Let us turn to the Gospel of Luke.
Let us read Luke 1, beginning with verse 5.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
And they were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
And they had no child, because Elisabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.
Now it came about, while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.
And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear gripped him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elisabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.”
These are the verses for now. Let us pay attention especially to Luke 1:8: “While he was performing his priestly service before God.”
Tonight we want to consider how, before God, we can perform our priestly service. We are not speaking merely of Old Testament priests. We are a holy priesthood; we are a royal priesthood. If we are holy priests and royal priests, how are we to perform our priestly service?
Let us commit this evening into the Lord’s hands.
Lord, we want to come to You and depend totally on You. We thank You for speaking to us, and we have heard Your words.
But Lord, we ask that You would point and direct our way, so that all of us who come before You, just like those wise men, when we meet You, will no longer go back the same way.
May this meeting be a very special meeting, and may this conference be a turning point in our lives. Listen to our prayer.
Not only enable us to hear the words that You want us to hear at this meeting, but may we rise up and follow You. Listen to our prayers.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.
This tonight is the last evening of the conference. I do not have to repeat the theme of the conference—although it is possible that even now some might not know what the theme is. So I will repeat it: a spiritual house and acceptable sacrifices.
We have read 1 Peter 2:5 many times, so I will not read it again. When we speak of a holy priesthood, we have also mentioned a royal priesthood. We have also mentioned that God’s will is to have a kingdom of priests.
Everyone is a priest. This is a glorious truth in the Bible. But sadly, because of church history and because man has failed, this truth has faded away.
Do not forget: when Martin Luther was called by the Lord, not only did he give us an open Bible, and not only did he show us justification by faith, but he also showed us very clearly that all of us are priests before God.
The precious blood of our Lord has purchased so many people; however many people He purchased, that is how many priests there are.
Martin Luther had a dream. In many of his works and talks, it was very obvious that he had this dream: the church had gone through a very dark age. Not only did people not understand salvation, but they did not believe that everyone was a priest.
When Martin Luther rose up to testify for the Lord, he indeed gave that glorious truth to the church. But sadly, man only knew it as truth.
After one hundred years, the church had stopped at merely knowing the truth. But the Holy Spirit cannot stop there. It is not enough for us simply to admire a good truth. It has to happen. Action has to happen, and there is a price to be paid.
Thank the Lord. From the beginning until today, the Holy Spirit keeps reminding us to return to this glorious truth. Even though the majority of people have left this way, by the Lord’s grace we want to return to the beginning—to the root of God’s truth.
On this matter, God has never lowered His standard. By the Lord’s grace, we want to return to God’s original intention.
We only have one last evening. Through the Lord’s word, we hope to see how we can all be priests. If we are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood, what is our basic life? What is the basic life of a priest?
If you carefully read everything in the Old Testament pertaining to the priests, you have to ask: How did they live their lives? The Bible uses them as a picture. It is a shadow.
God’s purpose is not merely to tell a story or paint a few pictures. We are like those in kindergarten. We are very slow; we are not that smart. So we need God to paint those pictures for us.
When we see those pictures, we recognize the words. If you want to teach a little child what a bird is, you show him a picture. You might show him Sesame Street and say, “There is Big Bird.” When he sees Big Bird, he says, “This is a big bird.”
The Old Testament is a picture, and the New Testament sets forth the truth. Let us remember: the very clear truth is in the New Testament. Of course, there is truth in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament the truth of the gospel is very clear.
What is mentioned in the Old Testament becomes reality in the New Testament. The New Testament shows us very clearly how we are to be priests. But to help us understand, we are going to borrow the picture of the Old Testament priesthood.
We will use the Old Testament priest as an example to help us understand how we are daily to be priests. The answer is found very clearly in the New Testament, in many places throughout its twenty-seven books. But we only have an hour and a half, so you can find the rest at home.
Everything concerning the priesthood is found in the New Testament. I want to explain this first.
Today, as priests, how are we to be priests? In the Old Testament, the priests were priests of the temple.
When the children of Israel were in the temple courts, they could say, “We are the household of God.” For them, the temple was not merely a building; it represented God’s presence. The priests were closest to God.
This is a picture. According to the New Testament, we are God’s house. When the children of God gather together, the church is God’s house. Paul said that God’s temple is you.
The Old Testament priests were in the temple; that is how we are to be priests in God’s house today. We are no longer strangers. God’s presence is not merely next door. His presence is before our feet.
