PRIESTHOOD

J.McKay

Psalm 99: 5,6; Ezekiel 10: 1-4; Ezra 2: 68,69

It is in mind to say something as to priesthood. I speak, I trust, with some feeling as aware of the need that priesthood should be developed among the people of God. It is one of the greatest of our privileges that, in the language of the book of Exodus, we should be called to serve Jehovah, or to serve God, as priests. Of course His prime thought, as we have mentioned already, is sonship. He said as to the children of Israel in Egypt, "Let my son go, that he may serve me" (Exod 4: 23); finally it will be that those who serve Him are sons. Yet, as the wilderness history opened up, what became very necessary was the service of priesthood, a service which, in a day of difficulty, could furnish what was for the divine pleasure; and it is that into which we are presently being called. I would like to stimulate exercise with us as to more function Godward as priests. I wonder what you would say if somebody asked how you understood the matter of priesthood. I suppose if you asked someone in the established Church of England you would get a certain answer; if you asked someone in the Roman Catholic system you would get a different answer; but I wonder what answer we would get if we were to make such an enquiry in a company like this. Mr Darby raises the question, who are priests and what are priests? The wonder, dear brethren, of Christianity is that all the saints are priests. Now that is a statement which in itself is exceedingly simple, and yet the blessing of it is perhaps little realised. Such as you and I may have direct access to God. The existing established system, where persons have someone between them and God, is nothing less than a slight on the efficacy of the finished work of Christ; it is a slight on the glory of Christianity as we know it. All the saints are called into priesthood. If we have the privilege of immediate access, as Hebrews says, let us use boldness, the way being made open, let us avail ourselves of it so that we become characteristically priests who are serving God.

Now I read this verse in Psalm 99 because I am impressed with the glory of this description that comes into it as to some, that they are "among his priests": "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name". It is here a matter that is viewed as apparently greater than what these persons stood for officially. Moses, you might say, officially was the great apostle; through him the truth as to God's relations with His earthly people had been opened up. How glorious those disclosures were! but let us remind ourselves, dear brethren, that what is greater than any levitical activity, greater than any service however effective, as God gives grace for it, that service may be, is that we should be engaged in priestly service towards Him. So I speak of Moses as among His priests. Think of the development of priesthood in a man like Moses; how early did it begin? I wonder if priestly feelings, feelings that really consider for God, are beginning to develop in the young ones among us. We could refer to Samuel, one who as a boy was girded with a linen ephod; he was not mature as far as age was concerned, but early developing in those features which considered for God in a dark day. We are living in such a day, and the great concern is not to be occupied with the darkness but to be occupied positively with the greatness of the things of God and what is ministering to His pleasure. Thus Samuel as a boy was ministering before Jehovah girded with a linen ephod. So also with Moses; very early in Moses' history the features of priesthood began to show themselves. You will remember how as a babe, placed as he was in the ark of reeds, what came into expression was deep feeling. The situation was one of reproach, of murderous opposition publicly; what came into evidence in that babe was that he was weeping. God protects him there; and then as he came to years Moses was characterised by making a discriminative choice, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (see Heb 11: 25). Think of Moses choosing! I hope the faculty of discriminative choice in relation to what pleases God is gaining ground amongst us. We need to discriminate, a priest will always do that, he will discern things and he will choose what is right. So the whole of Moses' early history was educational under the divine hand, educational not simply in view of public ministry but in view of the exercise of priesthood according to God.

