PRIESTLY CONSTITUTION
[p. 132] PRIESTLY CONSTITUTION
Deuteronomy 18: 1 - 22; Judges 15: 14 - 19
I have in my mind to call attention to the constitution of the priest. Every true believer in Christ is a priest. Aaron and his sons represent the saints in their priestly capacity, and Aaron’s sons and daughters represent the priestly family. But the fact that we are priests is not enough. It is God’s intention that we should have a priestly constitution, which in New Testament language may be described as the result of the word of God and prayer. These two passages suggest first how the word being received is assimilated. You will observe that the priest had as his portion from the people’s sacrifices the jawbones, or cheeks, and the stomach, or maw, besides the right shoulder and other things. Then you will observe from the passage in Judges that Samson’s great victory was achieved by the jawbone of an ass. Jawbones, as we well know, represent the power for mastication.
Now what I desire to say is simple, namely, that believers on receiving the word of God have to rightly take it in. If we are to be priests the word of God must be rightly received; as it is said in the New Testament, “accept with meekness the implanted word” (James 1: 21). It is to be rightly received. And so the Lord, as ever, is the Model for us, He being the great Priest; it is as Man that He is priest. As a divine Person He was the Word of God; He was so perfectly the expression of the mind of God. Not only the nature of God, and the attributes of God, but the thoughts of God found a perfect expression in Christ. This is one of the most interesting features of the gospel narratives — the manner in which the Lord presented the thoughts of God. I say, the manner in which He presented them.
[p. 133] Luke 4: 17 says, that, standing up in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus took the roll of the Scriptures from the attendant and read out of it. “He found the place” from which to read. You may be sure it took Him but little time to find the text, although in those days texts were not so easily found as they are now. He found the passage that exactly fitted the moment in which He stood in the synagogue; and having read it, He handed the roll back to the attendant and sat down. There was perfect grace, and perfect ease too, in His manner. Then He said, “To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”. He let the Scriptures speak. One would ever seek to let the Scriptures speak for themselves. They have their own way of speaking; indeed, they preach, as Paul said, “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations on the principle of faith, announced beforehand the glad tidings to Abraham” (Galatians 3: 8). They preached the gospel to Abraham. And so, the Lord being the perfect Model for us, let the Scriptures speak. He said, “To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”. It was not yet fulfilled in their hearts, alas! It is one thing to have the word fulfilled in your ears, and another to have it fulfilled in your heart. Unless the word is in the heart it bears no fruit. And so in another passage, the Lord says, speaking of the good ground, it represents the one who hears the word of God and understands it in his heart. Understands it. Such an one as that bears fruit, thirty, sixty, and an hundred-fold.
But then I must pursue that remarkable passage. The Lord says, “To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”. And it says they “wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”. He was the Word of God. Indeed, Luke himself begins by designating the Lord “the Word”. His words were words of grace, so that they became attractive. He was in that way the Model for us,
[p. 134] being the great high Priest. For what priest’s lips have kept knowledge like the lips of Christ? “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and at his mouth they should seek the law” (Malachi 2: 7). And so, as I said, the jawbones were the priest’s portion from those that sacrificed from among the people.
Now, beloved, do we use the jawbones? It is not a question of natural ability. One might read Scripture, and read books on Scripture, and listen to ministry with natural intelligence, and many can go a great length on that line, gathering up much information; but the jawbones which the priest obtained were the jawbones of the sacrifice of the victim. In other words, the jawbones are taken up as out of death. Natural ability ends there. Everything must come out of death, for that is the divine way. As Paul says, “For I, through law, have died to the law, that I may live to God” (Galatians 2: 19). Whatever it is, the principle of death has to come in, and if I read Scripture, or if I listen to ministry, it must be on that principle. From the very outset the believer is in that position; he has come out of death. Baptism is a token of it; indeed, the Lord’s supper, and also circumcision; all these things denote that the natural ability or status of the believer have no place in Christianity. What is of nature in that respect has no place. One has to begin anew, and so in Romans 6: 4 we have newness of life after baptism. That is to say, we have to begin with the principle of newness; but it is newness out of death. “Even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”. In chapter 7 you have newness of spirit, and in chapter 12 the renewing of the mind. That is to say, the life and the spirit and the mind are to be brought into accord with the death of Christ.
