Destruction
Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the Lord Leviticus 27:28
Destruction – Oswald Chambers calls it “abandonment to God”. It’s the hallmark of Moses and David, in spite of their failures. Peter and Paul both sold out completely. And Jesus is the paradigm example.
Anything dedicated to God is given over to destruction. The Hebrew (chayrem) is a word that means a total and irrevocable assignment to God. It includes the idea of complete destruction in sacrifice. Nothing acceptable to God can avoid the passage through death.
Of course, this foreshadows the great sacrificial death of Jesus. His passage redeemed all that is set apart for God. But Jesus’ sacrifice does not invalidate the claim of death on all that is holy. Anything can be set apart for God but when it is, it must die to this world. It must be destroyed in its natural state so that no taint of the world’s system follows it into God’s holy presence. Literally or symbolically, death is the only solution for purification.
This thought has incredible consequences for us. We have lessened the impact by teaching that it applies only to the salvation of souls. But this is clearly not the case. Paul’s baptism unto death, the discussion in Hebrews of the transition to new life, Jesus’ demand for purity and holiness and the constant theme of the transition from the old man to the new man all speak of need for destruction. New life does not come as a result of religious empowerment or spiritual enlightenment of the old. New life comes only from resurrection life and all language about resurrection implies prior death. So Watchman Nee can say, “Without such utterness for God, nothing can be achieved.” Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies.
Has my natural life really died? Have I taken what God gave me in His gift of my creation and deliberately placed all of it on the altar of death?
Has my body, its passions and desires, its appetites and addictions been placed on the altar of death? Have I really died to all that my body wants?
Has my mind, its thoughts and plans, its forecasts and fears, its attempts at control been sacrificed to death? Have I died to my need to set my own agenda?
