The Service Of Priests
THE SERVICE OF PRIESTS
I have in mind to speak of the service, as priests of God, that is proper to us as saints, feeling that God would encourage every one of us to take it up more definitely, not merely as recognising that it is a privilege—which it is—but as recognising responsibility in regard of it. The priests in the old dispensation had a definite known responsibility, they had a charge committed to them, and it was their responsibility to see that that charge was continually fulfilled, and God would have His people today recognise no less responsibility and to see that every feature of the service of God and all that is connected with the charge of His sanctuary is taken up and cared for and fulfilled by us.
You remember that, in the first chapter of Revelation, the apostle John, in the salutation to the saints, first says, “Grace to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come”, and then he says, “and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth”, and, having brought in Christ, he immediately, by the Spirit and in sympathy with us all, bursts out in an ascription of praise to the Lord. He says, “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages”.
We do well to take notice of that. “To him who loves us”—that is the first thing; “and has washed us from our sins in his blood” —that is the second thing: and I think one may say that we all rejoice in those two things, that Christ loves us and that He has washed us from our sins in His blood, but the apostle goes on to say, “and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father”; that is present. The apostle John had in mind that that was to be in evidence and sustained among the people of God in the presence of all the increasing evil and opposition to God that develops in this world, as the Revelation shows us. Indeed, the book of the Revelation is extremely interesting as showing us how, even after the assembly is taken from this scene, God secures much for Himself and draws attention to it.
In the beginning of Revelation 11, John is told to take a measuring reed and to measure the temple and the altar and the worshippers, and that, at a time when the power of evil, of opposition to God and Christ, reached its climax in Jerusalem, even in those conditions God secures spiritually, amongst some who are faithful, the idea of the temple and the idea of the altar and the true worshippers; and so precious is it to Him that He has it measured, He has it taken account of.
What is in my mind is just to bring forward this thought of priests, not to put any under bondage, but one feels that the tendency with us is to be somewhat casual in regard of divine things, taking them up at times, and putting them down at times; but the service of the priesthood, and the service of the sanctuary with all its privileges and responsibilities, God looks to His people to take up as a charge with the true sense of responsibility so that they fulfil it.
The first scripture I read depicts conditions in Israel which had reached a very low ebb, and foreshadow the condition of Christendom to-day. In those conditions a man of God came to Eli, the responsible priest of that day, and told him what, as far as I know, we are not told elsewhere in Scripture, that God chose the tribe of Levi for this service of priesthood while they were still in Egypt. He chose them sovereignly with that in view, showing how important in the mind of God was this idea of serving Him as priests; and He would impress upon us, as we take up the idea of priests, that we have been chosen for it. He says, “Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest?” I need not say, dear brethren that, when we come to Christianity, there is no thought of some of the people of God being priests and others not.
In the old dispensation, a family in a tribe was taken up to set forth the idea of priesthood, that tribe itself was taken up to set forth something else, and the rest of the people were taken up to set forth something else. The rest of the people set forth the saints taking up their responsibility here on earth to defend the truth and to draw near to God in the grace and love in which He is known. That is the idea in what we speak of as the common people. The Levites represent the people of God taking up more definitely, with a sense of the claims of divine love over them, the actual interests of God, serving in connection with the testimony which God has established here on earth; that would involve all that is connected with understanding and teaching the truth, and understanding and applying and maintaining divine principles, and caring for the saints, both spiritually and temporally. Then the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi was taken up to set out the great thought of priesthood. They were to draw near to God as considering for Him; furnishing what He can take pleasure in and maintaining conditions in His dwelling-place suited to Himself: the Priest always considers for God. All these three features are to find an answer in the saints today.
I would just stress that we have been chosen; let the sense of the grace of it sink down into our minds and hearts. Why has God chosen us? Why has he chosen me? Let the sense of the grace that has picked us out from amongst others that we might have the great privilege of serving God here on earth now, sink into our hearts. God would lift Eli up from the apathy that marked him, and would impress him with the fact that he had chosen his father above all the other priests “to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear the ephod before me”.