Every time we come before the feet of our Lord Jesus, we come before His presence. What is a priest? A priest has this characteristic: his greatest desire and hope is to come to the Holy of Holies.
What does it mean to come to the Holy of Holies? David described it beautifully. He said that we come to worship God at His footstool.
At the center of the temple was the ark in the Holy of Holies. The ark represents Christ. It is the center of the whole temple.
Why did David say, “We come to worship You at Your footstool”? In the Old Testament, the ark is used to show God’s footstool. If you come before the ark, the Holy Spirit reminds us that we have come to His footstool.
What does that mean? You and I are at the feet of God. This is the story of Mary. Mary sat at the feet of our Lord, listening to Him. It means that she had arrived before His feet.
God’s throne is in heaven. Wherever His throne is, that is where His presence is. Yet, whether in the tabernacle or the temple, God wanted to extend His presence all the way down to earth.
God uses the ark as His footstool. Therefore, when you come to the Holy of Holies, you come to His presence. To draw nigh to God means to come before the ark.
There God meets us. There God speaks to us. The greatest part of the priest’s life is that he can come and worship at God’s feet.
This is the most basic part of the priest’s life. It is also its beginning.
Every time we think of a priest, we think of service. There are so many priests to serve in the temple.
Today, some people in Israel desire to rebuild the temple on Mount Moriah. According to present conditions, it seems impossible. Yet there are people who are always ready. They are like David: if they cannot build the temple, at least they can prepare the materials.
There is a school for training priests. One can only graduate after eight years, and it teaches a person how to be an Old Testament priest. What they have learned in eight years, we are trying to consider tonight in an hour and a half.
Many young people like to study computer science because after four years they can find a job. They suffer for four years, but afterward they rejoice when they see many dollars coming in.
But these people want to be priests. If they want to be priests, the temple has to be rebuilt. Every time they open their window and look at Mount Moriah, they have to say that it is impossible. After studying to become a priest, when they graduate, they may still have no place to serve.
Yet according to the prophets in the Bible, before the Lord returns, you will see a group of people like this. They do not have the New Testament and do not understand its fulfillment, but in their limited light they want to please God and wait for the Messiah.
They have spent much labor. They have even put into a database the names of priests in Israel. Through DNA, some have sought to identify those who are from the household of Aaron.
When the Messiah returns, they imagine that the first thing they will do is report before Him: “Now that You are back, You need priests to serve You. Here are the names of all the priests.”
In man’s eyes, it is impossible. But they are preparing. They ask: if the third temple begins operating, how many priests are needed? The answer is twenty-eight thousand priests and four thousand Levites.
Our thought may be that there should be more Levites than priests. In many churches there are two groups of people: those who touch spiritual matters, and those who do the menial tasks. We may think there must be more Levites.
But it is amazing. In the service of the temple, it is not four thousand; it is twenty-eight thousand. Everyone has to shoulder the weight.
The service in the church cannot be borne by one person. If you do not believe it, try it. Try to bear all the responsibility of the church on your shoulders. Sooner or later, as the church grows, you will be crushed.
You may have a mega-church, and you may be very capable; but if in the whole body there are only one or two members working, something is wrong. Every shoulder has to bear weight. You cannot have only one priest, or two priests, or three priests. You need everyone to be a priest.
When does the church revive? When every priest puts his shoulder in. Some may be capable and able to organize, but at most they are only one member.
If you see how much service is required in the temple, you will see that everyone has to participate. This is the only way for the revival of the church.
Christ wants to build His church. He has built a spiritual house. But if the spiritual house is built up and there are no priests to serve, then it is empty.
Thank the Lord that we are the temple, built together as one. But we are also a holy priesthood. Everyone has to live this life—a very basic priestly life.
We mentioned that we are going to borrow pictures from the Old Testament. When I read Luke, it is very clear that it tells us the story of Zacharias and shows us that he was performing his priestly service.
There are many works in the priestly service. Zacharias was chosen to perform one service that all the priests dreamed of doing. In the Old Testament, the most glorious office belonged to the high priest. But for the other priests, one of the most glorious things they could do was to come before God and burn incense.
There were so many priests that, to do this, they had to draw lots. According to the custom of the priestly office, Zacharias was chosen by lot.
According to Old Testament practice, a priest could burn incense before God only once in his lifetime. That is very interesting.
