MELCHIZEDEKIAN VS LEVITICAL PRIESTS

MELCHIZEDEKIAN PRIEST ADVANTAGE

HEB. 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Rev. 1:6 “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

1 Pet. 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood…..”

Christ is our High Priest and of this order which lasts forever. He is also the supreme Ruler in the Kingdom of God that finally gets turned over to the Father. We shall minister as priests and rulers with Him in His kingdom as priests of the same order. Some will have more authority than others as one of the parables teaches.

His atoning and propitiating capabilities are based upon two things:

1. His Melchizedekian Priesthood, and

2. Our availing ourselves of it.

No other priest is equal to such complete saving of men. He, however, is only able to complete the work of saving, when men draw near to God through Him. There are very remarkable truths involved in this glorious declaration. Let us note two of them.

First, the assumption of the statement is that it is only when men are near to God that the priesthood of Jesus is operative in all those continuous activities of intercession through which the saving of men can be carried out to its consummation. Not being perfect, not yet having attained, we may yet remain near to God, Who is the God of all patience. As that nearness is maintained, our High Priest is the Mediator through Whom all the resources of the Divine Wisdom, Strength and Grace are communicated to us, that, growing up into Him in all things, our saving to the uttermost is completed. Departure from nearness to God separates us from the operation of our High Priest. That is a truth that we must never forget. Standing alone, it is liable to discourage us.

Second truth, and that is that our nearness to God is through Him. It is through Him we draw near and it is through Him we abide in nearness. Thus the two phases of His priestly work are in view. The first is atoning. Through that we draw near and abide in nearness. The second is intercessory and perfecting. That operates as we are near to God through His atoning work.

Theoretically, there are some very obvious advantages in the idea of an organization of all religious activities under one supreme head who would be also the political ruler of the state. And this is the ecclesiastical picture presented in Old Testament predictions of the Kingdom. Its Ruler will exercise the functions of both King and Priest: "Behold, the man whose name is the BRANCH; . . . he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne"" (Zech. 6:12-13). In the 110th Psalm, Jehovah speaks to the "LORD" at His right hand, saying, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psa. 110:4). The entire context of this psalm is Messianic and regal. Today Messiah sits at the right hand of God on the Father's throne. In the coming Kingdom He will sit as King and Priest upon His own throne. In principal the Roman Catholic theory of an ecclesiastical State is correct; but its tragic error has been an attempt to establish the Kingdom of God on earth in the absence of the King and under an ecclesiastical hierarchy ruled by a succession of sinful and fallible popes. It represents the logical and practical development of the erroneous Church-Kingdom idea; and it is like a number of other excellent human ideals which, for their realization, require the intervention of supernatural wisdom and power on the part of God.

The original priesthood and its intention. The duty of the Priest is described in Lev 10:10; Ezek 22:26. The priesthood was really an accommodation to human weakness, and never a Divine intention or provision. It emerges in a most startling way. In Exod. 18 we discover that when God emancipated a people from slavery and led them out with a high hand and outstretched arm into a large place, He brought them unto Himself, and the words that Moses was commissioned to speak to them were practical words of the New Testament, which came with greater meaning in the fullness of time: "I have chosen you to be unto Me, a kingdom of priests."  In that declaration there is not the slightest suggestion of the creation of a cast of priests in the Divine economy and purpose, but rather the creation of a nation in which the individual was to be a priest. "I will make you (Israel) unto Me a kingdom of priests," that was the Divine intention for Israel. The people shrank from the high and awful function, were filled with fear in the presence of Jehovah, and naturally so: they were so filled with fear because of the consciousness of their sinfulness and inability. As in all Divine dealings with men, this was done to accommodate human weakness. Because the people could not rise to the high level of realizing their personal priesthood, a particular cast (Levites) was created for a while to fulfill the function of priesthood on behalf of the people. This priesthood continued through the centuries and from beginning to end was a story of corruption, of partial light eclipsed in darkness, of movement meant towards the higher but forever falling to the lower, until the last act of the priesthood was the inspiration that resulted in the murder of the Son of God. Our earthly priestly duties are stated by Paul in Rom 15:16 "...ministering as a priest the gospel of God." Our Lord was the Firstborn, and so was a Priest according to the original Divine arrangement, and not according to the Levitical order. All those who are redeemed by Him, exercise a priesthood which results from their birthright in Him, and so have no need of any order of men to represent them in priestly work. In this way also the order of Levitical priesthood is done away in Christ. And the Melchizedekian Priesthood is for the Kingdom purpose.