Let us pray together.
Lord, we come before You in Your presence and worship You together. We confess You as our King and our Priest. We thank You for ministering to us this morning, for caring for us, and for bringing everything so personally and yet together, that we can come as one people—Your people.
We bow before You. We pray that, in this time, we can fellowship with You as we are in Your Word; that there can be enlightenment, and that the depths in our hearts can be touched by Your Word. Lord, we pray for the deep calling to deep and for a response in our hearts.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
To begin with, I would like to read some Scriptures in Genesis 14. I realized that, last week, when we went through the story in Genesis 15, probably half of the room was not there because of children’s classes and other things.
Today we are looking especially into Melchizedek—the order of Melchizedek. Last week we looked at Melchizedek, the King and the Priest. So, for the sake of remembering the story, I am going to read a couple of verses where Melchizedek appears to Abraham.
In Genesis 14, beginning with verse 17, Abraham had just finished a battle, defeating the four armies—the four kings who had come through, wiped out many people, and taken charge of the land. They had wiped out giants, and they were fierce.
Abraham, with his 318 warriors and his friends nearby, went and took back the spoils, took back the people, and especially took back his nephew Lot. Coming back from that, we read:
And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after he had returned from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh (the same is the King’s Vale).
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:
And blessed be God Most High, Who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him a tenth of all.—Genesis 14:17-20
Another verse is in Psalm 110. This is the next time Melchizedek’s name comes up in Scripture—about a thousand years later. Psalm 110 is a psalm of David. I am going to read the first four verses because you will recognize them. This is the most quoted section in the New Testament. It is a known prophetic psalm concerning the Messiah.
The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand,
Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord will send forth the rod of Thy strength out of Zion:
Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies.
Thy people offer themselves willingly
In the day of Thy power, in holy array:
Out of the womb of the morning
Thou hast the dew of Thy youth.
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent:
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.—Psalm 110:1-4
I want to read verse 4 again, because this is a major verse used:
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent:
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.—Psalm 110:4
Last time we spent much of our time going through the actual experience in Genesis 14 and looking at the scenario that leads us to see Christ as Melchizedek. All that Melchizedek stands for, and all of that experience, is really a picture. Melchizedek himself is like a picture of Christ.
Christ is alive right now. He is the fulfillment of the prophecy we read in Psalm 110. He is the Priest who lasts forever. He is the kingly Priest like Melchizedek; His priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek.
Based on the work He finished on the cross, His ministry right now is bringing us to maturity and praying for us to come through. He stands, prays, and lives with a power that overcomes all things and will never stop. He will never die. He is living and interceding for us.
When we fall down, He prays for us, we are strengthened, and we get back up. It is similar to how the Lord Jesus prayed for Peter while He was on earth, knowing that Peter would fail at the time of the cross.
Satan asked for you, that he might sift you as wheat:
But I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not:
And do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.—Luke 22:31-32
The Lord’s ministry, even at that time as He prayed for His disciples, is happening right now, especially with us. Our present experience of the Lord is that He is praying for us, giving us grace to overcome and grace to know Him. His emphasis is especially upon bringing us to be conformed to the image of Christ and bringing us to maturity.
This ministry is such that, in the book of Hebrews, it was hard for the writer to write about it. He began to speak about Christ as the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, but he had to take a pause.
If you read Hebrews, it does not start in chapter 7 with Christ as our Priest. It actually begins in chapter 5. The writer shares how Jesus came as the Apostle of God and accomplished the work of God. Then he shares the picture of a High Priest with a sword in His hand, sacrificing a living sacrifice—which happens to be us, just as in Romans 12 we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.
In Hebrews 4 and 5, we see this Priest taking the living sacrifice and using the Word, which is the sword of the Spirit, exposing every part of the sacrifice—exposing our soul and spirit, and exposing the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
He is the High Priest doing this work with us, bringing us into a real rest: a soul-rest where we can rest from our own works, abide in Christ, and allow Him to work through us.
The writer goes on in Hebrews 5 to share more about the High Priest—how He can sympathize with us. He knows what we are going through. He experienced every temptation, except that He overcame and never sinned. Yet He can sympathize with us. He became a man. As a real, living human being—the Son of Man and the Son of God—He is alive and knows what we are going through. He is our High Priest.
But then, in the middle of Hebrews 5, the writer breaks in and says, in effect, “I cannot talk about this, because even though we should have a solid foundation by this point as Christians, we still need some basics. We need to understand how secure our salvation is.”
We need to stop trying to regain our own footing as though we must become saved again, and realize that there is something more—something further to go into. There is something to inherit. There is a crown to gain. There is something the Lord wants with us after we are saved.
The Hebrews could be confused when they messed up: “Am I no longer a Christian?” Out of all this confusion, the writer reminds them of the elementary teachings. He shares that it is impossible to try to repent again as though you are going to get saved. That would be like crucifying the Lord all over again. He was crucified for your sins. He died for your sins. This is it.
Now, as our High Priest, He is praying for something more. He is praying for us to mature. The emphasis in Hebrews is to press on, go on to maturity, and experience the life of Christ now.