Before daybreak, the priests drew lots four times. The third lottery was the one Zacharias drew. Thus, when Zacharias burned incense, he was performing one portion of his daily priestly service.
The priesthood was a daily life. Priests were not priests annually, nor merely weekly. When I was young, I might go to church at Christmas to receive gifts. Some people become Christians only once in their whole life: they go to church when they are married, and then they disappear.
But if you are to be a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood, that life is a daily life.
Suppose Zacharias had written a diary. Of course, I am only using this as an illustration. If he had a diary, his daily actions would have been very similar.
There were many different tasks—carrying animals and doing other things—but there was a basic life that happened every day. Let us use the Old Testament to understand how we can have the basic life of a priest.
How are we daily priests? How are we a royal priesthood? What are the things we cannot live without? We have to live this life.
This picture is found in the Old Testament. Let us turn to Leviticus 6.
Let us read Leviticus 6:8.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it.’”
Verse 10 says:
And the priest is to put on his linen robe, and he shall put on undergarments next to his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire reduces the burnt offering on the altar, and place them beside the altar.
This was the first lottery of the day. The first service was to take up the ashes of the fire and place them beside the altar.
Verse 12 says:
The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it.
At very early morning, the life of a priest began. This is God’s will for a priest. The life of a priest begins before daybreak.
Let us also turn to Psalm 134.
Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord,
Who serve by night in the house of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 134 is the final Song of Ascents. Each year, as the people went to Jerusalem for the feasts, they arrived at the temple. But now they had to return home.
They did not want to leave God’s town. They waited until the last moment, until the evening sacrifice, before leaving. Then they noticed that many priests were still there.
After the evening sacrifice, when the gates were closed, there were still God’s people standing watch at night. The people of Israel said goodbye to them and sang:
Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord,
Who serve by night in the house of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord.
Then the priests sang back to the multitude:
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.
This tells us that, even before daybreak, the priests were living their life; and at the very end of the night, they were still within the temple.
To be a priest, then, is a life from before daybreak to the very end of the night.
Zacharias, when he reached the third lottery, was chosen to burn incense. Thank the Lord. But this was only a portion of his daily life. That day, he not only burned incense. Earlier in the morning, he had risen; the previous night, he had already been watching in the temple.
He saw the sun going down, and he also saw the sunrise. This is a picture; it is a shadow. What is the reality?
In Leviticus 6, we see that before daybreak the priests had already arrived at the temple. They had to cleanse themselves first, and then they drew lots.
Among all the priests, the first task was to place the ashes beside the altar. This was the beginning of each priest’s daily service.
At that time, before daybreak, the priests divided into two groups. One group went eastward and then north; another went in the reverse direction. They came back to the court of the priests and declared peace.
The priest chosen by lot entered into his priestly function. The altar was beyond the women’s court. After coming through that court and climbing fifteen steps, one would see a huge altar.
The altar was enormous. The priest who placed the ashes beside the altar had to go up to the altar by a ramp on its southern side.
Throughout the night, the fire on the altar had been dimming. On the altar were three piles of wood. The largest pile was for the burnt offering, where all the sacrifices were laid.
There was also a smaller pile of wood, which became coals. When the priest entered the holy place to burn incense, the fire used for the incense had to originate from the altar.
The fire could not come from anywhere else. Remember the story of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. They offered strange fire before God, and God’s judgment came upon them.
Never offer strange fire. The altar speaks of the cross. All true fire comes from the cross. Everything outside of the cross is strange fire.
There was also the perpetual fire, because God said that the fire on the altar could not go out. The cross is a cross forever. It is an old rugged cross. It is old, but it is not cold. It is old, but it is not outdated.
The cross is eternal. The fire of the cross continues.
Before the priest could go to the altar to place the ashes beside it, he had to go first to the brazen laver.
The laver stood between the altar and the holy place. It was used to wash the hands and feet of the sons of Aaron. If they were to serve, if they were to touch the altar or enter the holy place, they first had to cleanse themselves at the laver.
Before the sun rose, how could they see the laver? It was the fire on the altar that shone, even though the day had not yet broken.
All the priests were joined together. Although one priest was outside, the others were with him. They listened for a sound to know whether the priest had arrived at the laver.
Beside the laver was a large wooden pulley. Throughout the evening, the laver was lowered into a well. When it was down, it was empty. The priest used the pulley to draw it up, and when it was raised, it was full of water.