When Moses was being divinely commissioned he was on the mountain forty days. What an opportunity he had! He was shown the pattern, shown by God what His thoughts in blessing were for the saints. He was on the mountain for this extended period and Jehovah says, Go down, the people which thou hast led out of Egypt have corrupted themselves (see Exod 32: 7). What a test for Moses! Moses himself determined, you may say, to go on with the great things of God and God tells him that the people have corrupted themselves, they have departed out of the way, and what had come in among them was idolatry. What is such a circumstance going to bring out in a man like Moses? What it brings out, dear brethren, is the power of priestly activity in relation to God . I feel that this is greatly needed. Moses says "blot me ... out of thy book", Exod 32: 32. He was prepared, you might say, to sacrifice himself that the saints should be preserved in relation to the greatness of God's thoughts for them. How much development of priesthood is there among us of this calibre? If we find that the saints are diverting, do we become critical of them? Do we sit in judgment on them? Or are we characterised as persons who would intercede for them? Moses says, I am not going on without the saints; he says they are Thy people and he puts himself, as it were, into the breach, in priestly power, and he tells us that Jehovah listened to him: he said "And Jehovah listened unto me also at that time", Deut 9: 19. I wonder if there are persons among us whom Jehovah can answer in relation to whatever exercises may be current among the saints, persons who in devotion will avail themselves of this wonderful privilege, direct access to God, using the power they have with God to intercede for the saints that they might be protected and preserved. What a man Moses was! Therefore when he came among the brethren he had power with them. The more power we have with God the more power we shall have as among the brethren. So he was able to bring in the divine word in adjusting skill so that the whole situation was not lost but that the people were preserved. Let us not, dear brethren, think that we can go on alone; let us realise that in priestly power we are to carry the saints with us. One feature of the priest is that he has the shoulder pieces, his whole strength is to be used to support the saints at their true level in the sight of God. So Moses develops in priesthood - "Moses ... among his priests". I think that is a beautiful description. Would you not like to be described that way, as among God's priests? one who in circumstances of difficulty can shine; one who in circumstances of normality can shine too.

Psalm 90 gives us a prayer of Moses; it describes him as the man of God; not the great apostle or the great minister but the man of God. How does he speak? "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations" (v 1). He did not know the economy as now revealed but he knew God and he was abiding in God, and at the end of the wilderness history the impression he leaves on the spirits of the saints is not of the difficulties, is not simply of the power that had led them through, but of the God who had done it. He says at the end of Deuteronomy "The name of Jehovah will I proclaim" (chap 32: 3) - that is the word of a priest - "Ascribe greatness unto our God! He is the Rock, his work is perfect". I think what we need is development in our knowledge of God; we shall then have more power with one another, more power to steady the saints when circumstances of difficulty arise. So Moses and Aaron are among his priests and Samuel among them that call upon His name: and they called unto Jehovah, and He answered them. I believe that there will be an answer for us as we avail ourselves of the privilege of direct access to God.

I go on to Ezekiel because here we have a man who is described as clothed with linen. Linen is a very fine material and is linked with priesthood throughout Scripture. This man is clothed with it. He is a person characterised by the qualities of which we have spoken. As we know, the background to the prophet Ezekiel is a day of breakdown, everything in the book being dated from the captivity. The breakdown of what had professed to stand in relation to God is fully taken into account. The prophet himself becomes in the earlier chapters a delineation for us of the truth. What experiences he went through! Let us not underestimate the experiences of those who labour among us; much goes on behind the scenes. What pressures Ezekiel knew! In chapter 4 he delineates for us the sufferings of Christ, lying on his side as bearing the iniquities of Israel; his feelings were being developed. Later we find that his head was shorn, all that is comely as to the natural man is removed. Then we find that he is caught up by a lock of his hair, showing how God links on with Christ in type in resurrection. All this has gone on in the experience of the prophet and at this point he sees a throne. "In the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne". O, what it is to get a view of the stability of divine supremacy in days of departure! a throne like a sapphire stone, a full representation of what God is in His supremacy. You will notice that, distinct from the reference to the throne in chapter 1 of this book, there is no one sitting on this throne. In chapter 1 it speaks of one sitting on the throne and "from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire" (v 27), Christ in heaven representing fully God's thoughts in relation to the whole scene. But at this point He is not on the throne, and the voice comes to the man clothed with linen from between the wheels. I think the suggestion is, and others have pointed it out, that the Man is not on the throne but He is actually in the scene of testimony. It is very precious to know the Lord as near to us in the scene of testimony. The wheels suggest God's government, the great forward and direct movements that characterise divine operations. Ezekiel links very much, I think, with John's gospel. John the baptist's service at the beginning of that gospel is to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight His paths. The way of the Lord would be the undiverted and definite forward movements of Christ in testimony. So it is to be in our day; we have to do with God, His way is perfect and He is moving forward. Scripture speaks of the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (see Jas 1: 17), and God's ways are going on. The invitation comes to this man from between the wheels: "Come in between the wheels, under the cherub, and fill the hollow of thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim". I think it is interesting that the invitation is given to a man like this. Would you like to be in the secret of what God is doing at this time in His testimony? I think the answer is that features of priesthood shall be developed. This man is available. I would love to be available when the opportunity comes. God is looking, you might say, for someone He can draw into the secret of what He is doing at this time. Would you not like to be available for that? The invitation is "Come in between the wheels"; not to know God at a distance but to know Him near in testimony inviting you, as it were, to be alongside Him in relation to what He may do. His ways are perhaps often difficult to understand; Romans 11 speaks of them as unsearchable: "how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways!" (v 33). So there may be things, things happening even among the saints, that you find difficult to understand. Perhaps God is looking for priestly persons to be more closely with Him in relation to what He is doing. I would love to be among such, among His priests and available, that He might disclose to us the direction of His movements at any time. Of course, let us remember that He is God; it may be that He will not tell us everything. I believe we are often tested as to whether we can trust Him in relation to what we may not fully understand. One of the difficulties in Christendom at the present day is the attempt to limit the truth to man's understanding of it; that is, to reduce it to a very low level. But having said that, I believe there is much that God would wish to disclose to persons who are rightly available and rightly with Him in His testimony. Let us seek then, dear brethren, to be among His priests, persons who can be trusted and who can go along with Him. Abraham in the Old Testament is an outstanding example of this; it says he conducted God to judgment (see Gen 18: 16). He was with God not simply in relation to the privileges of his calling but in relation to the whole public scene in which God's government and His ways would yet be worked out. Thus one of the challenges of the present time is as to whether we are available for what God Himself would lead us into.

