Herod wanted to exalt himself and
leave a legacy behind of his greatness. And as part of his
construction projects, he rebuilt the Temple of God. He made it
bigger and much more imposing than it really was. This didn't
please God as we saw last week, because it was all to the glory of
men and not to the glory of God.
The Temple was more imposing and
magnificent, but basically the layout was the same. However Herod
added different courts. A court of the Gentiles were added, then
the court of the women, then the court for Jewish men, then the
court for the priests, then the Holy Place and the Most Holy place.
And between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place a curtain was
placed, as it was in the other two Temples.
Now these different courts added
were very interesting to me, as the other two temples never had
that. God never instructed them to build different courts for
different people. And therefore it is my opinion that God never
wanted the segregation. God wanted everyone to freely approach His
Temple and pray there. He wanted them to be able to sacrifice and
worship together. Yet these different courts and segregation
between people crept in.
Today still God doesn't want
segregation. God loves all people, whether you are black, white,
Indian, female or male, He loves all. And He doesn't want us to see
different classes of people either. All are special and loved by
Him. And with the death of Jesus, we all became sons of God, part
of Jesus' body and therefore equal in every aspect:
"For you are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:26-28
As we've seen in the Kingdom of God
series, we are one in spirit with Jesus. When we accepted Him as
our Savior, we were born again and baptized into His body. Our
newly born spirit and His Spirit became one. And therefore in the
spirit, there is no segregation. There is no male or female, rich
or poor, or even ethnic groups, we are all one and the same in the
spirit. In God's eyes we are as His Son is, perfect in every
way.
This verse helped me a lot, as I
believe that I am called to preach His Word to males and females
alike, to all ethnic groups. Now some denominations believe that
females cannot preach to males, but this text verse set me free. As
it clearly states that in Christ I am one spirit with Him, and
because I am, He is the one preaching through me and I am only the
vessel. And therefore my sex or race doesn't matter; it is
Him working through me. And today I want you all
to realize that and to look beyond what you can see in the
physical. Everyone that accepted Jesus is one and the same. We are
filled with Him and His goodness. And therefore we are brothers and
sisters in Christ. We shouldn't treat one another differently, we
are all His beloved children and we should act that way. It grieves
God to see His children racially divided. He doesn't want that. He
rather wants us to work together for the good of all, no matter
your race or sex. He wants us to build His Kingdom and to be an
example to the world in order to draw them closer as well. God has
a special plan for you, walk in that and take hands with those
alongside you. Collectively we can accomplish so much more than we
can on an individual basis.
Father thank you for brothers and
sisters in Christ. Help us to walk hand and hand to grow Your
Kingdom. We don't want to listen to the world and all its lies, we
rather want to listen to You and work together with our spiritual
family to draw others closer to You. Please help us accomplish
that. In Jesus' Name. Amen