Now, if my mind is renewed on that principle, my [p. 135] jawbones are used, so to speak, henceforth on that principle; so that I take in the word of God humbly for I have to be built up from the outset by it. Peter speaks to us of the sincere mental milk of the word. That is what we need to get, young people or old, the sincere mental milk of the word. That is to say, the revelation of the mind of God becomes the food for the believer; his mind is nourished by it. Let no one say that there is not enough in Christianity for his mind. Whatever you have in that way, beloved friends, you will find food in Christ. John, who had a right estimate of Christ, says that if all the things that Jesus did could have been written, the world itself could not contain them; there would be no room for any other books, it would be full of books about Christ. And you would find everything that your mind might desire in such books. So it shall be, for Christ shall fill every intelligence in the heavens and on earth, however great.
So, beloved, it is important to use the jawbones. That is to say, as you receive the word at the outset, so to speak, masticate it so that it may become finally assimilated in the stomach. The stomach is a very great organ for our use, answering as well to the jawbones for building up right priestly constitution, so that one is formed in that way by the thoughts of God. The word of God is the nourishment by which I am built up, and I become a priest in the way of intelligence and of grace. The thing that we speak is, so to say, already ours. The Lord said when one asked Him as to Himself, I am “altogether that which I also say to you” (John 8: 25). He was altogether as a Man here in dependence upon God in what He said. That is to say, the true priestly features were seen in Christ. Think of Him saying, “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed” (Isaiah 50: 4). Think of the Lord taking such a place as that here.
[p. 136] The morning is the best time for learning. The mind is clearer. Not that the Lord was subject to what we are subject to, but He set us the example. So He says “he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”. And He says further, “that I should know how to succour by a word him that is weary”. True priestly service is to be able to speak a word to a weary one.
Well now, I apprehend that in the passage in the book of Judges we have the result of this. Not, indeed, that Samson shines in a special way as a type of Christ, although he is a type of Christ. It says, “The Spirit of Jehovah came upon him”. He is a type of Christ in that way; for the Lord Himself says, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me”, and the effect was unlimited power. With regard to Samson, the Philistines shouted against him; it was a question of warfare. It is a great thing, beloved brethren, to be prepared. The late war was in everybody’s mind and on everybody’s lip. But the war — the conflict — is still on; there is no cessation of it. And the books of the wars of the Lord are still open; exploits are constantly being written into them. And it is a question of who is in the war. Who are the soldiers of Jesus Christ? The priest becomes a soldier. If I am to have the sword of the Spirit, if I am to exercise it, if I am to use it, I must know the word of God. Paul says, “Have ... the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word” (Ephesians 6: 17). We are to have the instrument of aggression as well as of defence, but all war is by the Spirit. So the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Samson as the enemy attacked, and he rent his bands as if they had been burnt flax; for what power can stand before the power of the Spirit of God?
But then this power is in one in whom is the word of God. And so it says he found the fresh jawbone of an ass (for the word is ‘fresh’, or ‘moist’).
[p. 137] I suppose it is a typical allusion. The death of the Lord Jesus is as fresh today as it was when it happened — that is, the effect of it. It is brought to our hearts on every first day of the week. It is very touching — he bread and the cup taken together attest a dead Christ. There is that freshness with it as if it had happened today. It remains in the Supper in freshness. The Christ that you and I know is the Christ that died — not two thousand years ago, but, as it were, yesterday. The testimony remains in freshness. As Paul said, “Who has loved me and given himself for me”. Think of that, beloved! Not ‘who loves me’, but “who has loved me”. You may say, Why do you say that? Ah! because He had me in His mind when He died. We might say, He loved us. He did love us; He loved the church. But when He died He had every believer in His heart. Can anything be more touching than that, “He has loved me, and given himself for me”? That was yesterday. It was as fresh in Paul’s mind as if it had been that day. He might easily and truthfully have said, ‘who loves me’, for the love of Christ for Paul at that moment was just what it was when He died for him. There is great preciousness in recalling the fact that He had you and me in His mind when He died. He died in obedience, speaking reverently of the Lord, as One who was wholly docile, wholly subject. The Lord, taking the lowly place, was entirely subject to His Father’s will: “becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross” (Philippians 2: 8). It is as fresh as if it were yesterday.
The word in connection with the jawbone is ‘moist’ or ‘fresh’. The death had just happened. It was well for Samson that it was so. And how much more for us in our warfare? It must be in the nearness of Christ to us as the One who died. He has been down into death; He has met the foe in his strength and has defeated him,
“[p. 138] that through death he might annul him who has the might of death” (Hebrews 2: 14).
And now the weapon is put into our hands. Paul spoke of fighting with beasts at Ephesus. Beasts! How? As one who died every day. How fresh and real was the death of Christ to him. “I die daily”, he says. He died in the light of the death of Christ; no one would die otherwise. We can die in the light of the death of Christ, and the more often we die in that sense the more we realise the nearness of Christ to us.
