Episode 6
The Kingly Priests
Reading: Job 1:
5 And it was so, when the days of their
feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early
in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all,
for Job said, it may be that my sons have cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job
continually.
“…and
offered burnt offerings…”
We have been meditating on the point that Job
being able to send and “sanctified them
and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings…” comes off
the fact of the priesthood of the man. This meditation will lead us to
considering the priesthood and the kingly priests God is raising today. It will
help us to do a little recapitulation before we continue.
The plan and desire of God is to
dwell with man, the true place of His rest and, if you permit it, His heaven.
God dwells with man where He has
the legal ground to do so.
The great work of redemption is all
about realising this desire: make possible a place of habitation for the God of
all creation which is the very soul of man.
The Father’s heart of love sought a hold
upon which to fasten itself; He therefore created man as the object to devote
and expend this love; the Father has been lavishing this love on man since
creation.
God, by types and figures and
parables, has been revealing Himself to man and, in these days, has revealed
and been speaking through His Son, Jesus Christ.
In the Israel of old, He showed
Himself in types through the laws, the priests, the feasts and the shrine
which, in the beginning was a tent or tabernacle in the wilderness journey of
the people of Israel and later became a temple lavishly built with stones,
cedar wood, silver and gold and became a monument that attracted many people
from afar.
The tabernacle which later became the
temple after the people settled down as well as the priestly oblations ensured
God’s rights of righteousness among them on earth.
The Lord Reigns Through His
Christ.
Just 90 days after leaving Egypt,
God commanded the people to “ make”
a sanctuary that “I may dwell among them.” The Lord has
also secured His right to dwell among men today by the shrine He built, at a
great cost to Himself, through His Son Jesus Christ. This shrine is the Church
of God. Thus, Jesus, by the perfect redemption through His blood has
vociferated and obtained for the Father His right of Lordship over the earth.
Now who reigns on the earth; who is the Lord over the earth? It is God through
His Son to whom He has committed all judgement. The saviour has regained
for the Father the Lordship over the earth. We are to note that God’s enemy did
a fast one on the Lord in the wilderness of Sin by being the first to build and
bring his own shrine among the people by the introduction of the Aaron-made
calf. He is still at it today, but the victory has been won and the Lord has
His purpose foe allowing Him to do what he is presently doing on the earth.
The making of the priestly kings
The Lord has been raising priests
and He is continuing today. And from
Jesus Christ who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and
ever. Now whoever is made a priest and king unto the Father must have
passed through similar experiences as the one who did the investiture; he must
have been found a faithful witness.
“…who is the faithful witness…” He
bears witness to the truth that God is the Lord of the earth and that He has
the right to dwell in, with and among His people; and that this is appropriate
and in line with the nature of His justice and character; His judgement is
just. Why call him the faithful witness? The word faithful has the definite article, the. That means many had bore witness to that truth, but He is the
one, the true, faithful witness. How
long, asked Elijah, halt you between
two opinions? If the Lord be God,
follow him: but if Baal, then follow
him… But Christ put his life on the line and gave it all to bear witness.
It requires one who is faith-full not only to be submissive
as the Lamb that take away the sin of
the whole world but was also the victim and the sacrifice of the burnt offering, the sin offering, the
peace offering, the meal offering and the drink offering – Christ gave it all. Herein
is the love of the Father revealed; this is perfect obedience to the Father. It
takes one that is faith-full to stick to divine arrangement and not deviate to do
the witnessing in the way that may be appropriate to one’s mind, though not
only accurate but could be acceptable with God; it takes faith-full to defer to
the Father in all things. It is the full
faith of the Son of God to offer self as absolute loyalty to the Father; it
is faith-full
to the cause of the Father to obtain for Him His full
rights as the Lord sovereign of the earth. Only the faith that is full on
the side of the Son that can say, Lo, I
come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. It
takes the faith that is full to become the
azazel, the sin-bearer and the curse, to go to the region of death and not be a
goner but became the first begotten from the dead. His is an absolute trust
born out of faith to be in form of God
and thought it not robbery to be equal
with God. But made himself of no reputation, and was made in the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a
man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.