I conclude with a reference to Ezra 2 where we have a day of recovery. The background of this book is very interesting. It begins with God opening the way, through right government, in order that His testimony shall prosper. One of the things we need to pray for is that right government should be preserved to us. The king of Persia makes a decree and God uses it to open the way for the saints to be recovered from captivity and come back to Jerusalem. Now we are living in a day when favourable government leaves that opportunity open. What a day it is! We pray for our brethren who are still held in the systems of men. Thank God for government that does not insist on a certain way religiously. Thank God the way is open in a public sense, that persons shall be brought back into the fulness of God's thoughts for them. What is in view in this book is not a partial answer to God's thoughts; what is in view is Jerusalem, the great centre of divine operations, and that is what these persons are being recovered to. These chief fathers come as persons who have substance. It is remarkable that as the people come back there are priests avail able, there are levites available, there are singers available; I think in our own experience it has been remarkable how fully furnished the companies of the saints have been in days of recovery. But here are persons who are providing more than they need themselves, providing for the benefit of others. I appeal simply, dear brethren, for the development of this kind of concern among us. These men, chief fathers, come and they bring after their ability and give to the treasure of the work gold and silver, and finally priests' coats. Perhaps we can encourage one another on the lines of which we have been speaking, that priesthood shall develop in our brethren; I think we should be concerned that it should be so. We are in a position which is a recovered position; we have come into it because in the language of 2 Timothy we have named the name of the Lord and have withdrawn from iniquity. Thank God that we are in a position that is thus divinely supported. Are we going to stop there? There is a danger that we shall settle down having come into a position where we experience divine support. May I remind the brethren that 2 Timothy 2 does not stop there; it goes on to the pursuing of righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. I think that is priestly - those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. You are not simply in a right position but you are there as a priestly person. I think that is the concern of these chief fathers. They bring a hundred priests' coats, as if to say there is to be an abundance; anyone who desires to come into this service shall come into it; and as we have said, it is the privilege of our day for all the saints to come into it. But I think we should be concerned that we are developed, and concerned for the development in one another, in the quality that calls upon the name of the Lord. Let us do that, dear brethren. Let us not rely on someone else's relations with Christ, someone else's relations with God; they may carry you so far but it is vital that we have our own link; we are calling on the Lord, even as Samuel called upon His name. I believe it is one of the features of the last days that we are here as persons who have a source of supply unseen by the world, as developed in priestly constitution. It is only thus that God's testimony will be maintained. The book of Numbers shows in chapter 17, after the great challenge in relation to the rights of God is met, how the testimony is going to be extended and maintained in the power of priesthood; Christ in type, the rod of Aaron that budded.

Well, I close with that; it is a wonderful privilege to be among His priests. Not that we shall gain any distinction; we are among them, there are many of them, but how wonderful is the privilege that in days when all seek their own things, and the selfishness of man is becoming more apparent every day, in the midst of it there are persons who are considering not for themselves but for God. May we be among them for His Name's sake.

MAIDSTONE

10 February 1979