[Steeple&Contrails, 2010, JAVanDevender]
Ezekiel 44:23 "And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
Ezekiel's vision of the Divine plan for the new temple was amazingly precise... precisely clear and clearly precise. You get my point I think. God intended for the place where He would dwell with His people to be most hospitable to Him and most inspiring to His people. Of course no human effort could attain the Divine perfection in construction. But the purpose of an ideal is give us fallen mortals a target at which to aim... a goal toward which we strive. We are to never "settle" for our fallen capacities and be content with only what we can achieve.... our hearts should long for perfection because that perfection is our God.
Those who were to minister in the Temple were to be "ideal" also. The priests who labored among the people were to keep in mind their ultimate solemn duty and to strive in this, as in all things, for the perfection of their instruction. They were to teach the difference between the holy and unholy, the clean and the unclean. In the ideal church those whom God has set aside to teach would lead people into that blessed state where the things of God would be opened to their hearts and spirits in such a manner that their lives would cling to the good and they would despise the tawdry and common.
It is no less the case in the New Covenant as the Old. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we are to be taught by God (John 6:45). This doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit floods the new believer with the fullness of all that he or she needs to know and learn. Sanctification is all about growth. Faith which begins as a grain of mustard seed is to sprout and become a tree sufficient for the birds of the field to find a nesting place on its branches. This process includes teaching and being taught. Always... always... these divisions of subject matter are in view. The Holy contrasted with the Unholy... the Clean standing in stark relief against the unclean.
That which is Holy and Clean is that which the Lord Himself has blessed and that which is compatible with His Kingdom. It is the prescription for health and peace. It is the way of love compounded with righteousness. It is understandable by all but can only be loved by God's people. To embrace the Holy is to aspire to perfection and purity... only one Man has ever attained it... but through Him we can embrace it by embracing Him. His promise is that He will give us the desire of our hearts, He will give us that for which we yearn... if that for which we long is the Holy and Clean.
To hunger after righteousness with the knowledge that we shall be filled... to know what righteousness is so that we may hunger for it... this is the pathway to wholeness and holiness.
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