This is the ministry the Lord is doing right now as our High Priest. He is praying not merely for us to exist, or merely for us not to sin, but for us to mature in Christ and experience more of the life of Christ.
In Hebrews, Psalm 110 is used quite a number of times. When the writer gets to this section, you can see that his burden is Psalm 110:4:
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.—Psalm 110:4
Not only are You a Priest after the order of Melchizedek, but the Lord swore this. This is an oath of the Lord, and He will never repent of it.
One time Psalm 110 is quoted in the New Testament is when the Lord Jesus gives a question to the religious rulers—the people who studied the Bible and tried to trick Him with questions, attempting to get Him to make a mistake.
After such a dialogue, the Lord brought out a question that stumped them. He said, “You call the Messiah the Son of David, and rightly so, because He comes from David. But how is it that David calls the Messiah his Lord?”
He was referring to Psalm 110:
The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand.
—Psalm 110:1
This is a psalm of David. David has this prophetic experience, speaking the psalm and not talking about himself at all. God the Father says to David’s Lord, this Messiah who is coming, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies like a footstool of Your feet.”
This is a declaration of the Father to His Son after His Son has risen from the dead. The declaration continues, and then He says, “You are a Priest”—but a different type of Priest. Not a Priest like the Levites. Not a Priest like the sons of Aaron. It is a different order of priesthood: the order of Melchizedek.
The Messiah did not come from Levi, as the priests did. He came from Judah. But in the order of Melchizedek, it is not about birthright or genealogy. The Lord swore and said, “This is My High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
By the time Psalm 110 was written, people began to notice the name Melchizedek. For hundreds of years, after the Law was written through Moses, people could read Genesis 14 and easily pass over this obscure passage. They would rightly see Abraham as the highlight of the story, because Abraham is the one through whom God’s purposes were being carried forward.
But then David, hundreds of years later, has this psalm. I want to bring out David and his connection with Melchizedek.
David was known as a man after God’s own heart. Before he became king, he was a man after God’s heart. When Samuel came to the sons of Jesse, even though the others looked more like kings, God said that He was looking at the heart, not the height. David was anointed because of his heart.
Some of the psalms, people believe, were written before David became king—perhaps even when he was a shepherd boy, despised by his own family. Yet David had such a heart after the Lord.
When we read the Psalms, we notice a man who can talk to the Lord like a friend. He has great respect for God; he sees God’s holiness. Yet he opens his heart and lets the Lord know when he is afraid, when he is complaining, and when he does not understand. He can even argue with the Lord in a sense, with holy respect, because he sought after God’s heart.
David says in Psalm 23:
Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.—Psalm 23:6
At David’s time, there was no house of the Lord in the sense of a temple. There was a tent, a tabernacle, and it was off to the side. After Joshua finished his course and conquered much of the land, Israel fell into confusion.
There was no longer a leader like Moses or Joshua who let God be King. Instead, there was no king over the people—not even God—and everybody did what they wanted to do.
When you read the book of Judges, one thing you should do is not learn what to do from Judges. You should learn what not to do from the book of Judges. Even when a judge rose up, there was often mixture. Even the ones we tell our children about, such as Samson—Samson is not a good example for our children.
It is kind of like modern-day superheroes, except perhaps Captain America. They are a little bit good, but also a little bit bad—not as they should be, not the kind of hero the Lord wants. These were the judges. They would rise up and, in some way, rescue Israel, though they themselves were mixed.
Samuel was the last of the judges, and he was a good judge—perhaps the only solidly pure judge. He was transitioning things and bringing in the kings. The people wanted a king like Saul, a tall man who looked like a king of the world. But God had His ideal for a king: He was raising up David.
At this time, remember Eli the priest and his sons. There was corruption in the priesthood. Even though Scripture gives a way for priests to act, Eli was not as he ought to be, and he did not control his sons as he ought to have done.
When battle came, they took the ark out of the tabernacle. Because the priests were corrupt, misunderstanding things, and offering strange fire, they did not do what they should have done to win the battle. If they had gotten right with the living God—Who could speak to them and bring them to repentance—they could have won.
Instead, they thought, “In the past, outwardly, God was with Israel and Israel won battles. Let us take God, snatch Him out of the tent, and bring Him into the battle.” But did they really take God? They did not take God. They took the ark.
With no respect, and without asking or being led by God, they brought the ark into battle, and they lost it. When Eli heard about this, it struck him so deeply that he fell over and died. He was rather plump, so it was easy to fall over and die, but he died. The glory of the Lord was gone from that tabernacle.
Eventually, the ark took care of itself. The people who captured it did not want to keep it. They could not have babies, and they had strange swellings all over them. So they got rid of the ark.
They put the ark on a cart with oxen that would normally go home, but the oxen went toward Israel. The people were excited that the ark had come back. Then they looked inside it, and again it was no good, because they were not respectful of the Lord. They became afraid of the ark.
The ark ended up at someone’s house, and that man was blessed. He respected it and took care of it. He was not a priest and did not know what he was doing, but nobody else cared.
