Well, we would like to continue with what we began this morning.
We find in the Word of God that the Lord has not only washed us from our sins in His blood, but He has also made us kings and priests unto God. So this afternoon, we would like to consider how He has made us priests unto God and, as priests, what we must do.
Again, I will remind you, brothers and sisters, that this is more than something that will happen in the future. We always project ourselves into the future and forget the present. I think that is a very common way of thinking among Christians.
The future is important, and yet it has its beginning today. When you come to God’s work, you will find that He always has the future in view, but it always begins with today.
One day we shall all serve Him in eternity. But serving Him as priests must begin now. If we do not begin to learn to serve Him today, then on that day we do not know how we can fulfil our function as priests.
The thought is that we who are the Lord’s, who have been washed by the blood and redeemed, are all priests. This is not a new thought. It is found in the Bible, as in 1 Peter, where it says that as we come to the Lord, we are as living stones, being built up together as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
As we come to the Lord, we are living stones. We are being built up together into a spiritual house; but at the same time, we are a holy priesthood serving in that spiritual house. The universal priesthood of believers is a New Testament truth.
Even in the time of the Reformation, back in the sixteenth century, Martin Luther advocated the universal priesthood of believers. We often think that the Reformation gave us two things: justification by faith and an open Bible. Thank God for that.
Before that time, during the Dark Ages, people did not even know that justification is by faith. They tried to work out their salvation by works, by accumulating merits, doing penance, and all kinds of things. During the Reformation, there was a recovery of the truth of justification by faith.
Before the Reformation, the Bible was chained. But at the Reformation, it became an open book, translated into different languages so that people could read the Bible. We do thank God for that.
But if you read the history of Martin Luther, you will find that even at that time he preached the universal priesthood of believers—that every believer is a priest. Unfortunately, this truth was not heard and was not practised.
Very soon, among the Protestant denominations, this truth of the universal priesthood was almost completely buried. Martin Luther spoke of it, but it was not practised. For four hundred years, even up to our time, this truth has needed to be recovered.
I believe that more and more in our days people are beginning to see this matter of the universal priesthood of believers. Unless we see this truth and practise it, the church will never be built, and the work that God has entrusted to the church can never be fulfilled.
You can never expect a few people to carry the whole burden of the church and do all the work God has entrusted to the church. That is just impossible. That is the reason why we find that it has not been done. The church has not really developed, even after these four hundred years.
It is about time that we come back to the truth of God and see that, when He saved and redeemed us, He made us priests. Every believer is a priest. To be a priest means that we serve God, because this is our vocation. The vocation of a priest is to serve God.
In order that we may understand this matter of priesthood better, I think we will illustrate it with a life. In that life, we can see what a priest really means and how we can function as priests.
This morning, when we considered kingship, we used Moses as our example. When we come to priesthood, we will use Aaron as our example. Aaron was not the first priest in the Bible.
In the days of the patriarchs, the head of the family was the priest of the family. For instance, Abraham was the priest of his family, and Isaac was the priest of his family. Jacob, in seeking the right of the firstborn, was actually seeking to be the priest of the family too.
But when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He brought them into the wilderness. In Exodus 19, God said:
I have brought you unto Myself as on eagles’ wings.
Now therefore, if ye will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant,
then ye shall be Mine own possession from among all peoples.
And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
After the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt and brought to God, God’s purpose was to make them a nation of priests. Every Israelite was to be a priest. If there were two million people coming out of Egypt, then there were two million priests.
All the men, all the women, and all the children—everyone born into the nation of Israel—was born to be a priest. That was God’s original purpose for the children of Israel: a nation of priests, in which everyone had the privilege of serving God.
But unfortunately, when Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel broke the law. When Moses came down from the mountain, he saw what had happened. He smashed the two tables of stone, burned the golden calf, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the people drink of it. They were to drink up their own sins.
By doing that, the nation of Israel disqualified themselves from serving God. So far as God’s calling was concerned, they were called to serve God. They were called to be a nation of priests.
