PRIESTS

PRIESTS

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

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.