During all these years, even when Saul was king, the actions continued in the tabernacle. Priests performed their functions; there was a high priest; everybody did things according to the law. But they missed the whole point. They missed the ark.
Who knew about this? Who cared? David sought the heart of God.
David read the Scriptures differently from us because he only had perhaps six or seven books—Genesis through Deuteronomy, maybe Joshua, and perhaps parts of Judges. He could read them over and over, contemplating them. This was his Scripture.
He saw Moses’ vision on Mount Sinai, but he also saw God’s heart behind it because he was a man after God’s heart. He did not merely see the tabernacle in all its colors and curtains. He saw that the ark was at its center. This was what mattered with the tabernacle and the tent.
As David read Scripture, he looked for the heart of God. This is the heart of a priest—a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek’s priesthood was before all the rules and designs of the later priesthood, but David had that heart.
David did not have the title or the position. He was not carrying out those priestly actions. But his concern was for the house of God, as a priest’s concern should be.
When David became king, one of the first things he did was bring the ark back. It did not return to the tabernacle. At first, David did not understand, and they brought it on a cart, just as the Philistines had done. When the path became rough and the ark started to fall, someone touched it and died.
Again, everyone had holy fear, realizing that even though God is good, God is dangerous. David set the ark aside, and I believe he sought the Scriptures as a real man after God’s own heart. He desired God’s presence and recognized it as the centerpiece of God’s people.
David did not give up and say, “I do not want anything to do with this God Who would kill someone just for holding out his hand to hold up the ark.” Instead, he searched the Scriptures and discovered that there was a certain way to travel with the ark—God’s way.
The ark needed poles, and men from the tribe of Levi needed to carry it. It was not to be transported on a cart as the Philistines had done. When David discovered this, he said, in effect, “It did not work because we did not have the priests.”
Then they brought the ark with worship, dancing, and amazement into Jerusalem. David searched the Scriptures, discovered God’s heart, and acted on it, even when no one else understood it. The priests especially should have known: “We have the tent, but we are missing the main thing. We are missing God’s presence.”
The second thing that especially shows David’s heart is that one of the first things he did when he became king was take Jerusalem.
Here is David’s connection with Melchizedek, I believe. I am going to assume something, but I think it is an educated guess. Why did David take Jerusalem?
Even in the time of Joshua, much had been conquered, but not everything. The Jebusites remained in Jerusalem for hundreds of years. Yet David wanted to set up his rulership in Jerusalem.
If you read Genesis through Deuteronomy multiple times, especially Deuteronomy, you find a phrase that expresses the Lord’s heart. At the time of David, there was no Jerusalem in the nation of Israel. No one possessed or had conquered the city. The tabernacle was still off to the side.
But David read in Deuteronomy that the Lord said, repeatedly, “When you come into the land, there will be a place where I will set My name. That is where you will bring your gifts and your worship.”
For us, this is easy to overlook because we know about Jerusalem and its future. But at that time, Moses had not said which city it would be. Nobody knew where God would set His name, and apparently nobody cared. Through the time of the judges, the tent stayed where it was, and nobody seemed concerned about God’s heart.
But David, as a man after God’s heart, sought the Lord. When you seek the Lord with Scripture and prayer, you ask, “Lord, where do You want to set Your name? It seems like we have never found it. There is a place You did not tell us about. The tabernacle has rested, but it is not the place where You want to set Your name.”
In Genesis 14 and 15, the Lord tells Abraham, in covenant, that his people would become great but would be taken into captivity for four hundred years. Then the Lord says that the wickedness of the land is not yet complete.
God is merciful. Even when judgment is deserved, He gives multiple chances, delays, and much time. Though there was great wickedness in Canaan in Abraham’s time, there was a testimony somewhere in the land that was not evil. There was a man standing there for the Lord’s sake and for the Lord’s name: Melchizedek.
There was a testimony in the city of Salem. There was an expression, a salt, on the earth right there—something preserving the land amid its corruption. It was Melchizedek. There was a light shining even among those walking in wickedness.
Abraham discovered Melchizedek, king of righteousness and king of peace. If David was a man after God’s heart, seeking the Lord for the place in the promised land where God would set His name, perhaps he found that the one place where the Lord’s name had already been established was Salem.
By David’s time, Salem was Jerusalem. It was the foundation of Salem. It had once been Salem, but now the Jebusites were there. By enlightenment from the Lord, because David sought God’s heart, he discovered that Jerusalem was where God wanted to put His name.
David was the one who found what God wanted—the hidden secret in Deuteronomy. He took Jerusalem, made it his capital, and established the city of David there.
Later, through David’s own mistake in numbering the people, the prophet came and declared judgment. David chose to fall into the mercy of God. An angel swept through the land with destruction, but at a certain spot the angel stopped.
The angel stopped at a threshing floor. David bought that threshing floor with his own money, and the Lord said, “This is where I want to build My house. This is My spot.” That was where the temple was eventually built.
David discovered God’s heart almost by himself. He saw that the tabernacle was not enough. The tabernacle was for the journey, but now they were in the land, and they had found the place where God wanted to set His name.