That was what Moses said to Pharaoh: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Who was to go? The men, the women, and the children—all of them. That was God’s calling. But because of their sin, they disqualified themselves from serving God.
Then Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come unto me.” The tribe of Levi came to Moses.
Moses commanded them to take their swords, go through the camp from gate to gate, and slay everyone involved—friends, neighbours, brothers, whoever they might be. On that day, three thousand men fell.
Then Moses told the Levites to sanctify themselves before the Lord. After that, God chose the tribe of Levi, and the family of Aaron, to be priests. Only one family—the family of Aaron—and only one tribe out of the twelve—the tribe of Levi—were to serve God.
The rest of the people were barred from God’s service. They could not approach God directly; they had to do so through the intermediary work of Aaron and his sons, with the help of the Levites. This was God’s emergency measure, not His original design.
The question may be raised: Why did God choose Aaron, his family, and the tribe of Levi? Did they not worship the golden calf as the other tribes did? They did. Aaron was the one who actually made the golden calf.
The children of Israel came to Aaron and said, “We do not know what has happened to Moses. Make us a god to lead us.” Aaron said, “Give me your gold.” They took off their earrings, rings, and ornaments, and he melted them and made a golden calf.
Aaron was actually deeply involved in that rebellion. Yet why were he, his family, and the tribe of Levi chosen to be priests? Aaron was no better than the other children of Israel, and the Levites were no better than the other tribes. They all had failed.
The only reason was this: when Moses said, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” they came and stood with Moses. In doing that, they showed their repentance. They bore the fruit of repentance by cutting off all natural ties without reservation.
Brothers and sisters, in a sense, that is our problem today. So far as our calling is concerned, we are all called to be priests, because He has made us priests unto God. Every child of God today is a priest, and everyone is called to serve God. This is our privilege and our duty.
But many are called and few are chosen. So far as God’s calling is concerned, we are all called. Unfortunately, we are no better than anybody else; we have all failed God. But those who repent and bear the fruit of repentance will be chosen.
In what way? In the way that we are willing to stand with the Lord against ourselves. If we give in to ourselves, we are not able to serve. But if we are willing to deny ourselves, then we will be chosen to serve.
Why is it that among God’s people there are so few who seem to function as priests? We are all called to be priests, and we should all function; yet in actuality, there are so few serving as priests.
The reason is that we give in to ourselves. Just like the children of Israel, we begin to serve other gods. By doing that, we disqualify ourselves. No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon, the Lord says.
Often people are so occupied with things other than God that they deprive themselves of the privilege of serving God. Only those who deny themselves and cut off, as it were, all natural bonds and ties can stand with the Lord instead of standing with the crowd.
This does not mean that such people are better than anyone else. But when people are willing to stand with the Lord, then they will be chosen to serve and to function.
There is a difference between the children of Israel under the law and ourselves under grace. Under the law, when they failed God and were barred from the priesthood, that was that. But under grace, even though there may be only a few who are serving, it is the will of God that we help all the brothers and sisters to be restored into this priesthood.
They are not barred eternally. On the contrary, it is God’s will that every believer should function as a priest. Those who are not functioning as priests are to be encouraged to function.
We will never see the full meaning of the church unless every brother and sister is functioning as a priest. It is only when all the brothers and sisters begin to serve the Lord—not just a few monopolising spiritual things—that we will see the full meaning of the church.
What is the occupation of a priest? The occupation of a priest is to serve God.
Sometimes the priests tilled the ground. Even in Old Testament times, they were given fields, so sometimes they went home and worked in their fields. But that was their avocation; it was not their occupation. Even when they worked in the field, they worked as priests. They never forgot that they were priests.
It is the same today. We are all called to be priests. Priesthood is our occupation. Serving God is our occupation. Every brother and sister lives for one reason: to serve God. There is no other reason, because we are priests.
