A Holy Priesthood series Archives

A Holy Priesthood: Interceding

Peter says believers are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), drawing parallels with the priesthood established under the Law. Peter packs a lot of information and theological truth in that one metaphor. We’ve been breaking down what Peter wants us to understand. The first thing is God has cleansed us from our sin. We are specially clothed. We are anointed for service. As we serve, we must remain obedient. And one of the first commands we are given is to teach people God’s word. Today, we’ll finish with the sacred duty of interceding for others.

Old Testament priests interceded for the people

When we think of priests, we think of sacrifices. It was the priest’s job to offer the sacrifices on behalf of the people. Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest represented the people as he entered the Holy of Holies to seek atonement for their (and his own) sins. Leviticus 16 gives the details on the priest’s duties that day.

Later, in the prophets, the priests are called on to cry out to God for the people. For instance, in Joel 2:17 it reads, “Let the priests, the LORD’S ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD…”” In Malachi, the Lord instructs the prophet to call out the priests whose actions, namely bringing dregs for offerings, undermine their words. “And now ask for God’s favor. Will He be gracious to us? ⌊Since⌋ this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts. Malachi 1:9

Even when they failed, there was nonetheless an expectation of intercession for the people.

Jesus intercedes for us

John 17 records Jesus’s prayer in the Upper Room. In verses 6-24, He prays for our protection, our joy, our sanctification and our unity, among other things. But His intercession didn’t end with the conclusion of His earthly ministry. Hebrews explains His high priestly work and is worth reading the entire book. But here’s one example in Chapter 7

[B]ut Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 7:24-25

Believers have a duty of interceding for others

Paul serves as a great example of intercession. My favorite intercessory prayer of his is Ephesians 3:14-21. In all of the epistles, we find examples of the writers praying for their readers and others, and asking for prayer for themselves as well. However, in 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul commands us to intercede.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
1 Timothy 2:1-2

We are to pray for all, then specifically for those who have authority. James adds a call to pray for the sick.

Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
James 5:14

Prayer was a distinctive mark in the early church.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42

Being a priest in the Old Testament carried a great responsibility. Being a New Testament priest does too. Let us embrace this call and fulfill the duty God has entrusted to us through Christ.

A Holy Priesthood: Teaching

By Paula Wiseman

Peter says believers are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), drawing parallels with the priesthood established under the Law. Peter packs a lot of information and theological truth in that one metaphor. So, let’s take a few posts to break down what Peter wants us to understand. The first thing is God has cleansed us from our sin. We are specially clothed. We are anointed for service. As we serve, we must remain obedient. And one of the first commands we are given is teaching people God’s word.

Old Testament priests were to instruct the people

Last week, we saw in the beginning of Leviticus 10 that obedience to God and His commands was a serious charge, one that Nadab and Abihu passed off and suffered the consequences. God reaffirmed to Aaron the importance of ensuring the people understood what God expected of them. Their lives literally depended on it.

You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses.”
Leviticus 10:10-11

In Deuteronomy 17:8-11, Moses describes to the second generation of Israelites how the priests are to functions as judges. Because they know and understand God’s laws, they are qualified to settle disputes in the nation.

After Babylonian captivity, Nehemiah arranged for Ezra the priest to read the entire Law to the generation returning to Judah. Nehemiah 8:1-8 describes as Ezra read, a team of priests and Levites helped explain and interpret the Law for the people listening. (It’s also worth noting the great respect for the Word of God. The people stood out of reverence the entire time Ezra read.)

Teaching was key to Jesus’s ministry

Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Matthew 9:35

Jesus spent a good deal of His earthly ministry explaining and expounding on the Old Testament Law and the rest of God’s Word. In fact, one of the things people noticed about Him was His authority in teaching. It was unlike any other teacher they had ever heard.

New Testament believers are commissioned to teach

As believers following Christ’s example, we need to make sure we are communicating God’s word effectively. This means all of us, not just those specifically serving as preachers or teachers. Christ commissioned us to do so in Matthew 28:18-20.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20

Paul reminds us, though, that we have help from the Holy Spirit.