David said, “I have a house. I want the Lord to have a house. It is not right for me to have a house while the Lord does not have one.” He said that he would not sleep until the Lord had a house. It was a little foolish—like saying, “I am going to fast until I find a wife,” because you may die first—but his heart was right. The Lord should have a house.
The prophet initially said, “Your heart is right. Do what you want to do.” But then he went back and prayed, and the Lord said, “Not quite.” The prophet returned and told David, “Prepare for the house, but because you are a man of war, your son will build it.”
David received the design and the location of the house. He gathered the materials through his battles and with his own money. He prepared the way for the house of God. His real concern was for the Lord’s things.
David was a king with a king’s heart after God. He was a king who had the heart of a priest.
When David brought the ark back to Jerusalem, where God wanted to put His name, the old tabernacle did not come with it. Instead, David put up a tent—a tent just for the ark. It is called David’s tent in some prophecies concerning the future.
Where was the real house of God during that time? Spiritually speaking, it was not in the tabernacle, which had become outward form—following rules while missing reality and the presence of God.
The house of God, in experience, was in David’s tent. David did not try to act as though he knew how to reproduce the tabernacle. He put up a tent, and real worship happened there.
David’s heart was, “Lord, that I may dwell in Your house forever.” His heart was, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” This is David’s heart.
This David, who probably discovered these things about Jerusalem from the story of Melchizedek, was given the prophecy of Psalm 110 as he sought the Lord. The prophecy definitely speaks about the Messiah and the future to come.
The letter to the Hebrews teaches us much about the Lord as Melchizedek, our High Priest. Today I want to focus more particularly on the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews especially emphasizes that this priesthood is better than the priesthood of Aaron. Melchizedek’s story does not show his genealogy or where he came from. Some Jews thought that Melchizedek was Shem, perhaps even Shem himself, because Shem was alive in Abraham’s time.
But that is mainly because they did not want a Gentile man blessing Abraham, the father of their nation. It is not reasonable, realistic, or scriptural, because we do not have Melchizedek’s genealogy, while we do have Shem’s genealogy.
On purpose, the Lord keeps Melchizedek obscure. If you look for extra-biblical accounts of him, much of it is illogical and unscriptural. You would do better to write your own story, because what people have invented does not match the Scriptures.
God lets him be someone with only a few verses on purpose because Hebrews 7 says that he is “assimilated to the Son of God.” This means he is like the Son of God.
The word was used by Philo of painters: Melchizedek is like a picture of the Son of God. He is made like the Son of God. This is how the types work in the Old Testament.
We tend to think that the Lord Jesus came later in time, so that He is kind of like Isaac or kind of like David. But actually, David is kind of like the Lord Jesus. God made David like Jesus. God made Isaac like the Son of God.
When God brings out someone and records his history, He is bringing that person to be like His Son. He is bringing everyone to be a picture of His Son. This is the focus of all Scripture. It is the same with Melchizedek.
Some believe Melchizedek was an appearance of the Son of God in the land at that time—a theophany, where God appears in human form. The Lord did this a few times in the Old Testament.
Many understand that Jacob wrestled with God, that there was a man in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and that one of the three visitors who came to Abraham before Sodom’s judgment was a manifestation of the Lord Jesus before His incarnation.
It is possible that Melchizedek was that. It is not a problem if you see it one way or another. For myself, considering the circumstances and the story, I think Melchizedek was a real man at the time, but that he is a definite picture of the Lord Jesus.
Either way, whether it was the Lord Jesus appearing or another man who was a picture of the Lord Jesus, the important thing is that Christ is the real Melchizedek right now. Everything points to Christ as our King and Priest. He is alive, and He is interceding for us.
He came after the order of Melchizedek. That means He is like Melchizedek: without genealogy, different from the Levites, who had to come from a family tree. The Levites also died. We do not know when Melchizedek died, on purpose, because the picture is that he lives forever.
All the priests descended from Aaron kept dying. Even good ones arose, but then they died. Our Lord Jesus will never die. You do not need to fear that He will stop praying for you because He might die.
Our Lord Jesus exercised this type of priesthood in the way He lived on earth. If we are to be in the order of Melchizedek as Christians, it will be like our Lord Jesus, Who is in the order of Melchizedek.
There has been a common understanding among Christians, recovered hundreds of years ago, that we are all called to be priests. But what kind of priests are we called to be? We should be priests like our Lord Jesus, after the order of Melchizedek.
These priests are kings and priests.
When I was in high school, I was interested in serving the Lord. There was a man attending the college I planned to attend—or perhaps he was at the seminary across the street—and he was doing something like Young Life. I spent time with him in meetings and talked with him.
One time he said to me, “Nobody understands me when I say this, and it sounds crazy, but I think everybody is supposed to be a pastor.” I remember thinking he was very strange. I was under a pastor and considering all these things, and he said that everybody had the calling to be a pastor.
But what he saw was the priesthood of all believers. He saw that we are all in the order of Melchizedek in this priesthood. We are all called to be kings and priests.