Some may work in the field, some in an office, some in the kitchen, some in school, and some in what people call spiritual work or ministry. But so far as priesthood is concerned, all these various things are our avocations. Our vocation is to serve God.
You may be working in the kitchen and bringing up children, but in bringing up the children you are a priest, bringing them up for God. You may be teaching in school; you are a priest teaching in school for God. You may be a student; you are studying as a priest for God. Whatever your profession may be, you are doing it unto God because you are a priest.
This is something we really need to emphasise today. The whole matter of an intermediary class—a few called sacred and the rest called common or laity—has become such a habit that we have begun to accept it as true.
We have begun to feel that there is a line dividing the so-called secular and sacred—not only in the work we do, but even among the people. But there is no such thing in Scripture. In Scripture, every one of us is a priest.
Whatever work we are doing is unto the Lord as priests. If you are preaching, you are preaching as a priest unto God. If you are cooking, you are cooking as a priest unto God. There is no difference between sacred and secular.
To the pure, all things are pure. To the priest, everything is a priestly function, and we must function in it unto the Lord.
An elderly sister, who is now with the Lord, used to say when she was washing dishes, “I wash dishes as unto the Lord.” That is different from merely washing dishes. You may wash your dishes well, and the work may be done; but if you wash them for the Lord, there is a difference in how you wash them.
In the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus, He has redeemed us back to God’s original purpose. He has not merely redeemed us to a certain point and left us there. Our Lord always brings us back to the beginning.
This is what redemption is: He brings us back to the beginning of God’s purpose. God’s original purpose for us is that everyone should be a priest. We may serve God in different areas and capacities, but we are all serving God. This is our life work; this is our vocation.
If we have other things to do, they are avocations. They help us in serving God; and even when we are doing those other things, we are serving God too. This is the first thing we need to understand: our calling is according to the priesthood.
We do not need to think that we need a special calling to serve God. That is traditional thinking. Now, I do not mean that you do not need a special calling to be a missionary going abroad. You certainly need to know the Lord’s will for that.
But so far as our calling to serve God is concerned, it is universal. You do not need to wait for a special call. You are called. You have been made a priest, whether you like it or not. It is better that you realise it and begin to function as a priest unto God.
This is the first point. The second point is that, after Aaron and his sons were called to be priests, they had to be consecrated before they could serve in the tabernacle.
We find this in Exodus 28 and Exodus 29. Exodus 28 speaks of the priestly garments, and Exodus 29 of the consecration of the priests. They had to be consecrated before they could function in the tabernacle.
Exodus 28 begins:
And thou shalt take unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him,
from among the children of Israel,
that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother,
for glory and for beauty.
Aaron and his sons were set apart as priests, but before they could function in the tabernacle, they had to be hallowed and sanctified through consecration. In consecration, there were mainly two things.
First, they had to be clothed with the priestly garments. Second, they had to offer different sacrifices, including the ram of consecration. Let us concentrate on these two points.
In being consecrated, Aaron and his sons had to be clothed with the priestly garments. They could not serve God in their ordinary clothing. They had to wash themselves and put on the priestly garments.
The priestly garments were for glory and for beauty. This is different from the garment that we put on when we are saved. When the prodigal son came back, the father took off his ragged clothes and put on him the best robe.
This speaks of how, when we come to the Lord, we are clothed with Christ as our righteousness. We have no righteousness at all. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. But when we come to the Lord, He takes away our own righteousness and puts upon us the best robe—the robe of righteousness, which is Christ.
We are clothed with Christ, and because we are clothed with Christ, we are fit to stand before God. That is our standing before God. But to serve God is a different matter.
To serve God, we have to put on priestly garments. A Christian has a number of garments to put on. The basic one is the best robe, Christ our righteousness, so that we may stand before God. But to serve, we must put on another garment: the priestly garment.
Of course, it is still Christ. We cannot put on anything that is not Christ. But it is more than Christ as our righteousness. It is Christ as our glory and our beauty.