Then he washed his hands and feet. Now he could draw near to the altar.
Because of the evening sacrifice, a lamb had been placed on the altar. Many hours after the sun had gone down, that lamb had become ashes. The priest arranged the ashes and placed them beside the altar.
Then the other priests came to work. They increased the fire on the piles of wood, because although the evening sacrifice had passed, the morning sacrifice was about to begin.
The burnt offering was not only an evening sacrifice; it was also a morning sacrifice. The sun was about to rise. Again, another burnt offering was to be offered.
The priest had the glory of coming to the altar in the early morning and placing the ashes there. You may say, “Everybody can take ashes and put them aside.” But let us think about it.
What is a burnt offering? In the Bible, the whole burnt offering was offered in its entirety. The whole lamb was offered. If a person was poor, he could offer a dove or pigeon.
The burnt offering typifies the cross. When our Lord was on the cross, He was the sin offering for us. But before He became the sin offering, He first gave Himself in His entirety.
He said:
“Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not,
But a body didst Thou prepare for Me.
Then said I, ‘Behold, I have come
To do Thy will, O God.’”
Our Lord offered up His body. On the cross, He kept nothing back and gave all of Himself. He wanted only the Father’s pleasure. No matter how difficult, no matter how painful, even though He was nailed to the cross, He was willing.
The cross begins with the burnt offering. If the Lord had not been willing, we would have no salvation. Because the Son was willing, He gave Himself entirely.
The altar always points to the cross. It always begins here. Salvation and redemption on the cross do not stop merely at redemption; God also gives us fellowship with the cross.
Because of what the Lord accomplished on the cross, we are touched. This is the fellowship of the cross. Our Lord did not keep anything back from us; therefore, from today onward, we want to consecrate ourselves completely to Him.
What He has given is one hundred percent. May we also give ourselves unto Him. This is our consecration.
The burnt offering becomes our experience. We are priests, and the priest must offer sacrifice. Paul tells us that we can offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
This sacrifice is holy. When you see a pile of ashes, you know that before dawn, an animal—a bullock or a lamb—was consumed upon the altar.
Perhaps that bullock had been in the field and contributed much to the world. Perhaps the lamb had been useful. But now it was upon the altar.
Before we consecrated ourselves, perhaps we were like a bullock in the field, contributing much to the world. But when the bullock or lamb is on the altar, it is completely for God.
Other offerings had portions for the priest or the offerer, but the burnt offering was completely for God.
When we offer our lives as living sacrifices, let us remember: when we are placed upon the altar, our old relationship to the world is finished.
The priest’s gathering of the ashes was a glorious service. Where did those ashes come from? The previous evening an animal had been sacrificed, willing to be completely burned into ashes.
When it was burned into ashes, a sweet aroma rose to God. To the world, this looked like a waste. The bullock had been useful; the lamb had been useful. Now it was only ashes.
But while everybody was sleeping, a sweet aroma was rising to God. God was satisfied.
What can satisfy God’s heart? Here is the picture: to man it is a complete waste, but to God it is a sweet aroma.
After a whole evening—perhaps a cold and bitter evening—the offering had become ashes. Brothers and sisters, when we place ourselves on the altar, many times what we go through may be a cold and bitter night.
At times you do not understand why you must go through it. But did you consecrate yourself to the Lord? We offer ourselves completely unto Him. This points to our consecration.
When the burnt offering was prepared, the inward parts had to be taken out. Something important had to be removed: the sinew of the thigh.
Do you remember the story of Jacob? When Jacob wrestled, he could not be put down. The place of his strength was in his thigh. God touched him there, and Jacob was crippled. From then on, he walked with a limp.
The children of Israel did not eat that sinew. When they offered the burnt offering, the sinew had to be removed.
Every time we offer ourselves, we are not offering our natural strength. We give the vigor of our youth to the Lord, but if we give a burnt offering, the strength of our natural life must be set aside.
In this world, your strength and youth may be useful. But before the Lord, if you offer yourself, do not offer the strength of your thigh. It has to be taken away.
You cannot say, on the one hand, “I want to consecrate myself,” and on the other hand retain yourself as though nothing has happened. You have to count the cost.
If you are truly consecrated, the result is ashes. Throughout the whole night, the fire burns slowly. What once had the shape of a lamb becomes deformed; at the very end, it becomes ash. But the sweet aroma has reached God.
