Priests, Old And New

PRIESTS – Old And New

The Bible indicates that God cannot be worshiped collectively apart from a priesthood. Thus in the days of Moses and Aaron, the office of the priests became formal and specific. To guard against open idolatry, God established the priests and a single altar as essential for maintaining the system of sacrifice and offering. Chosen from the tribe of Levi, these men mediated between the worshipers and the altar. However, in the New Testament these ancient principles were spiritualized to include all peoples sanctified by the Spirit of God. Therefore, animal sacrifices have been superseded by spiritual sacrifices as also the garments of salvation replace the ephod. Let’s look at these thoughts in more detail.

Mysterious Melchizedek
The first reference to a priest is after the slaughter of the kings when Melchizedek, king of Salem brought forth bread and wine (Gen. 14:18 KJV). It is stated explicitly that “he was the priest of the most high God.” To understand these unique words, we must refer to Hebrews 5-7, where the inspired writer expounds the glories of the eternal priesthood of Christ. Otherwise our only comment is that Melchizedek is figuratively the grand exception to the ancient priests. The latter were not of royal blood as they ceased to function after death. Nevertheless, the priests of old by similarity and contrast foreshadow their counterparts of the New Covenant.

Pre-Aaronic Individual Priests
Before proceeding, we should note that Abraham fulfilled the function of a priest when he built an altar to the Lord. Before him we have the extolled offerings of Abel and Noah. We should also note that Job functioned as a priest in respect of his family and friends (Job 1:5, 42:8). However, because Christ must have pre-eminence in all things, Abraham acknowledged the superiority of Melchizedek to whom the patriarch paid tithes. Indeed, Abraham never again built an altar to God until years later when he was commanded to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. There near Salem (Jerusalem) the patriarch prepared to sacrifice Isaac to his God.

As Melchizedek and Isaac equally foreshadow Christ, we have the fundamental principle of Christ as the very offering of the worshiper. Thus the Levitical offerings would describe Christ in His various glories. However, in Melchizedek we also have the truth that Christ offered Himself to God on the Cross, as later we who are Levites of the New Covenant offer Him as a spiritual sacrifice in worship. In so doing we need no material altar, priestly vestments nor bloodshed. For Christ was offered once for all on our behalf, and can never again die as He lives in the power of an endless life. Our offerings are therefore truly spiritual when “we render the sacrifices of our lips” (Hos. 14:2 NKJV).

Kingdom Of Priests
God’s original plan was to consecrate Israel as “a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). Due to human failure, God was content to sanctify the family of the Levites to function on behalf of the nation. Meanwhile the laity endured restricted access as the priests mediated between the people in respect of the altar, the holy place and the most holy place. The common people were forbidden to go beyond the altar of burnt offering. Even kings were forbidden to approach the altar of incense. And as for the Most Holy Place, the high priest alone once a year was permitted to enter through the veil on the Day of Atonement. These rituals also demanded vestments, a material altar and tabernacle. On holy days and even daily, clean animals were led to slaughter. So there was but one place on earth where God could be worshiped by sacrifice. Also, non-priestly worshipers were excluded from eating consecrated things.

Shape Of Things To Come
Although the old order seemed unchangeable, the prophets began to drop hints about a reformation. First of all, when the Gentile mariners responded to the miracle of Jonah’s preservation: “The men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows” (Jon. 1:16). This they did without the office of a robed priest and without going up to Jerusalem, “the place where men ought to worship” (Jn. 4:20). This principle is echoed in Zephaniah: “The Lord will be terrible unto them: for He will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen” (Zeph. 2:11). Thus God speaks of heathens (Gentiles) worshiping Him with acceptance in their own lands. In Malachi, the Lord says, “From the rising of the sun even unto the going down ... My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering for My name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 1:11).

Universal Priesthood Of Believers
It is significant that these words are among the final utterances of God in the Old Testament. They are in preparation of the international priesthood which would be instituted by Christ in the New Testament. And whereas the first miracle in Luke is the appearing of the Angel Gabriel to Zechariah, the priest in the temple at Jerusalem, an angel later appears at the hour of prayer in the home to Cornelius, a devout Gentile of Joppa (Acts 10:2). Soon after, this man and his fellows, believing the gospel preached by Peter, receives the Holy Spirit thus establishing the equality of Jew and Gentile in Christ. Thus Paul later writes, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18).

Holy And Royal Priesthood
It is appropriate that Peter, who witnessed the Spirit’s coming upon the Gentiles, should be chosen to define the internationality of the New Testament priesthood. He writes: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ ... ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:5,9).

This astonishing statement reveals that the priests of the New Covenant are superior in status and service to the Levites in their greatest moments of glory. What then are the implications of these words? First of all, those in the churches planted by the apostles were priests functioning together in corporate testimony. By the time Peter wrote his epistles, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans. However, the latter had already been replaced by a spiritual house built of living stones – worshipers enabled by God to offer sacrifices more acceptable than the choicest of animals. The sacrifices were now totally spiritual as David anticipated: “I will praise the name of God with a song, and magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs” (Ps. 69:30-31). However, even greater than this, the new priests who bear the reproach of Christ are privileged to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15).

Those who stand on the resurrection side of Calvary can gather on the first day of the week to remember their Lord and offer sacrifices of praise “that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:16). These spiritual sacrifices, “acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5) are sweet smelling in the nostriIs of God. They delight Him more than all the sweet savor offerings made in ancient times by priests with little appreciation of what they meant. Also whereas only the high priest was privileged to enter the Most Holy Place (a figure of heaven), now in Christ we have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20). This means that as John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day and was transported from his cell in Patmos to the third heaven, so saints in heart and mind can ascend to behold their Lord seated at God’s right hand.

However, delightful as all this is, we also recognize the abiding principle: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). It is therefore no coincidence that before Joseph gave the command, “Ye shall tell my father of all my glory” (Gen. 45:13), he first enjoined them to “think on me when it shall be well with thee” (Gen. 40:14). There is, therefore, negative value in gathering to worship God with angelic eloquence if we neglect the imperative nature of “this do in remembrance of Me” (Lk. 22:19).

Those who do not have the grace to remember their Lord can hardly tell His Father of all His glory, which could not be without His sufferings upon the Cross. For “ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?” (Lk. 24:26). Those who rejoice in their status as royal priests should also remember their duty as loyal priests. It is easy as a holy priesthood to sing hymns and give thanks to God, but there is the corresponding obligation as royal priests to minister Christ to one another and to show kindness to strangers. So the fruit of lips must be complemented by obedience to the exhortation “to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16). The apostle also equates fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel as “an odor of a sweet smell, wellpleasing to God” (Phil. 4:18). Thus, even good Christian magazines like this one need money to survive!

In essence, we must appreciate that obedience is the very soul and spirit of worship. What of a kingdom where the people bow to their king, but cheat on their taxes? As priests we must not only serve with our lips but also demonstrate Christ in our lives. John states, “The Lamb ... hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10). Did he not write these words as one who had sacrificed all for his Lord? Where was John in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, but on the penal island of Patmos, numbered with transgressors, though he had committed no crime? Though severed from the fellowship of his brethren, Christ’s faithful servant lost none of his priestliness, neither in holiness nor dignity. But as the scribe of Christ, he had to write this to the comfortable, complacent church of the Laodiceans: “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16).

Dare we repeat the mistakes of past generations? For example, we know that God convicted the ancient priesthood for their hypocrisy saying, “This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Mk. 7:6). Therefore, those of us who are quick to accuse Israel of whining and hypocrisy should remember the parallel warning: “If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee” (Rom. 11:21).

By Tom Summerhill