3323.—Coming Near the Lord
By Editor
What is meant in these scriptures is that men should not give themselves up to self-indulgence when they come before God in holy things. The teaching of pagan religions required from their devotees licentiousness. Persons devoted themselves to that very thing for the sake of their religion. God would teach His people that the true religion has nothing to do with nature-worship. Therefore when God was to manifest His glory to the children of Israel, His people were to abstain from everything that would turn their minds away from the preparation they needed in order to meet with God. So also when David was fleeing from Saul and came to the sanctuary to ask for something to eat, the priest told him there was no common bread on hand; there was only the showbread, which must be hallowed. David's answer was to the effect that the young men could eat that, because they had been temperate and continent. The bread was not mere common bread; that is, it was taken from the sanctuary, and new bread placed in its stead. We do not see that this text has any particular application to the Lord's Spirit more than this, that he who partakes of the ordinances of the Lord ought to do so with clean mind, and consecrated heart, cleansed from sin in the blood of Christ.