That gives three important features of priesthood. “To offer upon mine altar”, that is the presenting to God that which God Himself can take pleasure in. What a variety there is to present to God on that line! You know how the burnt-offering had to be offered on the altar day by day continually, morning and evening, testing us as to how far we have a real appreciation of the devotedness of Christ even unto death, and how far we ourselves are in accord with it as devoted to the will of God morning and evening. It is of no value that we offer something to God if there is not, at least, exercise with us to correspond with that which we present. We shall always feel we come a long way short of what we present, for what we present is Christ—and it is a comfort we have perfection to present in Christ, but, at the same time, I believe God looks, that, when we draw near and present what we appreciate of Christ, there should be at least exercise with us to be in accord with what we are presenting; and hence God looks for a morning and an evening burnt-offering, as if He would delight to see His people every day, when they begin the day and when they close the day, characterised in some degree by devotion to His will as it was set out in Jesus in the way He was wholly devoted even unto death to the glory of God.
Then there was to be the meat offering, too, testing us as to how far we really appreciate the character of the manhood of Jesus, how far we have really learnt to prefer another Man to ourselves, to delight in the moral excellencies of Jesus as they shone out in His pathway here. These were to be presented to God. Then there is the sin-offering and the trespass offering; that is to say, even the failures and breakdowns of God’s people are intended to afford occasion for us to become deepened in the appreciation of Christ in whom we find the exact contrast to all we discover in ourselves, and in whose death we find the complete meeting of all that we have discovered. As drawing near to God, you present Christ as the perfect answer to it in His holy manhood and His precious death as that which has removed it from under the eye of God.
All these things were to be presented continually; it was no matter of choice with the priests whether the offerings were offered or not, they were to recognise their responsibility. There was indeed excess—there were the voluntary offerings—but there was, too, that which was laid down day by day, and on the sabbath, feasts, and so on; there was that which was definitely laid down and the priests had the responsibility in regard to it. They were also to burn incense, which involved that they went into the holy place to the altar of incense, and I suppose what answers to that is the constant addicting of ourselves to prayer in relation to the divine interests, not simply in relation to our needs, but in relation to the divine interests. Do we addict ourselves to that, dear brethren? It is part of the responsibility of the priests to do so; every day Aaron was to burn incense, they were to understand this was a matter that was to be kept up day by day; the burning of the incense was to be closely linked with the lighting of the lamps, and it is one of the services of the priests.
I would commend to the younger brothers and sisters—and the older ones, too—to cultivate in secret the ability to pray for divine interests. Do not limit your prayers to your own individual needs—important though that is. It is important we should be developed in piety and in drawing near to God in relation to our individual needs and our soul exercises; but cultivate, too, and never surrender, the privilege as well as the responsibility of praying incessantly in regard to the interests of God. If you begin it, you will find the Lord will give you enlargement in your ability to take in divine interests, so that you will be enlarged in this service of burning incense.
Another part of the service is “to wear the ephod before me”. I think you will constantly find that, where the thought of the priesthood is brought in, the thought of the clothing suited to it is referred to. The ephod was a priestly garment, speaking of practical righteousness and holiness. You remember how David wore a linen ephod, taking on priestly character, as he danced before the ark. He says, “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness”, and then God answers his prayer and says, “I will clothe her priests with salvation”, Psalm 132. So, when God intimated this thought of His in regard of priesthood, He not only brought in certain features of the service of priests, but in connection with that service, the suited clothing was necessary.