In other words, we need to know Christ more fully—not just as our righteousness, but as our beauty and our glory. We need to know Him as more than a Saviour.
We need to know Him as our life, our joy, our peace, our strength, and our wisdom. We need to know Him in a fuller way. This is for glory and for beauty.
The ephod was a beautiful artistic work, made of gold, blue, and other materials, with precious stones worked into it. The garment worn by the priest was blue, with golden bells and pomegranates. All these things speak of the beauty and glory of our Lord Jesus.
He is our life, our strength, our wisdom, our joy, our peace, our love—everything. We need to know Christ as our life, our glory, and our beauty. The beauty of the Lord and the glory of His life must be put upon us.
As we are clothed with Christ as our beauty and our glory, then we are fit to function as priests. Oftentimes people are saved, but they cannot function as priests because they do not grow up in the Lord.
A babe has to be served but cannot serve. It is only when we grow up in Christ and grow in the knowledge of Christ that we can function. This knowledge is not merely mental knowledge, but experiential knowledge.
As we know Him and the power of His resurrection, as we have fellowship with His sufferings and are conformed to His death, as we know Him in a fuller measure, that is our spiritual growth. That is putting on the priestly garment for beauty and for glory.
On the other hand, they had to sacrifice the ram of consecration. This ram of consecration was what really set them apart for priesthood.
After the ram was killed, the blood was applied to the right ear, the right thumb, and the right great toe of the priest. The blood was applied there because, in order to serve God, we need the cleansing of our ear, our hand, and our feet.
In serving God, the first thing is the ear. Often we think the first thing is the feet: we rush here and there. Or we think the first thing is the hands: we work for Him. But no, in serving Him, the first thing is the ear. We have to hear Him.
If we do not know how to hear Him, we will never be able to serve Him. So in the ram of consecration, the first thing is that the blood is applied to the ear. Our ear has to be purified, set apart, and cleansed by the blood so that we can hear what He has to say.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, God said:
This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.
Do not talk, but hear Him. After we have heard Him, then our hands are purified to work for Him, and our feet are cleansed to go wherever He sends us.
Why was a ram used? In Scripture, the ram speaks of devotion—wholehearted devotion. The ram represents Christ, who offered Himself through the eternal Spirit, wholly unto God, as a burnt offering. He devoted Himself to the Father absolutely.
The same blood, His life, must mark our life. His blood is applied upon our ear, our hands, and our feet so that His life characterises our life. We are in union with Christ in utter devotion and utter devotedness unto God.
Out of the basket of unleavened bread, the hands of the priest were filled with portions of the ram and bread from the basket. As the hands of the priest were filled, they waved these things before the Lord. By doing that, they were consecrated.
The word consecration actually means “filling of hands.” As their hands were filled, they were consecrated.
Their hands were filled with the fat of the ram and the unleavened bread. The fat speaks of the abundance of life. Whatever is more than we use is stored as fat. Thus, in Scripture, fat speaks of the abundance of life.
Since this was from the animal, it speaks of the divine life of Christ—His divinity. In His divine life, in His divinity, all the fulness of God dwells in Him bodily. He is full of the abundance of the riches of God.
The loaf was made of wheat, and wheat speaks of the human life of our Lord—His humanity. He was the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died. The meal offering speaks of the purity of His human life.
When the hands of the priest are filled with the fat and the bread, that is when our hands are filled with Christ—both His divinity and His humanity. As we wave them before God, we are hallowed.
We are to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As priests, our hands must be filled with Christ. If we want to serve, we cannot come to serve God wearing our own coat. We must come wearing priestly garments: Christ as our glory and beauty.
At the same time, what do we have to offer to God? We cannot offer anything that is the product of our own work, like the offering of Cain. If we come to God with our hands filled with the produce of the land—the work of our own hands—instead of coming with our hands filled with Christ, we will be rejected.
