Offered to God

Numbers 3-4; Acts 25

“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.’”

Numbers 3:11-13

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the Israelite Tabernacle was an earthly copy of the reality in heaven. The assignment of the tribe of Levi as priests, in place of the firstborn of every Israelite woman, points us to the Church as the kingdom of priests, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9). We are the “church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23). To experience salvation from sin is to be set apart for service to God.

Why, then, is the gospel so often presented as what God has done and will do for us?

This is only half of the gospel. We have been set apart as holy unto the Lord. We belong to him. Our service to God is our spiritual act of worship like that of the Levites.

Will we offer ourselves and all we have unreservedly to the Lord?

He has purchased and redeemed us by the blood of Christ. We are the Lord’s treasured possession.

“Lord Jesus, I offer myself to you for your glory and service.”