I do not go further with this passage, save to draw attention to the closing sentence, “them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed”. Now “them that honour me” lies at the root of priesthood, the basic idea of priesthood is that you consider for God—“them that honour me I will honour”—and God has taken us up, beloved brethren, He has chosen us in His grace, that, in this world of increasing evil and departure from the truth, we should be found as people marked as a kingdom of priests, and one great feature of priesthood is that we consider for God, what is suited to Him in His dwelling-place and what is suited to His name. We need not be afraid to take it up; it is said He has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Rev 1: 5); so that all the power and protection of the Lord are toward and upon the saints to uphold them in this position before God. The book of the Revelation shows, as I was saying, that in days of much greater testing than we suffer, or are likely to suffer, when the influence of the beast and of antichrist is reaching its height, even in those days God will show His power to maintain those who are priestly; and, if He will do it in that day, He can do it in this.
The passage in Exodus 28 brings out one or two features of priesthood we do well to notice. First of all, the question of clothing is developed. “For Aaron’s sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for ornament”. That only emphasises that God looks that those who draw near to Him should be marked by suitable features that are proper to His presence, features of moral and spiritual dignity; not, it may be, that which would be regarded as dignified in the eyes of men, but that which is pleasing to God. The vest, I have no doubt, speaks of practical holiness. The girdle suggests the idea of definite committal to these things, that you are not at your ease, you are girded, and that you are in the attitude of a servant. You have taken it up in the attitude of your mind that you are to serve God. As it says in Psalm 134, “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord”. This is the night while the Lord is absent, the whole period is the night, and it calls for the saints to be standing in the house of the Lord, and standing there as servants of the Lord, that is to say, they have girdles on, the symbols of service; they have accepted under the grace of divine choice, the responsibility to serve. Then they were to have bonnets, high caps, which suggest, I suppose, a certain dignity in our approach to God, and that the head is guarded, that is to say that the activity of the natural mind does not enter into these things, but that all is under the control of the Holy Spirit, who alone is able to give the suited dignity in approach to God.
Then, in verse 41, it says, “thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and hallow them, that they may serve me as priests”. Now those are three features which I think we should take a count of, the anointing, the consecration, and the hallowing, or sanctifying. The anointing constitutes our priesthood; that you will find stated in chapter 40 of this book, where it says, in verse 15, ‘‘ thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall be to them an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations”. And hence it is right to say that every believer who has the Spirit of God is a priest, he has the power to exercise priesthood in virtue of having received the Holy Spirit of God, that is the power by which we may rightly draw near to God and serve Him, and the only power. The idea of anointing is that the person anointed is empowered to fill the particular office that God has in mind for him; if it was priesthood, it was to exercise the office of a priest; if it was the king, it was to exercise the office of kingship; if it was the prophet, it was to exercise prophecy; but the anointing came into evidence in all three classes, and the anointing was the particular power to fill the office he was marked out for. And, when we come to Christianity, the power to approach God suitably lies in the Spirit; the power to exercise rule or authority amongst the saints, which kingship might suggest, lies in the Spirit; and the ability to communicate the mind of God in power also lies in the Spirit. One of the things that is in view in the anointing is that we should be empowered to draw near to God, not merely in relation to our needs, but to minister to Him in the priest’s office.
The idea of consecration is that the hands are filled; that you have substance, you have something to offer. All this brings in responsibility on our part. The fact that we have been anointed brings in responsibility to see that the Holy Spirit is ungrieved and unhindered, so that the power we have is operative and not stultified. Consecration raises the question, What have I in my hands? Have I substance? That raises another exercise—What am I giving my mind to? What am I spending my time on? Have I something definite in relation to Christ and His precious death? Have I something I can offer to God? The priests were intended to be consecrated. When you come to Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8, you find they are actually consecrated and with great priestly wealth; there is the ram of consecration and the bread—that which refers to Christ—and it is in a basket, that is, it is held in an orderly way. Things are in order with us, we are able to distinguish between things that differ—all this is intended to create with us the desire to be definite in our exercises. If we seek the Lord and ask Him to give us spiritual substance, I am sure He will answer our request. If, as we read the Scriptures, we ask the Lord to impress us with a sense of His own excellencies and all that is delightful to God He will surely answer us and give us that which we desire, that we may be consecrated.