In certain church groups in America, they do not call people priests; they may call them ministers or pastors. If they do it rightly, some are really after God’s heart. They serve the Lord and serve His people. They are not ruling over people—at least, not always. Of course, men can corrupt it.
These men may have an outward title. People may call them “Reverend So-and-So” or “Pastor So-and-So.” When you have that, you may suddenly realize, “I am a priest; I am a pastor. I have to walk differently. I always represent God. This is my job.”
But it is not merely because they get paid for it. In many groups, they do not get paid. When I was in training, I met faithful men of God serving their hearts out in little country churches of fifty people, or in poor areas with no money. They worked another job.
Yet they knew they were priests. They knew their whole life was to serve God. They knew they were called for this. But that man had told me that we are all called for this, and I could not understand it.
I had heard some history about the priesthood of all believers, but I reduced it to this: “Okay, that means we should all be active in the church.” I was part of a small group, and we were all a little active.
But it is a different mindset for those who realize they are called as kings and priests. Even though they might use the term “pastor,” they recognize that this is what their life is about.
What have I said this morning? Taken in the right sense, you all have the same responsibility and calling as the pastor—not pastor in the scriptural sense, but in the way that term is commonly used in America: someone serving the Lord with their whole heart, at least in theory.
You are all called as priests. When we hear “priest,” we may think of something Old Testament, something vague, or something in Catholicism or another denomination. But in the scriptural sense, a priest is someone serving with everything.
The feeling of one with this calling—upon all of us—is that this is what my life is about. This is our calling for the future, and it is our calling right now.
To show this, let us consider a few verses. First, 1 Peter 2:9. The order of Melchizedek is a kingly priesthood.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
—1 Peter 2:9
This is a quotation from Exodus, before there was a Levitical priesthood. Before the failure of Israel, before God said He would take one tribe and make them priests, He told all the Israelites, “You are all kings and priests. You are all a kingdom of priests.” Now this is spoken to us as Christians.
You are all kings and priests. It is a kingdom of priests.
In Revelation 1:5-6, notice that these two things are packaged together—kings and priests, or kingdom and priests. Remember that Melchizedek was a king and also a priest. This is the order of the Lord Jesus’ priesthood, and it is our order as well.
Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood;
And He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father;
To Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.—Revelation 1:5-6
Then in Revelation 5:9-10:
Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
For Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests;
And they reign upon the earth.—Revelation 5:9-10
Here it is again: kings and priests. Those redeemed out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation are made kings and priests to God. It is not about where you come from or your bloodline.
In Revelation 3:21, one of the rewards promised to the overcomers is this:
He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne,
As I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.—Revelation 3:21
We sit with Him on His throne. The kingship style—the order of Melchizedek way to which we are called—is to sit with Him on His throne. It is not that you have your own kingdom. We are a kingdom of priests, but Who is the King? It is Christ, our Melchizedek.
Any kingly exercise is based upon His kingship. Any serving, ministry, or rulership is the exercise of His rulership. You do not receive your own throne so you can make people look and act however you want them to look and act.
The kingdoms of the world work that way. The kingdom of our God is that Christ is King. You sit with Him on His throne and reign with Him.
In Revelation 20:4-6, Christians are described as sitting on thrones. They live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Then we read:
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:
Over these the second death hath no power;
But they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
And shall reign with Him a thousand years.—Revelation 20:6
Then, at the end of Revelation, this is for everybody:
And there shall be no curse any more:
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.
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.—Revelation 22:3-5
Your calling as Christians, no matter how much you have failed, is that if you are born again, at some point you shall reign unto the ages of ages. How do you reign? It says right there: “His servants shall serve Him.”
It is confusing if we think about it in a worldly way. But if you have experienced the Lord as your King, you understand that it is all His kingship flowing through people. Any authority or experience of authority comes in that way.
The priesthood we exercise is a kingly priesthood, but it is a servant-King’s priesthood. It is the kind of kingship in which those who serve the most are the ones who truly exercise it.
We may think of kings like worldly kings—those who rule over other people. But when you think of our Lord Jesus as King, what did He do? What was His kingly way on earth?
He is the King who washed the feet of His disciples. He is the King who came riding on a donkey, lowly. Here is the servant King. Here is the King serving God, representing God, and laying down His life for others.
If you think of a king as one who serves the most, then this is something we can receive. Sometimes we think, “I am not a king. Perhaps in the future I will transform into something different and look kingly, and people will call me King So-and-So.” It is not like that.
The kingdom way is the way of Christ the King. Those who serve the most and take the lowest place experience the kingship the most.
When the disciples wanted to be on the left and right hand of the Lord Jesus, the sons of thunder had their mother ask Him. He said, “You do not know what you are asking.” He did not deny that there was a position, but He asked whether they could drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism.
They did not understand what kind of kingship they were discussing. Even at sensitive times, the disciples kept arguing, “Who is going to be the greatest?” Their whole mind had to be renewed.
What is a real king according to God? This matters because this is what will happen for eternity. Our priesthood after the order of Melchizedek is one that will last forever.
