Aaron also and his sons, I will consecrate to serve me as priests.
– Exodus 29:44
This is a really good word that we see in this verse. Consecrate means to set apart. So the picture here in Exodus 29 is God setting apart Aaron and his sons, the line or the family of Aaron to serve him as priests. There’s a lot we could talk about specifically with Aaron and his sons as priests. But I want to lead us to pray more generally today in light of this picture of consecration, of God setting apart people for a specific purpose. Because that’s a picture we see all throughout the Bible.
Exodus 29:44 points to God’s purpose for his chosen people.
There’s a sense in which all of the people of God in the Old Testament and the people of Israel are consecrated. They’re set apart as his people, apart from all the other peoples.
And this is what it means for them to be holy. Later on, the next book in the Bible, Leviticus 20:7, God will tell his people, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy. Live as people set apart for God and his purposes.” And then you fast-forward to the New Testament and you come to 1 Peter 2:9–10.
And God says in his Word to us as the church, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Did you hear that? God just said, “We are, for all of us who are in Christ,” we are, you and I are set apart by God for him, for his purposes, which are totally different than the purposes of this world.
Exodus 29:44 shows us how holiness shapes our identity.
So I just want to encourage you today to see yourself, and your identity this way. You have been set apart by God to think differently, to feel desire differently, to speak differently, to live, to act differently because you belong to God who calls you to be holy as he is holy.
So God, we pray that you would help each of us who are in Christ today to live consecrated lives. God, help us not to think like the world thinks, to desire what the world desires, to speak like the world speaks, to treat others like the world treats others. God, help us to be holy and our thoughts and desires, our words, our relationships, and our love for other people. And God, help us to do this. Yes, for the glory of your name and for our good. Trusting that holiness is happiness, that you’ve made us your people, set us apart for your glory and our good, for your glory and our joy, and for the good of others that they might see who you are through our lives.
Help us to be salt and light today… In such a way that people see us and give glory to you. And God, help us along those lines to live set apart for mission today, set apart to make disciples, to live today, to help others grow in you, to lead others to relationship to you. God, help us to live consecrated to this Great Commission you’ve given us to make disciples of the nations right around us and far from us.
Prayer for the Dabgar People
Lord, we pray today… We intercede as priests before your throne through the blood of Jesus, for the Dabgar people of India… For all 130,000 of them who have not been reached with the good news of your love. God, we pray, knowing there’s not any known followers of Jesus among them. God we pray, please cause the Dabgar people to be reached with the good news of your love.
We’re interceding for them right now. Oh God, please hear our prayers and use us however you desire as the answer to those prayers. Use your Church in India, other places to get the gospel to the Dabgar people of India, we pray. All of this as the royal priesthood… A chosen race, holy nation people for your possession that you have made us to be through Jesus… That you have consecrated us to be through your Holy Spirit. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