We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
1 Corinthians 2:13

Paul also underscores how important it is to our daily lives.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Colossians 3:16

As New Testament priests, one of our sacred duties is teaching the Word to those who don’t yet believe and also to each other. That means it is extremely important that we devote ourselves to studying God’s Word and sitting under good teaching.

Next week, we’ll look at our other key duty as priests: intercession.

A Holy Priesthood: Obedient

By Paula Wiseman

Peter says believers are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), drawing parallels with the priesthood established under the Law. Peter packs a lot of information and theological truth in that one metaphor. So let’s take a few posts to break down what Peter wants us to understand. The first thing is God has cleansed us from our sin. We are specially clothed. We are anointed for service. As we serve, we must remain obedient.

Old Testament priests were expected to obey God’s commands

We don’t know how much time passed between the ordination and installation of the priests in Leviticus 8-9 and the beginning chapter 10, but it was relatively soon after. Moses records

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.
Leviticus 10:1-3

Nadab and Abihu were Aaron’s two oldest sons. In Exodus 24:1. They were privileged to be called to an intimate meeting in God’s presence with the elders of Israel on Mt. Sinai. They had been through extensive preparation for their roles just like Aaron their father had been. And they knew what was expected of them. In spite of that, they were disobedient and disrespectful. This was a capital offense. Aaron, even in his shock and grief, understood.

Later in the Old Testament, the prophets, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, denounce the priests who have completely abandoned the role and charge God entrusted them with. Consider these pronouncements in Ezekiel:

Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. … Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 22:26, 31

Obedience is the mark of believers

A follower of Christ is one who obeys His teachings and commands and imitates His life. It is preposterous to suggest we can believe Christ for salvation and then reject everything else He said. Hearing and doing are irrevocably tied together. At the end of Luke 6. Jesus tells a parable about a wise builder and a foolish builder. The key difference? The wise builder hears Jesus’s words and obeys them. Later in Luke 17, in a parable about a servanthood, Jesus tells His followers:

“So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”
Luke 17:10

It is our duty to do what we have been commanded to do. And in the Great Commission, Jesus further says, we must teach new believers to obey His commands. The New Living Translation puts it simply.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20

If we don’t obey, are we in danger of being consumed by fire? That’s the wrong question. We have a completely different motivation as believers. Paul explains (in one of my favorite verses) in Galatians

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

The life I now live is one of faith in Christ and constant recognition of what He has done for me. Obedience flows naturally from that. If we are struggling to obey, we need to revisit Christ’s sacrifice for us and what He saved us from.

Next up, we’ll begin looking at what we as believers do as part of a holy priesthood.

A Holy Priesthood: Anointed

By Paula Wiseman

Peter says believers are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), drawing parallels with the priesthood established under the Law. Peter packs a lot of information and theological truth in that one metaphor. So let’s take a few posts to break down what Peter wants us to understand. The first thing is God has cleansed us from our sin. We are specially clothed. Next priests are anointed for service.

Old Testament priests were anointed for service.

Leviticus 8:12-30 tells of the ceremony God directed Moses to use to install Aaron and his sons as the priests for the nation of Israel. There were sacrifices to consecrate the priests as well as the altars that would be used. The men were anointed. They ate a ceremonial meal and then remained separated from the people for seven days while continuing to offer more sacrifices.

The anointing was a visible sign to everyone that the priests was chosen, set apart and empowered to carry out his duties by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was the Anointed One.

The Hebrew word for anoint is mashach. The noun form, when transliterated into English is a word you no doubt recognize: messiah. The Greek equivalent word is christos. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended on Christ at His baptism. A close reading of the Gospels shows the Jesus Himself attested to the Holy Spirit’s power and influence in His earthly ministry. The early church recognized that as well. It was one of their regular sermon points.

[H]ow God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Acts 10:38

Believers are also specially anointed.