Often this is our problem. We come to God with our hands filled with our own products: our plans, our programmes, our energy, and the best that we can produce. But if we do that, we will ultimately be rejected. It would be better not to offer anything.
When we come to the Lord, our hands must be filled with Christ. In priestly service, we offer nothing but Christ—either His divinity or His humanity, either the riches of His divine life or the purity of His human life.
With these things filling our hands, we are sanctified and set apart to serve as priests. This is the second thing: first, the calling—we are all called; second, the consecration—we have to be set apart. We cannot serve God with what we are or merely using what we have. We have to serve God by being set apart, with Christ and in Christ.
The third thing is this: as Moses had a staff, which was the symbol of authority, Aaron also had a staff.
During the rebellion of Korah and his company, they rebelled not only against Moses but also against Aaron. They said that the whole people, the whole nation, was holy, and they questioned why Moses and Aaron should take such a place.
Even after the earth opened and swallowed up Korah and those with him, and even after fire came from the tabernacle and burned up the two hundred and fifty leaders, the children of Israel were still rebellious in spirit.
They still felt that they could serve God. They would not accept the fact that only Aaron and his family had been chosen to serve God. Therefore, in order to settle this question of priesthood, God gave instruction in Numbers.
God told Moses that every tribe was to prepare a staff—a branch cut off from a tree. The name of each tribe was to be written upon its staff, and Aaron’s name was written upon the staff of Levi.
These twelve staffs were placed before the ark in the tabernacle overnight. The next day, the staff that budded and bore fruit would be the one belonging to the tribe chosen by God.
Remember, all twelve staffs were dead rods. They had been cut from the tree. They were dead and dry. They were placed before the ark, before the presence of the Lord, overnight.
But the next morning, Aaron’s staff had budded, blossomed, and brought forth almonds. This settled once for all the whole matter of priesthood: who could serve God?
Only the staff that had budded and borne fruit could serve God. The almond in Scripture always speaks of resurrection, because the almond is the first tree to bud and bear fruit after winter. Thus, in the Bible, the almond is a type of resurrection.
None of them was fit to serve God in themselves. The twelve staffs represented the twelve tribes, and all the children of Israel, so far as they were before God in themselves, were dead. None was qualified to serve.
But the One who was raised from the dead in resurrection was fit and able to serve. How can we serve? We can serve God only in the power of His resurrection.
God accepts service only in the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. If we come to God and try to serve Him with our natural energy, fleshly strength, or natural wisdom, we will be utterly rejected, because these things are considered death before God.
Our God is a living God. He cannot be served by dead people or dead works. If we want to serve God, we have to serve Him in the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
This is a very strict standard, one of which we need to be reminded. Oftentimes we try to serve God, yet we serve in our own strength. We do not serve with the staff of Aaron that budded.
The staff of Aaron is a single object. Only with that staff are we able to serve God effectively. Let us remember that we can never serve God on our own.
On the one hand, we have been called; yet on the other hand, we cannot serve Him in ourselves. If we are to serve Him, we have to serve Him in the power of His resurrection.
This is a very important principle. This morning we mentioned Moses. When he was provoked, he took the rod and struck the rock. But God had said to him, “Take the rod, and speak unto the rock.”
Why? Because that was priestly function. The rock had already been smitten, so it should not be smitten again. All that was needed was to speak to it with the rod—the rod of Aaron. That was priestly intercession based on what the Lord had already done.
Yet Moses, in anger, struck the rock, and he ruined that figure. That was one reason why he was not allowed to enter the promised land. But the principle is there: we cannot serve except in the power of His resurrection.
Finally, what is priestly function? Priests not only served in the tabernacle; they also served the people. A priest is to bring people to God and to bring God to the people.
That is the work of a priest, and priestly work is manifold. There are many things for priests to do.
We are told that in the time of Christ the priests served in the temple in twenty-four courses. There were thousands and thousands of priests, so they could not serve at the same time. One course served for a certain period, and then another course continued.