How does the life of a priest begin? At the very early daybreak, before the Lord, you see that you are but ashes.
Ashes are the most useless thing. Yet that is where you can become the most useful. Do not think that because you are useful in the world, you are therefore useful before the Lord.
Every time you wake up, remember that before the Lord we are forever those ashes. We are certain that the old life has been burned; we are certain that the world is finished.
The sweet aroma has arrived before God, even though it may have come through tears and through a cold and bitter night. For the world, it is only ashes; but those ashes are a certainty to us.
Each priest begins his daily life here, before daybreak, under the light of the cross. After we are saved, there is a light from the cross.
Under that light, we can see the brazen laver. The brazen laver was made from the mirrors of women. At that time, copper was used as a mirror.
What does the brazen laver typify? It typifies the word of God. Paul tells us that Christ cleanses and sanctifies the church by the washing of water with the word.
When we come before the laver, we are cleansed. But let us remember: throughout the evening, the laver was in the depths of the well.
Through all wisdom, we are to hide God’s word in our hearts. God’s word is like the laver that cleanses us. But throughout the whole evening, it is in the depths of the well.
When the Holy Spirit wants to explain His word to us, when we read His word, it has to be brought up from the depths. As the brazen laver is brought up, it is full of water.
The Holy Spirit speaks again the word He has already spoken to us. Because of these words, we are cleansed.
Before, we loved the world. There were things we did not want to give up. We fought with the Lord and said, “Lord, give this to me. If You give this to me, I will go even to Mongolia.”
But after you wash your hands and feet at the laver, you are able to submit.
Our daily life begins with this: before we see that we are ashes, we need God’s word to speak to us. Forever we are under the light of the cross. Forever we need to remember that we are saved by grace.
We are people with no history. Our history begins with the cross. This is how the daily life begins.
The Holy Spirit can then explain spiritual reality to us. Consecration is not merely to become a priest; the purpose of consecration is to become useless in the eyes of the world.
Do you dare to become useless? When you are the most useless, that is when you are the most useful.
Moses was called when he was eighty years old. What company today wants to use an eighty-year-old? But God often looks for those whom the world regards as finished.
This is spiritual preparation. This is the beginning of the day. When the priest arrives at the altar, it is clear that the person on the altar is finished. We begin our daily life that way.
Then the other priests made the fire bigger. Why increase the fire? The ashes were already there. But now the morning sacrifice had to begin.
Once again, consecrate yourself to the Lord. We always have to renew our consecration. This is our life. Again, we increase the fire.
This was the first cycle. Then they returned, and there was another lottery—the second lottery.
The priest who drew the lot was the first to slaughter the sacrifice. If you were to offer a lamb, somebody had to slaughter the lamb. Whoever slaughtered first was regarded as receiving a glorious privilege.
The second priest received the blood. Another priest went into the holy place to remove the ashes from the incense altar. Another priest attended to the wicks of the lampstand.
Another six priests brought parts of the slaughtered animal up the ramp of the altar. The last priest of the thirteen poured the wine libation on the offering.
This was all before daybreak. It was all a work of preparation.
Many times, when we speak of service, we never prepare. When we come to the Lord’s table, we simply come together. But when we come to break bread, we offer sacrifices.
At the second cycle, they did not immediately perform the final service. They were doing preparatory work. The parts of the animal were placed on the ramp, not yet on the altar. Some went in to remove the ashes, but the incense had not yet been burned.
Before a sacrifice, somebody has to slaughter the lamb. This is all preparation. If we are to serve, we have to be prepared by the Lord.
Many people study for years to become doctors or engineers because they must be prepared to serve. But the preparation I am speaking of is not preparation at school; it is preparation in the temple.
At the end, there were thirteen priests involved. Two priests entered with two keys to open the gates of the temple, and the keys were given to the Levites to open the gates.
They could not slaughter the lamb just any old way. The morning sacrifice began at sunrise.
They went up to the summit of the temple and looked toward the east. When it began to grow light, they asked, “Does the glow extend all the way to Hebron?” If the answer was yes, a signal sounded, the gates opened, the lamb was slaughtered, and the morning sacrifice began.
Let us read Exodus 29:38.
Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs each day, continuously.
One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.
Verse 42 says:
It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.
And I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory.
And I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me.
And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.
And they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
There was to be a continual burnt offering throughout their generations. God said, “That is where I will speak to you. That is where I will meet you.”
