as possible.  Because the high priesthood was an inherited role, “he may not profane his offspring among his people.”  There was to be no question that this man’s children were not defiled in any way.

Today, we no longer have a high priest serving in the temple in Jerusalem for us, but what we do have is Jesus as our High Priest[2].  If He is our High Priest, do regulations about marriage have anything to do with Him?  How do these Levitical rules apply to who Jesus chooses to marry, since He didn’t marry while He was on earth?  These rules matter because in the New Testament, most notably in Revelation, the Christian church is the bride of Jesus Christ.  The church is who He decided to marry.

But, in light of Leviticus 21, how does our High Priest Jesus “marry” his church without being defiled?  None of us are spiritual “virgins.”  Instead, we are a church full of sinners who wed themselves to dead gods, separating ourselves from the true God, and defiling ourselves in worship of other gods.  Spiritually, we are prostitutes committing spiritual adultery with all the things we choose to worship that are not God.

So, how does Jesus follow the Levitical regulation to “take as his wife a virgin of his own people”?

The answer is that He sanctifies His people by His blood.  In the Old Testament we are shown pictures of this concept.  In David’s famous penitential prayer of Psalm 51, he asks God to “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (verse 7).  In Isaiah, God says to His people:

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
             though your sins are like scarlet,
                        they shall be as white as snow;
             though they are red like crimson,
                        they shall become like wool.” (verse 18)

Back in verse 15 of Leviticus 21, God said: “I am the Lord who sanctifies him.”  Through the shedding of His blood, His death, and His resurrection, we are made as clean from our sin and idolatrous, adulterous worship as we could ever be.  We are made “white as snow”.  We are made to be acceptable in the eyes of a holy and just God.  We are made to be a suitable bride for Jesus Christ, we become “a virgin of his own people,” with no trace of the times we rebelled against our one, true God.  He is the one who sanctifies us.

In this rule that is seemingly irrelevant to modern Christians, there is a picture of the sacrifice of our Lord, and of the way He views His people.  If we were not sanctified, He could not “marry” us.  Do you believe that Jesus sees you as “white as snow”?  The Bible says that His people are, otherwise, they would not be acceptable to Him.  But we are sanctified if we accept Christ’s work on our behalf.

Pray for God to reassure us of this truth today!  Pray for Him to wash away all of our guilt and shame.  Pray that we would know that we, in spite of ourselves, are accepted because of what He’s done for us.

Amen.

[1] Because the Aaronic priesthood was hereditary, celibacy was not required, or even recommended. Marriage and procreation were encouraged, or the line would not continue.
[2] Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, 6:20

Allow Me to Demonstrate

Todd R 1 Comment

Life as a Christian in the 1st century must have been extraordinarily difficult.  Like Jesus these early disciples faced resistance both from religious leaders as well as the Roman government. Most of these early Christians had not met Jesus personally and also did not have the Bible we have today.  What did they base their faith on?  Largely on the witness of others and on the teachings and examples of the apostles. Paul, who brought many to Christ and founded many churches during his missionary journeys, knew that all of his actions would be scrutinized as to whether they reflected what he was teaching.

Paul told new Christians to keep a close watch on his life, because if Christ had not made a difference in Paul’s life, why should others believe it would make a difference in theirs?  If Paul didn’t personally have love, joy and peace[1] in his life, why should those hearing him preach expect Christ to provide them with love, joy and peace.  He knew actions speak louder than words.

To the church in Corinth Paul wrote: “my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men butin the power of God.”[2]  Paul saw his life as a “demonstration” of God’s power and knew that this demonstration would be more powerful than the competence of his “speech” and the complexity of his “message.”  It’s as if Paul had given a presentation describing God and His power, and then told his audience, “Allow me to demonstrate…”. Paul often gave thanks that the churches he wrote to were living examples of Christian faith lived out.

So, the question comes to us: what do our lives demonstrate?  Do we show love to others?  Do we have joy in all circumstances? Are we at peace with God and can we offer peace to others?  What do people notice about us?  The fruit of the Spirit, or the patterns of this world?

Pray for all of God’s people, including you and I, that we would walk with Christ, abiding in Him, so that we may bear the fruit of love, joy and peace that the world will notice.  When we proclaim Christ, with Paul we should be able to say “allow me to demonstrate…”

“People may not agree with our theology but they shouldn’t be able to argue with our lives.” – John McGowan

“Out of a hundred people, one will read the Bible, and the other ninety-nine will read the Christian.” – Dwight L. Moody

[1] Galatians 5:22
[2] 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

Daily Readings for May 11 – 17

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Fellow travelers:

For those looking for a Bible reading plan, each week I post 2 chapters to read per day as a main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2026, I’ll post the extra chapters to read that week.  The main readings will include nearly all of the New Testament, plus Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, and a few other Old Testament books.

Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings will be about 9 chapters per week.  These readings will cover the Pentateuch, the OT histories, a few other OT books, plus Jude and Revelation from the NT.

I hope this encourages others to read and study their Bible more, whatever parts they decide to read.  Follow along (or not) any way you choose!

2 chapter a day plan:

Monday, May 11: Psalm 131, John 1
Tuesday, May 12: Psalm 132, John 2
Wednesday, May 13: Psalm 133, John 3
Thursday, May 14: Psalm 134, John 4
Friday, May 15: Psalm 135, John 5
Saturday, May 16: Psalm 136, John 6
Sunday, May 17: Psalm 137, John 7

Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible in 2026:
Deuteronomy 16 – 24

Dedicating Our Days to God

Todd R 1 Comment

When the Temple in Jerusalem was built under King Solomon, he dedicated it first with a lengthy prayer, followed by a massive number of sacrifices:

“King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.” – 2 Chronicles 7:5

There is no record of Solomon and the people considering the loss of all this livestock as a burden or an economic catastrophe.  The Bible simply records that they made the sacrifices.  In dedicating the Temple, the people were marking it as a place to be only used in the worship of their God, and in offering such a massive sacrifice they were acknowledging that they should dedicate all they have to their God as well.

What does this mean for us today?  In the middle of 1 Corinthians 6:16, Paul wrote that “we are the temple of the living God.”  Therefore, our temple – our bodies and all we have – should be dedicated to the worship of God.  We probably don’t have 22,000 oxen or 120,000 sheep to offer Him, but what do we have to offer?

In each day, there are 1,440 minutes (or 86,400 seconds).  Are we willing to sacrifice them all to God without considering it a burden?  I know I don’t, but I pray each day to get closer to the goal of complete dedication to God.  I pray each of you will grow closer to Him as well.

Amen.

Wisdom, “in Quotes”

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Corporate training booklets are great sources of interesting quotes.  I came upon this one from Greek philosopher Socrates (470 to 399 B.C.) in a training session on presentations: “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”  This makes a lot of intuitive sense because if people can’t agree on something as basic as definitions, it’s difficult to move forward.

However, I think there’s something even more fundamental – closer to the real beginning of wisdom -than the “definition of terms,” and that is: who gets to define the terms?  Doing that requires wisdom, so we can’t really be wise until we find someone worthy to define the terms.  Socrates probably considered himself a good candidate to provide it!  For most of us, in moments of honesty, we might admit that most of the time we are either trusting our own judgment, or maybe just improvising.

There’s another necessary factor.  If we find someone we can trust to define wisdom for us, but when it comes time to act we go against their advice, their definitions do us no good.  Therefore, we don’t begin to be wise without having the will to choose rightly.  Although we say we trust someone’s wisdom, by not acting on it we disrespect them, and perhaps Wisdom itself, by not following through.  We might have more knowledge, but not more wisdom.

So, I’ll suggest a better quote (there were no Bible verses in my training booklet).  In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, Solomon – another historical figure (like Socrates) famous for wisdom – wrote that:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
         and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” – Proverbs 9:10

Solomon neatly fills in what the earlier quote is missing, because:

  • There is a Holy One, whose very character of holiness is the definition of terms we need.  His decision making has no flaw and is trustworthy.
  • He is the LORD, who has authority, and uses it to lovingly advise His people on how to live wisely.
  • Fear of the LORD means that respect for Him is required for us to not just go off on our own, but to follow His perfect advice.  This fear turns the abstract knowledge into useful wisdom.

Wisdom ignored isn’t wisdom.  As I’ve written earlier, “Wisdom is about taking the right action, not about accumulating facts.”  The verses leading up to Solomon’s above saying are Proverbs 9:7-9, which say:

“Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,
         and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
         reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
         teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”

We cultivate wisdom by considering God’s works and His will for our lives (through the law and the Holy Spirit).  We cultivate wisdom by allowing Him to define our terms as only He can.  It is the presence of the fear of God – respect for His wisdom – that determines whether we scoff at correction (verses 7-8 above) or increase in learning (last verse).

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
         all those who practice it have a good understanding.
         His praise endures forever!” – Psalm 111:10