Whether you walk in it now and gain it for future reward, or whether you are in eternity as a believer, the way is this kingly priesthood.
What does this mean? What would we actually be doing?
I would encourage us to take some baby steps. Often we can become discouraged, thinking, “I am not ready to exercise any kingship,” or, “I am no priest of the Lord.”
First, I encourage you: this is your calling, so walk in it. If you feel, “I just messed up. I keep messing up. I am not mature enough yet,” remember that we must take beginning steps or we will never mature.
We need to see Christ as our High Priest praying for us. What is He praying? One thing He is praying is that you would walk in the kingly, priestly ministry to which you are called. This is the way into maturity.
One of the first things is to be someone who ministers to the Lord and seeks His face. The first thing for a priest is to be in the presence of the Lord, seeking His face and ministering to Him.
This is what happened in the tabernacle and the house of God. I believe it is what Melchizedek experienced. This is how he knew the things of God’s heart.
Where do you start as a Christian? You start by serving the King. If you are going to exercise any kingship, you begin by letting Him be your King. If you are going to be a priest and minister to His people in whatever ways He leads, the first thing is to minister to the Lord. Out of this, all the overflow will come.
How do you minister to the Lord? Have you ever actually tried this? As a Christian, have you ever set apart time and wasted it with the Lord? I wonder how much David did this—how many times he set apart time, wasting it with the Lord, simply seeking His face.
Think about praying, but not praying for something or for a need you have, or even for someone else’s need. Set aside some time on a normal day and say, “Lord, what is on Your heart? Lord, what are You thinking about? What do You care about? What is Your will—Your great will? What are You after?”
This places you in a whole other realm of relationship with the Lord. It gradually brings us into the friendship relationship with God. It is not just, “Lord, what do You want me to do? What things do I need to obey so that I do good?” Rather, you seek His face with a different kind of heart—the heart of King David.
When you search the Scriptures, seek to know the Lord’s heart. Sometimes we search the Bible only to find rules: “Does the Bible say anything about this? Is it okay for me to do this? Is this sin? The Bible does not say anything about it, so I must be able to do it.”
But when you read Scripture, look behind the rules, and you will discover the reality. The Lord Jesus showed what was behind the commandments. The commandment says, “Do not commit adultery,” but God is also concerned with adultery in the heart. Do not look upon someone to lust after them.
Likewise, it is not merely, “Do not kill someone.” You may say, “I have not killed anyone yet, so I am doing really well.” But when you see God’s heart behind the commandment, you understand: do not have murderous hatred.
Then the Lord can speak to you and convict you. David sought the Lord concerning all the rules of the tabernacle, but he was asking, “What is behind it? What is Your heart?” God’s heart was His presence with His people: “I want to dwell with them. I want to be with them.”
If you begin in this way, in relationship with the Lord, you are first His servant. It is the only way you can be His king—a miniature king. The only way you can exercise kingly authority is by absolutely serving Him.
As He becomes your King, He will first bring you to rule over yourself.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
And he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.—Proverbs 16:32
It is impressive to take a city. If you can capture a city, you are tough. But if you can rule your spirit, you are tougher. This is where the Lord begins if you are to exercise kingship.
He does not begin by sending you to shut down all the sinful buildings in the city. He begins by having you rule yourself. As the apostle Paul said, discipline your body and make it your slave. Have your body under control so that it does what it should do. Have your mind under control so that you think on things above.
Do not let your mind wander into everything that appears before you. You see an image, and then you are lost in your mind. This is what happens through the direction and corruption of the world. Our minds become too loose.
But first have control. Be a king over yourself. By the Lord’s kingship, be consecrated and allow Him to be your King. Then seek the Lord’s heart.
Out of seeking the Lord’s heart, something will happen. After He deals with us, becomes our King, lets us experience His rulership, and refreshes us with His presence, He shares His heart with us.
The joy of this priestly ministry is the presence of the Lord. This is the best part. But out of it, He says, “What about My people?”
As you are in His presence, seeking His face, you begin to pray for His people. It may only be a few people, but He puts certain people on your heart.
First, you minister to the Lord. Then, as an overflow of seeking Him, you minister to His people by praying for them. You see someone sinning unto death; pray for them to have life. You see someone stumbling; pray for them. You may not even know what is happening, but you pray for them.
You are not necessarily going out and doing something yet. You are praying for someone. This is truly exercising kingly authority. The King of kings puts something on your heart. He has a will on earth that He wants done, just as it is already done in heaven.
When you pray for that person, someone on earth is serving the King. He can use those prayers. He can bring someone through.
Abraham prayed for Lot and prayed for the city of Sodom. The Lord sent the two angels in to rescue Lot and his family because He had a man on earth praying for His will.
That is why the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?” Abraham was His friend. God showed Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom because of its great wickedness. Abraham, as a friend of God, exercised this kingly-priestly ministry.
Abraham did not go into Sodom with his 318 trained servants and rescue everyone before the fire came. But he stood for God’s will and prayed. His prayers worked. They mattered. They counted.
Prayer is not merely a duty we ought to perform. It is actually the exercise of kingly authority. When you see something wrong happening, first try prayer.