The Priest must come to approval
The priesthood of the Lord as in the Old Testament required
training, instructions and teachings and careful grooming until such is qualified
having been tested, tried and proved. And Christ - who himself came to approval
by the testimony of God’s voice of This
is my beloved Son - has been in the
business of raising his kings and priests over the last two millennial by the
Holy Spirit’s teaching, instructing, and proving so that he might be the first among many brethren. At another place and time, the Father said, This is my beloved son, hear ye him.
This is priesthood; this is the kingly priest of God on earth.
The priest as a Prince
Priest is princely, a first or
chief among many; prince is a son with special designations. Israel was a
prince of and with God. For as a prince
hast thou power with God and man and hast prevailed. That is the kingly
priest – power with God and with man, indicating that he had authority to
minister before God on behalf of man as well as having the power to judge and
rule among men. Christ too today ministers before his Father and also reigns in the midst of his enemies until all his
enemies are made his footstool. This is the reason for the raising of the
kingly priests – to reign with him, even now. And those with him are called, chosen and faithful. Priesthood is
not a title; it is a call to responsibilities; it is a call to warfare.
The church, over the years, has
forgotten her unique calling to the priesthood. She is presently entrenched and
enmeshed in building the kingdoms of this world. She has redefined the purpose
of the priest and the prince of God. We chafe, whine, grumble and panic each
time we encounter divine opposition to our desires, our goals and pursuits and
dreams. Yet, our forerunner who has
gone beyond the veil learned
obedience by those things he suffered. He lost his own will in the will of the
Father. That is priesthood; that is how to attain kingship.
Priesthood constitutes a species of
mankind with special ability to take the hand of man and put it in the hand of
God. This is the priestly dimension of them. They offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Ye also, as lively stones
are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The priesthood of God
through Jesus is a holy house and nothing less. Built with lively stones – the
saints of God – it is the dwelling of God that He purchased with His blood. And
no sacrifice is acceptable of God outside of the Church of Christ.
The priesthood is built with lively stone
Lively stones. This house, this
temple, this royal priesthood is built with lively stones, readymade stones. And the house when it was in building, was
build of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was
neither hammer nor axe nor any tool
of iron heard in the house while it was in building. Stones are used in
this building not the quickly available and easily made bricks and mortar.
Stones are eternal and are precious. Stones are hewn, beaten, hammered,
chiselled and carved in the quarry. In the building of the temple, no sound of
hammering must be heard. The building stones come to the sight ready and
completed – made in the quarry of the trying of faith. All operations must be
done in the quarry to make each stone that would occupy its own space. So was
Jesus Christ mauled, pulverised, hammered, measured, smoothen in the quarry of
life. Then he became the head of the cornerstone. So shall we also be prepared
in the quarry by the dealings of the Cross of Christ
The priests offer spiritual sacrifices
of living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God… your reasonable service. This may involve loss, denials and death
to certain things; the loss of which causes us to make God our only pursuit and
raison d’être. And l count all things but loss for the for the excellency of
the knowledge Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but dung
that I may win Christ… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death. The
Priesthood is intimately intertwined with resurrection. Priests have passed
from death to life and the second death has no power over them. The priest now
lives to serve God; that is his vocation, his breath and life. That I might attain to the resurrection of
the dead. There is a way we die, resurrect, live and die again and repeat
the process, dying each day to sin and resurrecting to newness of life in
Christ Jesus and our approval unto priestly kings continues to gain ascendancy.
Lord, we pray for the Holy-Spirit-inspired
pursuit of the heart of Paul, the apostle that we may receive grace to count
all things but dung for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, that we may
gain Christ. We received grace to be called, chosen and found faithful. We pray
that we will know you more, the power of your resurrection, the fellowship of
your sufferings; we pray that we may be made conformable unto the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And hath made us
kings and priests unto God and his Father. Thanks you, Lord for making us your priests
for by you we shall not fail. The grace of God shall not be in vain on us.
Exodus 25: 8
John 5: 22
Exodus 32: 1 –
8
Revelation 1: 5 – 6
1 Kings 18: 21
Hebrew 10: 7
Phillipians 2: 6
Hebrew 10: 13
Revelation 17: 14
Romans 12: 1
1 Kings 6: 7
Phillipians 3: 8,
11