Many times we cannot hear His word. No wonder we do not hear it. We can hear it only at this point: one lamb in the morning and one lamb at night. There He meets us; there He speaks with us.
There we become consecrated, because He consecrates us. We are His people, and He is our God. Are we not a holy priesthood and a holy nation?
This is done daily. It is amazing.
When the lamb is slaughtered, we understand what consecration is. Now we understand why Paul said, “I die daily.” We understand why the Lord said that if we are to follow Him, we must take up our cross daily.
This is our preparation. It is not yet our service. The evening sacrifice is a sacrifice, but in the morning we renew our sacrifice.
We are like that lamb slaughtered. Therefore we follow the Lord daily.
When you go out, you may meet an unfriendly face, hear an unfriendly sound, see an unreasonable boss, or meet unreasonable children. Before, you could not accept these things. But thank the Lord: daily we bear the cross and follow Him.
This is our preparation. Have you prepared? Many people say, “I am prepared. I have studied four years in seminary. I have memorized the whole Bible.” That is good, but it is not this preparation.
If you are not prepared to die to yourself, you are not prepared to serve. That is why the church is weak today.
Then daybreak came, and there was the third lot—the lottery of Zacharias. All the priests wanted this lot because they could do it only once in a lifetime.
They could come into the holy place to burn incense. Here is the spiritual meaning: incense speaks of the prayers of the saints.
When Zacharias was offering incense, the multitude was praying outside. His prayer represented all the children of Israel.
What did he pray? Of course, it was the prayer of the kingdom, because the Messiah had not yet come. They wanted the Messiah to come.
Zacharias burned incense, and the whole multitude prayed. They all wanted to see the appearing of the Messiah. Then the angel told him that God had listened to his prayer.
What had he prayed for? He had prayed that the Messiah would come. The Messiah had arrived, but the Messiah needed a forerunner. Therefore, his wife Elisabeth would bear him a son, and he would call his name John.
What is prayer? It is seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Zacharias forgot that he had no child. He remembered that the Messiah had not yet come. Because he prayed for the Messiah, God gave him John.
This is part of our daily life. We need to pray daily. First seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
What is this prayer? It is the prayer that the Lord taught us:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
As in heaven, so on earth.
Give us this day our daily bread.
The kingdom has not yet arrived. Our Lord has not yet returned. Therefore, daily we need to pray.
Every day we need our daily bread, but where do we begin? If you are a priest, prayer begins with the burnt offering. That is kingdom prayer.
The Lord teaches us this prayer not as something mechanical for us to memorize. Our prayer is kingdom prayer.
In our life, before we serve, there is consecration and there is prayer. These are the very basic elements of life.
Then comes the fourth drawing of lots. Now the priests become busy. But before you get busy, do you pray? Before you get busy, do you consecrate yourself?
Do not think that someone can be appointed a priest merely because he is an attorney, a chief executive officer, or an able speaker. This is the way of the world. In the New Testament order, all the priests serve, but there must be spiritual reality first.
When the whole service was done, they had many vessels in their hands. They were busy, but when they finished their work, they put the vessels down and turned their faces toward all the children of Israel.
Let us read Numbers 6:23.
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, “Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee;
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee,
And be gracious unto thee;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee,
And give thee peace.”
This blessing is in the name of our Lord. Once we serve, our face turns toward all the children of God—and toward the whole world.
Very naturally, our words become words of blessing. When we speak words of blessing, God says that He will bless them.
A Christian brings blessing to everyone. When somebody reviles you or opposes you, what does the Lord say? Do not curse; bless. Bless those who persecute you.
A Christian speaks one kind of word: a word of blessing. This world is full of words of cursing.
We know the story of the great revival in Wales. Before that revival, people used foul language. If the donkey they rode would not move, they cursed it. The donkey understood those words.
Then a great revival came. They no longer cursed. When they spoke to the donkey, it did not understand them anymore. That is a great revival.
What is a priest? When you lay down your vessel and go toward the world, no matter where you go, you bring God’s blessing to others. Even though they mistreat you, give them love.
If you do not come from the Holy of Holies, if you do not come from His footstool, you cannot do this. Where does your strength come from? It comes because you have worshiped God.
Now you can bless. You can bless the whole world. This is part of daily life. Let people hear our blessed words.
Do not forget: this does not include gossip. Much gossip is not blessing. All Christians should speak words of blessing.
