the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Exodus 29:31-46
The ram of consecration had first to be offered, then eaten by the priests. To serve his God, the believer must be nourished by Him who, even unto death, was entirely consecrated to God. The apostle exhorts us to "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2). The priests had to eat the flesh of the ram of consecration "at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation", that is to say, before serving in the holy place. On each of the seven days a new sacrifice had to be brought: the product of spiritual exercises and affections renewed day by day.
The end of the chapter tells us of the sacrifices which had to be offered "continually", "in your generations" (see Numbers 28:3; ; Numbers 28:6; Numbers 28:10. . .; Ezra 3:5), to magnify unceasingly before God the work of the Cross.
Having sanctified the tabernacle, the altar and the priestly family, God will henceforth be able to dwell in the midst of His own in an order of things suitable to His glory (vv. 44, 45). The apostle Paul draws out the same relationship between the present habitation of God by the Spirit in believers and the holiness which should characterize them (read 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:19).
