The fact
that Jesus now has the permanent ability to save each and every one of us from
the law of sin and death from the day we acknowledge our need for a savior to
forever is truly an amazing salvation because Jesus will never die.
It used to
be there was a high priest who performed his duties under the old system by
purifying himself and preparing the people to receive from God, but being just
a man he would eventually die because of his mortality, Jesus stands in a
superior covenant (promise) in His divinity because He will never die.
According to the New Testament, It was never
God’s plan for the New Testament Church to operate like the Levitical
priesthood. Paul used the example in 1
Corinthians 12 that the Church was to operate like a body and all the people
were empowered to minister to one another like the connected body parts with
Jesus being the head.
We have been given the privilege to serve one
another out of the love God has given us, we love as Jesus loves. No longer is the priesthood just all about obligation
and responsibility alone, but of giving to each other out of our endless resource
of God’s love.
So Jesus
being our High Priest (and our head) is our resource of benefit to the Church body,
whatever we need we can draw upon that resource. We draw upon that resource as an heir of the
Covenant, and as an heir also a son who can take the position of the trustee to
declare who receives what resource for the benefit of the body. What benefits
are available to us? Healing, Words of knowledge, Miracles, and Prophecy are just to name a few, there are many more resources
that have yet to be identified which come from the treasury of God’s benefits
that enable and bless the Church and others in its mission to be the arms and legs of Jesus.
The role of
the Church in the world is to be salt and light, salt was always used for its preserving
effects, when something that needed saving like food for example, because there
were no refrigerators at the time of the early church they would use salt for
its preserving properties, we are also light which reflects itself to others
that they may see the mercies of God through our efforts by serving others,
light also illuminates the darkness which also gives us the ability to see into the
darkness and call it out and expose it so it can be dealt with in a productive manner.
We are a
priesthood of believers which does not depend upon the model of the Levitical
priesthood which is a top-down model where one priest spoke for all of the people, taught all of the people and ministered to all of the people. We are a body ministry where our model is
described by Paul as bottom-up where each one is empowered to minister to each other from an equal position with Christ being the head, there are no superstars...just servants.
Christ our
High Priest has made one sacrifice for sin for all time, which was His body, and
there is no more sacrifice for sin that can be made. But as priests once offered other kinds of
sacrifices in the temple, so it is clear from 1 Peter 2:5 & 9 that God has
chosen Christians "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ."
Come and be his “living stones” who
are continually being assembled into a sanctuary for God. For now you serve as
holy priests, offering up spiritual sacrifices that he readily accepts through
Jesus Christ.
They keep stumbling over the message
because they refuse to believe it. And this they were destined to do. But you
are God’s chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart
as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his
marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own. He did this so that you
would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world. 1 Peter 2:5
& 9 (TPT)
These passages speak of two aspects of the priesthood of the believer. The first is
that believers are privileged. To be chosen by God to be a priest was a
privilege. All believers have been chosen by God: a "chosen
generation...His own special people".
In the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, there were places where only
the priests could go. Into the Holy of Holies, behind a thick veil, only the
High Priest could go, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement when he
made a sin offering on behalf of all of the people. But as mentioned above,
because of Jesus' death upon the cross of Calvary, all believers now have
direct access to the throne of God through Jesus Christ our great High Priest
So then, we must cling in faith to
all we know to be true. For we have a magnificent King-Priest, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, who rose into the heavenly realm for us, and now sympathizes
with us in our frailty. He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent
King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin. So now
we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss
and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of
weakness. Hebrews 4:14-16 (TPT)
The second
aspect of the believer's priesthood is that we are chosen for a purpose: to
offer up spiritual sacrifices and to proclaim the praises of Him who called us
out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Let us, then, always offer praise to
God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips
that confess him as Lord. Do not forget to do good and to help one another,
because these are the sacrifices that please God. Hebrews 13:15-16 (GNT)
God has
called us to serve Him from our hearts by first of all offering our lives as
living sacrifices as it says in Romans 12:1-2. One day we will be serving God
in eternity as it says in Revelation 22:3-4, but not in any temple, for
"the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" Revelation 21:22.
As the Old Testament priesthood was to be free of defilement, as symbolized by
being ceremonially clean, so has Christ made us holy positionally before the
Father. He calls on us to live holy lives that we might also be a "holy
priesthood".
In summary,
believers are called "kings and priests" and a "royal
priesthood" as a reflection of their privileged status as heirs to the
kingdom of God and of Jesus. Because of this privileged closeness with God, no
other earthly mediator is necessary. Second, believers are called priests
because salvation is not merely “fire insurance,” which is an escape from hell. Rather,
believers are called by God to serve Him by offering up spiritual sacrifices,
i.e., being a people zealous for good works. As priests of the living God, we
are all to give praise to the One who has given us the great gift of His Son's
sacrifice on our behalf, and in response, to share this wonderful grace with
others.
Be Blessed:
Stephen Barnett
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