So Samson found a fresh jawbone, and that the jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand men therewith. What a victory! And so he composes what we may call an item in the books of the wars of the Lord. “With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, with the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men”.
This represents the energy of the believer, the energy of the Spirit of God in the believer. He has assimilated the word of God. The word of God is his weapon. It is the word of God assimilated that forms the constitution as a priest, for my lips must keep knowledge; I must know how to speak to God and to men. But it is also the weapon for warfare. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit.
Now, the other thought I want to add is prayer. You will remember when the Lord entered into Martha’s house, Mary sat at His feet. She listened to what He was saying. She was, as it were, building up a priestly constitution there. She sat down and listened to the Lord. Martha was cumbered with much serving, but Mary had chosen that good part, listening to the Lord’s word, and in that way was building up a constitution that may be regarded as priestly.
The effect of it was seen later when the Lord was about to die. Six days before He died, six days before the passover, Mary had a pound of ointment,
[p. 139] very costly, and she anointed His feet with it. And the house was filled with the odour. It reminds me of one with a priestly constitution speaking to God, or speaking to the Lord. How the effect of it, of what is intelligent and spiritual in that way fills the house: one has often realised that. So that you can see in Mary of Bethany how the priest was formed.
You can see the effect of it in John 12. But then in Luke 11, which follows that, it says the Lord was praying in a certain place. It does not say what the place was, for the point was not the place, but what He was doing there — praying. He had been speaking about God, and now He is speaking to God. And the disciples saw Him. We are not told what He said to God, nor are we told what He said to Mary. But one of His disciples says, “Lord, teach us to pray!” That is the other side of the priest’s position, to hear the word and learn to pray. These two things together constitute a priest.
But they also constitute a warrior, for we go forth into our battles in dependence upon God. Samuel is indeed suggestive of the praying man in Scripture: his very name indicates it. When the Philistines came up against Israel he offered a sucking lamb and he prayed. He was in the intelligence of the mind of God. He knew what suited the moment. He acknowledged that he had no power to meet the enemy, but God had the power. The battle is the Lord’s; let us ever remember that. “Jehovah thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them” (1 Samuel 7: 10). It is on the principle of accepted and acknowledged weakness, but in dependence upon God so that we “became strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, made the armies of strangers give way” (Hebrews 11: 34), so that the word of God and prayer stand by the warrior as they stand by the priest.
That leads me on to the second point, namely,
“En-hakkore”, (Judges 15: 19). That word means, according to those who should know, the spring of the caller, or, the well of him that calleth. Just as the previous word “Ramath-Lehi” (Judges 15: 17) means, the hill of the jawbone. These two landmarks were doubtless landmarks of faith. The one is the strength that accrues from the word of God being in the soul — the word of God coming through Him who died, for the word of God is only effective through the death of Christ. In Luke the Lord applies the Scriptures to Himself — after He arose. “Having begun from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24: 27). That is to say, it is in Christ risen that you see the word of God exemplified fully. He had to die in order that it should be effective in believers. And then in that same scripture you have the understanding of the saints opened, so that they might understand the Scriptures. It is in a risen Christ; it is in a Christ who died and who is risen again that the word of God is effective. It is effective in us; so that ‘the hill of the jawbone’ is the testimony to the power of the word of God in the believer, made effective in him. In result it represents the exploit of one who had the word of God.
But then, after Samson’s great victory, he is thirsty; he is about to die. And that brings in the other point. He cried to God. It says, “He was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah”. What a word that is for us. “Does any one among you suffer evil?” says James, “let him pray” (James 5: 13). Samson called on Jehovah. “And God”, it says, “clave the hollow rock which was in Lehi”. There again we come to another side of the death of Christ. That is to say, the Holy Spirit could only come that way. God could not give His Spirit to us, and all that lies in the possession of the Spirit, apart from the death of Christ. He “clave the hollow in the rock”. We [p. 141] can well understand what that means, for the “Rock” is Christ. One of the most touching things in the wilderness position is that the Rock followed the people. The ark went before, but the Rock followed. It is the Lord taking up a position of service for us in our weariness, and our thirst — our need of refreshment.
So God clave the rock for Samson, “and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived”. We have there the principle of prayer. I am not now for the moment speaking of the gift of the Spirit through prayer, but what is of great importance is learning how to pray and maintaining that attitude both in regard of our priestly service and as to our warfare. There is no possibility of effectiveness in priestly service or in warfare aside from these two things: the word of God rightly assimilated in our souls so that it builds up a constitution in us, and prayer, that is to say, the expression of dependence on God.
May the Lord bless the word!