Before dawn, the priests serving that course on that day gathered in a room. They cast lots, asking God to guide them and direct them as to what each one would do during the day.
The lot might fall upon one priest to burn incense, which was considered the highest privilege of the priest. It might fall upon another priest to light the candlestick, or upon another to offer the burnt offering.
Their work in the temple was ordered each day by the casting of lots. They served as a team. Even though they did different works, they worked together as one under the direction of the high priest.
Aside from the work in the temple, they had other work to do. They were to teach the people, to tell them what was holy, what was clean, and what was unclean. They were to judge the people, and so forth.
Their whole work was to bring people to God and to bring God to the people. That is priestly work. The same thing is true today.
We are all priests, and being priests, that is our work. Our work is to bring people to God and bring God to the people. Anything included in bringing people to God and bringing God to the people is priestly work.
It may be in the temple or outside the temple. What is the temple today? The temple today is the church, the house of God. It is no longer a physical temple or a physical place; it is a spiritual house.
We are, at the same time, a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. On the one hand, we who are the Lord’s form the spiritual house. On the other hand, in that house, we serve as priests.
Our works are all appointed by the Lord. Today, we do not cast lots. Recently, when I was in Maysburg, a brother came to me and asked, “Can we cast lots today? Is it right?”
Sometimes people cannot decide certain things, so they cast lots. During Old Testament times, that was the way they did it. Why? Because the Holy Spirit had not yet come. They had to be guided externally.
They prayed to God before they cast lots and asked God to guide the lot, so that God’s will might be done. Even in the book of Acts, before the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, the one hundred and twenty cast lots to determine whether Matthias should fill the vacancy left by Judas.
But today, we do not need to cast lots. Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in our spirit. The Holy Spirit who dwells in our spirit will guide us and teach us in all things.
Instead of casting lots, we need to go before the Lord, pray, wait, and listen. We need to allow the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, to guide and lead us.
When the priests served in Old Testament times, they served under the direction of the high priest. Our High Priest today is Christ, who is now at the Father’s right hand interceding for us.
Our High Priest is also represented within us by the Holy Spirit. Today, in the church, we are all priests, and we must all function in the house of God.
We cannot simply come together once a week on a Sunday, spend an hour, and be entertained or merely served. That is the traditional way of service.
On Sunday, we come for an hour, are entertained by music and a sermon, and all we need to do is attend. Perhaps we do a little more, but basically, one or a few are functioning while the rest sit passively receiving.
That is not the church. To see the church is to see that when God’s people come together as the house of God, everyone is functioning. Everyone is functioning.
You may say that if everyone functions, it will be chaotic. No. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is in control. If we believe in the Holy Spirit, then we believe that Christ is present with us.
If we really believe that He is the High Priest, and if we wait upon Him and give ourselves to Him, then we will find that He directs us as we meet together to worship and serve Him. He will. We have to have faith.
In Old Testament times, if the priests did not have faith in the lot, it would have been difficult. After the lot was cast, someone might have said, “No, I do not think that is what I should do. I want to do something else.”
But they did not do that. Whatever the lot determined, that was what they did. They believed that God’s guidance was there, and they all worked together as a priesthood under the direction of the high priest.
Brothers and sisters, this is something we must practise. If we really experience it, it is so beautiful and so glorious. As God’s people come together to worship the Lord, there may be no printed programme, and yet there need be no confusion.
Why? Because everyone comes and puts himself or herself in the hands of the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to choose. If He wants one brother to offer a prayer, another sister to pray, or someone to share a word, everything is under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Then everything fits together. The Lord is glorified, and people recognise that the Lord is present. That is the church. That is the church.
Every priest functions, and everyone may function differently. Some may have a hymn, some a song, some a prayer, some a revelation, some a tongue, and some an interpretation. Whatever it may be, everything is done decently and in order.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit is in charge. That is the way we serve as priests.
Every believer must function as a priest in offering praises, worship, singing, prayer, sharing, and lifting up Christ. This is the responsibility of everyone.
