AS ONE MAN

The people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Ezra 3:1 (KJV)

 

The Jewish people, just released from exile in Babylon, came to Jerusalem with one goal in mind; to rebuild the temple.  When they came together at the sight of the destroyed temple they built, or rather rebuilt the altar of the God of Israel.  A very important part of the temple was the altar.  People have a deep inward need to talk to God.  The altar was the place of sacrifice of offering to God.  The first recorded action of Abel in the Bible was to offer a sacrifice unto God.  He needed to have that communication with his maker.  We have that same void in our life that must be God-filled.

            The high priest, the regular order of priests, Zerubbabel (the governor) and his brethren built the altar.  They offered burnt offerings according to God’s instructions in the mornings and in the evenings.  As I write this devotion we are in the midst of the corona virus pandemic.  We have been brought to a new urgency of prayer.  It will do us good to fervently pray morning and night seeking God to bring an end to this disease that is causing sickness, pain and mass economic disaster.

            Notice, these people were not facing such disaster as we are but rather they had just been freed from captivity.  Yet, their first major act was to re-establish their corporate prayer life. They considered their opportunity to pray the top priority of their new found freedom.  Many of us have had to have some of our freedoms limited in order to realize how important prayer is to us.  Public school closings, sit down restaurants closed, and even public worship being stopped has begun to capture our attention.  We can still pray but our public and corporate prayer has been limited.

            For more than a month we have not been meeting at church other than to send out our live stream.  We are very blessed to have the blessing of live streaming our services but I so look forward to getting to come together as one man at church.  I want to experience unified worship again.  Having hearts and minds in one accord; praying as one and singing praises to Christ as one body of believers is my desired goal.

            We, as many, having placed our faith in one, Jesus Christ, have become one in him.  We worship him because of who he is and what he has done for us.  He came to us, God incarnate.  Christ became man and walked among us yet never yielded to evil temptations; never committed sins and died on the cross as our sacrifice unto God that took away all our sins.  As we place our trust in him we become one in him.  Praise God, through Christ we are reconciled to God. 

 

 

Yours in Christ,

Brother Randy Burtram