Paul explains:

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,
2 Corinthians 1:21

And John confirms

The anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as He has taught you, remain in Him.
1 John 2:27

God has given us a special anointing, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us in the Upper Room that the Spirit would come. We don’t have to wait for a special ceremony though. The Spirit indwells us at the moment of salvation, enabling us to understand and carry out the mission God has for us. Paul and John both needed that Holy Spirit anointing, and so do we. That enables us to intercede, minister, and teach the truth about Christ to others.

Once we’re prepared, there is one key that will determine our success. Next week we’ll consider it.

A Holy Priesthood: Clothed

By Paula Wiseman

Old Testament priests wore specific clothes.

In Exodus 28, God details how Aaron and his sons (and all future priests) should be clothed in order to enter God’s presence and serve in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The overall purpose is the convey the authority of the priest as God’s representative to the people.

First, he had an ephod. An ephod was essentially a tunic. It was a sleeveless garment, in this case made of linen, but with beautiful stitchwork. It was always worn with a breastplate. The breastplate had precious stones inset in, each one representing one of the twelve tribes. It also had the Urim and Thummin. The breastplate’s purpose was to show the priest represented the people before God and that he carefully discerned God’s will. He also had a high priest’s robe that was worn under the ephod. While Scripture gives more details, consider the bells around the hem of the robe. The priest could not enter the Holy Place or serve without those little bells jingling. He had a linen tunic to wear under everything. Finally, he had a turban with a gold nameplate at the front inscribed HOLY TO THE LORD. All of these served as a reminder that everything the priest did was done as part of God’s consecrated purposes.

Believers are clothed in righteousness.

While believers may change their actual clothes as a matter of modesty or propriety, our clothing is more figurative. Paul explains to the Ephesians that they should now “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). The righteousness is not our own but what was imputed to us by Christ.

Just as the Old Testament priests had other pieces in their wardrobe, we should add to the righteousness. In Colossians 3:12-14, Paul says we are to put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering and love. All of those help us in our mission to bring others into the kingdom. We carry a burden for others and joyfully serve and minister to them. We depend on God for direction. We never lose sight that everything we say and do is consecrated to God.

Of course, there is much more detail and symbolism with the priests’ garments. (Perhaps that’s a series for another time.) But even in this quick overview, we see that we represent God best when we are clothed as He prescribed, reflecting His character.

The next step for Aaron and his sons was anointing. Next week we’ll see what that means for us.

A Holy Priesthood: Cleansed

By Paula Wiseman

The priests were cleansed by a series of sacrifices.

As the priesthood was inaugurated, before the priests could serve, God instructed Moses to bring Aaron and his sons before all the people and perform a detailed ritual. You can read about it Leviticus 8. The first step, though, was a a regular physical washing to get rid of dirt. Aaron and his sons were dressed in special garments (we’ll talk about those later) and anointed with oil (we’ll also talk about this) before they offered a series of sacrifices.

First was a sin offering. This was for unintentional sins and restored the offerer to a right relationship with God. The burnt offering was also a payment for sins. These two together illustrate the seriousness of sin and a recognition of its awful consequence. Finally, they offered a wave offering. The wave offering seems to be a subtype of the peace offering. It was meant to express thanks to God.

Jesus cleansed us from sin by His death.

The Old Testament sacrifices were a temporary measure to stay God’s judgment until a perfect sacrifice could be made. This is one of the major threads in Scripture. Christ was that perfect sacrifice. Paul explains

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Romans 5:8-9

Jesus’s death did all the things that series of sacrifices did (and more). It paid for our sins and restored our relationship with God, a relationship that had been broken since Eden. Then John affirms that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). In Romans 8:1 Paul further says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” NO condemnation. The cleansing is complete and final. No more guilt. No more shame.

We no longer offer wave offerings but thanks and gratitude for this amazing gift are certainly warranted. One way we can show our thanks is to live a life that keeps us unspotted from the world (James 1:27).

Next week we’ll look into the clothes Aaron and his sons wore for service.