The evening sacrifice began around the ninth hour, around three o’clock in the afternoon. Do you remember that Peter and John went up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer? There were many people there, and it was a great opportunity to preach the gospel.
At that time, there was the offering of the burnt sacrifice. After the evening sacrifice, the sun came down. The priests who had served went home, and a new group of priests arrived.
They took off their priestly garments and put on sandals. Before God, when they served, they were barefoot. Only a son wore sandals; slaves were barefoot.
Before God, they confessed that they were but slaves: “God, use me. I will crawl. I will do anything to come before You.”
A new group of priests arrived. Strictly speaking, the Jewish day was from dusk to dusk. We have changed the order and begin with the day, but in the temple the day began at sunset.
Once the sun had gone down, some remained in the temple. The Levites came to take their stations.
There were twenty-four checkpoints: twenty-one where Levites were stationed and three where priests and Levites were stationed.
The Levites prevented unauthorized people from entering. But why were the priests there? Psalm 134 makes it clear: they loved God’s house and wanted to dwell in His house.
Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord,
Who serve by night in the house of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord.
When they watched at night, it was also a time before God.
There was a captain of the temple guard who made his patrol. If he came to a station, the person stationed there had to rise and salute him. If that person was asleep, he was beaten; his clothing could even be burned.
Now we understand Revelation 16:15.
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
John understood this background. The night is coming, and our Lord is coming as a thief. We need to be alert.
Why did the priests go to the temple at night? They were waiting for the morning, so that at daybreak they could serve. They had already cleansed themselves, and they waited and waited.
What were they waiting for? They were waiting for the master of the household, the one who organized the lotteries. Nobody knew when he would come. He could come suddenly and unexpectedly, knock on the door, and they had to open it.
Let us turn to Mark 13:35.
Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning.
There are four watches. The evening watch is from six to nine; midnight is from nine to twelve; cockcrowing is from twelve to three; and morning is from three to six.
The most difficult time is when you are most likely to fall asleep. That is when Peter fell asleep. Yet the morning star comes in the fourth watch.
We do not know when the Master will knock on the door. Whether it is evening, midnight, cockcrowing, or morning, we cannot sleep.
Even though we go through the night, we are waiting for His return. When He returns and the kingdom comes, He will establish His reign. Today we suffer with Him; in that day we will be kings with Him.
Today our service is as though we are doing an internship. In that day we will truly serve Him. We can serve Him for eternity.
We do not know when the Master of the house will come. We are priests. We do not know when the High Priest will arrive and knock on the door. Are we waiting for His return? Are we waiting for the morning star?
This is our daily life.
In rabbinical writings, there is an interesting phrase concerning the coming of the master of the household. Sometimes he comes at cockcrowing, sometimes a little later, sometimes a little earlier. When he comes, they open the door to him.
Then he says to them, “Are you washed? Now another day of service can begin.”
Our service is from morning to night. Our whole life is a life of waiting for the Lord.
Today we are only doing an internship, but one day we will indeed serve. When you read Revelation 22, it gives us a glorious conclusion.
And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and His servants shall serve Him;
And they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads.
Who are His servants? It is these priests, brothers and sisters. We will all serve Him.
You may say, “I do not know how. I never learned.” Today is when we learn. Are you willing to learn today?
And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
On the one hand, we are priests; on the other hand, we are kings. Put the two together: royal priests. This is the kingdom of priests.
In the New Jerusalem, in eternity, God’s will is accomplished. Thank the Lord.
This is not merely a theory. In the Old Testament, the priests had a daily life as a picture; but the reality must happen in your life and in mine.
This should be our diary. We now know how to serve Him, how to be holy priests, and how to be royal priests.
Dear Lord, we commit these words into Your hands. We know that the time of Your return is near. We truly feel that very soon You shall return.
We are not waiting for death; we are waiting for Your return. Precious Lord, may we be those who are alert. We are waiting for the morning star.
May we be those who serve You as bondservants and reign with You forever and ever.
Precious Lord, we thank You. You have given us such glory, that we can be a chosen race and a royal priesthood.
We worship You. We give all glory to You. Thank You for giving us this calling.
Even though the meeting is over, may these words continue to be used by You. Use the tapes, use the video recordings, and use these words wherever they may go.
May these words reach many people before You return. May many answer Your call and stand by Your side. May the testimony be to Your glory and shame the enemy.
In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.