There is no one who is merely to come, sit there, receive and receive, and never exercise the gift and grace that God has given to him or her. No, it should not be so. We are priests.
Our work is to bring God to the people and bring people to God. As we are under the direction of the Holy Spirit, whether in a prayer, a song, or a word, it must bring people to God and bring God to the people. That is important.
That is why Paul said that everything must be for edification—that is, for building up. It should not be anything merely to display oneself or to destroy. It must build up, bringing people to God and bringing God to the people.
Priestly service is not limited to when we are gathered together in the tabernacle, as it were. Even outside the temple, priests had work to do. They had to teach the people, judge the people, and so forth.
Wherever we are, we can serve the Lord as priests. But I would like to add something more: you cannot separate the priest from the Levites.
The priests were Levites too. So far as priestly function and Levitical function are concerned, they are very closely related. The priest could not fulfil his function without the help of the Levites, and the Levites could not fulfil their work apart from the priests.
What is the difference between Levitical function and priestly function? The main difference is that one is what we would call spiritual, and the other is what we would call physical.
The priests offered sacrifices to God, burned incense, lit the candlestick, and taught the people. The Levites helped by killing the sacrifices, flaying the skin, drawing water, carrying the tabernacle, and attending to all the so-called physical things.
Yet these physical things are related to the spiritual things. If the physical things are not taken care of, the spiritual things cannot go on. If they do not carry and set up the tabernacle, the priests cannot serve. If they do not draw the water, the priests cannot wash.
These two works are closely related. That is why, in New Testament times, there is no distinction between Levites and priests. In other words, we who are priests are also Levites.
Every believer must do two kinds of work: the Levitical work and the priestly work. We must function in the spiritual sense, and we must also function in the physical sense.
We all need to be involved in cleaning the place, setting the chairs, and helping brothers and sisters with practical matters. This is Levitical work.
For instance, if one sister is sick and has children, then others should come and help with the children. That is Levitical service. There are many simple things like this, and they are part of our service unto God as priests.
I hope we do not have the feeling that only what is called spiritual is worthy of us, and that physical things are beneath our dignity. No. In New Testament times, there is no distinction between Levites and priests. They become one.
As many as there are people of God, there should be as many kings and as many priests. As many as there are children of God, there should be as many who rule for God and serve God.
So far as God’s work of salvation is concerned, this is not only the aim and purpose of salvation, but this is what the Lord has already finished for us. It is done. He has made us kings and priests.
But so far as our experience is concerned, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and work us into the reality of kingship and priesthood.
If we allow the Holy Spirit to perfect this work in our lives today, so that we may function as kings and priests unto God, then one day, when God has really given us what is ours in eternity, we will know how to be kings and priests.
Today, everything is not yet ours. But one day, when He gives us what is ours in eternity, then we will truly know how to be kings and priests.
I hope that as long as the Lord leaves us on this earth, every day will be an opportunity. Every day will be a day of training. Every day will be a day in which we learn to be priests and kings unto God.
Every day we learn to rule—not allowing our circumstances to rule over us, but ruling over our circumstances. Remember Joseph: no matter where Joseph was put, he was all right. He was always on top. That is what we must be.
We must also learn to rule in the sense that, through prayer, we can bind and loose according to God’s will. We must serve as priests, not only in what is called spiritual work, but also in the physical work connected with it.
I believe this is truly God’s will for us, and we need to enter into it more. It is about time that we really see this, because He is coming so soon.
Our Heavenly Father, Thou dost love us to such an extent that Thou wilt not just wash us from our sins and redeem us, but Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God.
O our Father, our God, we do desire that, being made kings and priests, we may live and function as kings and priests. We do not know how, but we know that Thy life in us is a kingly life and a priestly life.
So we give ourselves to Thee once again, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us, train us, and work us into the reality of it, that we may truly rule as kings on earth for Thee and truly serve as priests on earth for Thee.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.