Then there is the idea of hallowing, by the blood and the oil, that is to say, there has to be made good in us the practical bearing of the death of Christ as setting aside all that is natural to us, the tendency for the mind or will to work in the things of God, and the positive features of the Spirit, the oil, are to come into evidence, for it is only in the power of the Spirit as the result of the death of Christ that we can be practically hallowed for the service of God.
To pass on to Numbers 3, if failure comes in, we are to see to it that the service of God goes on; whatever happens, the service of God is to go on. The saints are to take up the exercise in responsibility of seeing that every feature of the service of God goes on. In verse 2 it mentions the names of the sons of Aaron; then verse 3 says, “These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office”. And then it says, “And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire before the Lord ... and they had no children”, but it adds, “Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father”. That is to say, if Nadab and Abihu died, that did not deter Eleazar and Ithamar from going on, the priestly service goes on whatever happens. There has to be the sense of responsibility accepted and taken up by the saints to see to it that, whatever happens, and if others fail in responding to the divine thought, the service of God is to go on. So Eleazar and Ithamar come in, so to speak, as overcomers. Doubtless they would feel the seriousness of the action of their brothers Nadab and Abihu in offering strange fire, as the result no doubt of fleshy excitement—because following that, in Leviticus 10 the priests were given instructions not to drink wine or strong drink when they went into the tabernacle of the congregation, which shows they were acting under the influence of excitement. We have to guard against it, that we do not introduce fleshly excitement in our approach to God.
It says, “they had no children”; you can thank God for that, you do not want to see a generation continued that is marked by a spurious kind of service; and it is no doubt true amongst the saints that what is spurious does not have children. God will bring to light another generation marked by the features that are pleasing to Him, a generation that can continue. We know how well it was continued; we know Eleazar had a son named Phinehas, who, as a result of his faithfulness, had an everlasting covenant given to him. As God is considered for, the priestly service of God will be maintained, and those who do this will be honoured by God. So it says that “Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father”; that is, typically, in the sight of the Lord—that is an important word meaning that all their exercises and service Godward, speaking typically, were carried out in the sight of the Lord.
In closing I draw attention to those two verses in Numbers 18 which are addressed to Aaron and his sons. In verse 5 it says, “ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel”. I am sure, dear brethren, that the Lord would enlarge us to take account of all saints—not to limit our thoughts simply to those with whom we are able to walk in fellowship.
Alas, many of them are immersed in other interests, are held captive by the world, and with many of them the service of God is not maintained. Now, is it to lapse altogether? If so, wrath will come upon the people of God in various ways; but if, on the other hand, the service of God is maintained by some, they, so to speak, preserve the whole; and that is what comes out here—“ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel”. I believe, dear brethren, the more we are concerned to go on with the service of God and to maintain, by the maintenance of practical holiness and of divine principles, conditions that are suited to the dwelling-place of God, the whole of God’s people get the benefit of it, for, as those conditions are maintained amongst the saints, God not only dwells but walks amongst us. He is moving and will give fresh light, which is there available for the people of God if they wish to have it.
Then God says, in verse 7, “Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar”—that is a wide scope of responsibility—“and within the vail”—which, I take it, is the first vail, alluding to the access to the golden altar—“and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift”—a beautiful appeal at the last. God would say, I have given you this service of priesthood, do you value it? I have given it to you “as a service of gift”. It is as though God would appeal to us as to whether we value what He has entrusted to us, the great privilege of serving Him, not only in approaching to Him, but in accepting responsibility for the sanctuary, the charge of the sanctuary, of seeing that things are according to God. If we are prepared to accept responsibility for it and seek the Lord’s grace, I believe we shall be surprised in the coming day at the appreciation God will show of what has been done. It is interesting in Psalm 99, a psalm that has in view the establishment of the kingdom, it says, “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name”, as though in the coming day, when everything that has been for God in the present contrary conditions finds its vindication—Moses and Aaron as those who stood as His priests in a long past day, are taken account of.
place and date not given
From Words of Grace and Comfort 1937
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