QT: The Clean Room & Holy City Neh11:1 Week 35: 23/08/2023. Wed
The Clean Room & Holy City
https://www.esv.org/Neh11:1
Week 35: 23/08/2023. Wed
The clean room in a manufacturing facility is an environment where dust, moisture and even magnetic interferences are absent or controlled to a desired level, such that the main activity of the facility can proceed smoothly. Any soot, dust or stray particles might crash sensitive equipment.
Here in Nehemiah 11:1, is the first time in Ezra-Nehemiah that Jerusalem is called holy. It is such a joyful moment of restoration and fulfillment of a long journey in the restoration of Israel.
Why is it holy? Because the situation there is such that the Holy God can return and dwell there. It is more than the place being swept clear of rubbish, proper sanitation, or having gone through HIP (home improvement program). It is more than the lighting, ambience and colour scheme soothing the eye.
The place was holy because of the LORD's presence, and the corresponding holy status attained by His people, having re-identified their own identities (God's people), recalled God's past works (history), confessed their sins (repentance) and gathering as a people who have accepted God's ways of atonement so that proximity with God was now possible again.
In the past era, the LORD met with Moses at the Ark of the Covenant, in between the cherubim. But the Ark was now destroyed/lost by the time of the Exile. Yet today, believers you and I have access to God through Jesus Christ.
Have your lives, your gatherings, your worship services attained the necessary ISO standards for God to dwell and work through you all?