One brother used to say to me, “For this one, I am going by way of the throne. I am not going to talk to this person. I am not going to bring it up. I am going by way of the throne.” What he meant was that he was going to pray.
I learned this from him, and I began to try it myself—not to speak so quickly, but to go by way of the throne first. Exercise authority without saying anything. It is not your authority. But as a servant of the King, you see what the King wants.
He does not want things to remain dead. He does not want a person to continue in sin. As you pray, the Lord may change things through prayer. Most of all, He changes things through prayer.
This is a real priestly ministry. It is hidden, effective, and powerful when it takes place in the presence of the Lord, as a real king and priest. This is our calling. We are all called to it.
Out of this, there will sometimes be an overflow of action. The Lord may lead you to do small things with individuals. You may send an email, write a letter, or call someone at exactly the right moment—perhaps when they are full of temptation and really do not want to talk to you.
But because you have been in the presence of the Lord and have ministered to His people in prayer, you may feel, “Call that person.” You call and say, “How are you doing? I was praying for you.” Who knows what will happen?
Perhaps you have received an awkward text or phone call at just the wrong time. Someone says, “Hey, how are you doing?” and you think, “I wish you had not written me, because I was about to waste time. But now I realize I have to walk with the Lord.” Praise God. Somebody just exercised kingly ministry.
Someone just exercised the rulership of Christ and priestly ministry—ministering God to people and bringing people to God. You pray for them and then bring them to Him. You may have a word in season, really from the heart of God, to share with someone.
This also happens in meetings. Do you feel responsibility when the church gathers, as one called to be a kingly priest?
I am going to use a term that is badly corrupted in America: the capital-P Pastor. I am not speaking of the scriptural pastor, but of the feeling associated with a capital-P pastor or priest in the corrupted situation of Christianity.
Part of that feeling is right: the sense of responsibility. The feeling that says, “This meeting—I am really responsible for this.” With all of us, there are no capital letters and no titles, but does the realization of your calling as a king and priest rest upon you?
How would you act if you had this responsibility? What would you do differently? You begin to pray for the gatherings.
All meetings are different when you pray for them. I have gone to many meetings without praying for them. But wherever you are, if you pray for the meeting before you come, it is totally different. Perhaps there is a change in you, but I believe there are also changes in the gathering.
I have seen a dead gathering changed by one person many times. It is not always a mature person. But if somebody prays for the time and comes in after being in the presence of the Lord, that person can affect the gathering.
They do not stand up and say, “Okay, everyone, we have to stop being dead and do something lively.” Rather, they have prayed, and they come with their little weak prayer and little weak tears. Their prayer opens the fragrance of Christ.
Suddenly, from the presence of the Lord, from the house of God, His presence comes into the gathering. This is kingly ministry. A real change has happened. This is real authority from the King, exercised by His servants.
You are not coming in as a bossy king of the world. You are coming in as a servant of all people. But by God’s grace, by the indissoluble life He has put within you—the Melchizedek life, the eternal life—you exercise an interceding ministry.
You stand with Him Who prays for you, and you pray for others. Then you come into a gathering. You may have something to say, but at least you can bring the fragrance and presence of the Lord. And the prayers are effective.
Another area is your ministry in the world. This can be difficult because it does not always affect us directly, though sometimes it does.
How often do you watch the news? It is interesting, but as someone called as a king and priest, consider the real Melchizedek in the land. When he heard of the four kings coming into the land, this was news. People probably told him about the battles.
But what would a high priest do? What would a kingly priest do? He probably took it back to the Lord: “Lord, what is Your interest right now? What is Your will in this land? What is happening? I see this news, but I do not know what is going on. What is on Your heart?”
As he prayed, I do not know all that he prayed, but he prayed for the Lord’s will to be done. When you hear about all the corruption in the world, do not merely become distracted by news and gossip. Take it to the Lord.
A believer who seeks the Lord as a priest and king can pray for the Lord’s will on earth as it is in heaven. It actually works. It can work as a group or as an individual, but it must be cultivated in our hearts.
You see something happening. Take it to the Lord. Perhaps He shows you something of His heart. Perhaps you search the Scriptures and find something. Either way, you are in the right place.
The church really does affect the whole world. Much of the corruption happening now is because the church has not been salt and light in the world. It is because we are not acting like kings.
Christians are supposed to be acting like kings right now—kings under the King of kings. But we do not believe what we do matters. We do not believe that the way we live preserves the earth.
Yet when Christians who walk with the Lord are taken from the earth, all the salt is gone, and corruption quickly increases. Christians praying make a difference.
It was because of Melchizedek standing in the land that God did not destroy the land. It is because someone has a testimony, walks with the Lord, and prays for His interests that worse things do not happen.
Everything the enemy wants to unleash is held back. All that mankind desires to do in its corruption is restrained to some degree because some are exercising their kingly and priestly duties through prayer.
This also works in your relationship with individuals in the world. If you are praying for the Lord’s heart and run into someone who does not know the Lord, do you approach that person as a king and priest after the order of Melchizedek?
Many times, when we have no heart for unbelievers, it is because we have not first been ministering to the Lord. If we minister to Him and pray for people, we gain His heart.
Even if you are the most awkward person to talk to, even if you do not know how to answer questions or what to say, even if it is uncomfortable, someone who has prayed for a person and ministered to the Lord has spiritual strength.
I have seen terrible witnessing happen, and it works. I have seen the most awkward person share, and I cringe while listening. But behind it, that person had been praying. Behind it, there is spiritual strength.
Because of that spiritual strength, blindness is removed. Scripture says that people do not see the glory of the gospel of Christ because the god of this world, Satan, has blinded their thoughts.
Even if you are skilled, trained, and able to answer every difficult question, you may not help much if the blindness remains. What helps is someone coming as a kingly priest, exercising Christ’s authority.
The dark shades are removed while you speak. You may fumble around and say many wrong things, but perhaps three words out of a hundred suddenly click. Eyes are opened, and someone gets saved.
It is because of the strength behind it, not because of your skills. Abraham’s 318 trained servants did not have enough natural ability to defeat the four kings by themselves. It was because of the strength behind them—because of the priestly ministry behind it.
By God’s grace, I have been trying to experience this, and it is a real joy. As I read through Paul’s life, I see him as a kingly priest. I do not have time to go into all of it, but if you read, you will see it.
Paul had no title as a king, but when he went somewhere, he brought the kingship of Christ. He was not pushing people around or bringing people into his own kingdom, but there was authority in what he did.
I have taken encouragement from this: we have this calling upon us. I see the Lord as our King and Priest, standing and praying, but almost pleading with us: “Will you rise up? Will you rise up and be My kings? Will you rise up and be My priests?”
In the song we sang beforehand, it is like moving past the brazen altar and entering the holy place. Then it says that you stand in awe, worship Him, and open your heart. This is your ministry.
I believe the Lord, as our High Priest, stands right now. I sense His presence and His calling upon all of us. I want to bring encouragement to the saints: you are actually a king and a priest.
Not in the sense of having your own kingdom, and not in a false worldly way. But catch this: you are responsible. You are responsible to be active in the house of God.
We are all responsible. We are responsible to seek the Lord’s heart. It is our eternal responsibility. You are a priest after the order of Melchizedek for eternity. We are in this calling right now.
Enjoy it. Spend time before the Lord’s face and seek His face. Be ministered to by Him. Realize that He is praying for you. Take the same experience, the same encouragement, and step into the order of Melchizedek.
You are a priest after the order of Melchizedek. This is our Christ, but He is calling us in the same way. I would borrow the phrase and put a lowercase “you” in it: you are a priest in the order of Melchizedek.
You are called as kings and priests. The Lord is making us servant-kings who serve Him and exercise this ministry.
When we come together as a church, imagine what it would be like if you put a room full of pastors here. But I can tell you, that is what we have: a room full of priests. We have a room full of real ones who are actually responsible.
Not worldly kings, and not worldly pastors, but people called by God to minister to one another.
The early Bible translators into English fought against the clergy-laity system as well. They did not want the Bible in English because then everybody could read it. Then everybody could be like a priest. Then everybody could know about God.
Many people died so that we could be kings and priests. One declaration was that a farm boy—an ignorant boy—would know more of the Word than the highest priest or even the pope.
This is the way. In a gathering where everybody is active, you can place someone anywhere, and they walk with this responsibility. If people were scattered and placed in a false clergy-laity setting, many could become priests or ministers.
But imagine the right way: the Lord puts everyone in the same room, and everyone carries responsibility. Everyone prays and cares about the gatherings. There is not much complaining; there is “com-praying,” if you can say it that way. You see the need, and because you feel responsibility, you begin to exercise the kingly priesthood placed upon you.
If you have ever been responsible for a discussion group, you know that every flaw in the group suddenly feels as though it rests upon you. I enjoy not being the discussion group leader. I can relax and share a little. If everyone is quiet, I can watch the leader become uncomfortable and talk too much.
But what rests upon the leader is responsibility. Now imagine that all of us are there with the feeling that something is slightly off, yet with a heart for God.
Imagine that every time you gather at a prayer meeting, you care how it goes—not merely to get through it, but because you care as though it is your meeting, because it is the King’s meeting.
This is the way of a kingly priest. I believe this is an encouragement from the Lord for us to be active—to be active in the right way and to exercise this kingly-priestly ministry.
Let us pray together.
Lord, our confession this morning is that You are our Priest. You are our King. We have benefited, and we have been prayed for.
Lord, we want to repent of not responding to Your prayers in some ways, and of not walking in the ministry You have given us.
Oh Lord, we thank You for such a good calling, such a blessed direction, and such a way that You have called us to, even though it is confusing to us. We think of kings and think of something else.
Lord, we pray for revelation of Your kingly way in our hearts. I pray for revelation of the responsibility upon us for Your house, for the things of God, and to care and know the heart of God.
Lord, I pray that You would meet us, touch us, and bring us through in this. Bring us all to have that active way about us.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.