Christ in all the scriptures ORDINATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD

 Christ in all the scriptures

    Ordination of the priesthood  Leviticus 8

Chapter 8 presents the natural progression of things in scripture, in relation to Christ.  Chapters 1-7 depict Christ's death for our reconciliation in the different aspects of the one offering of Christ: chapters 8-10 depict His life as our great High Priest for our preservation and instruction in life.  The Christ who died for us, now lives to intercede for us.  This is important to realise, and is one of the most neglected truths of the bible today.  It is the subject matter of almost every epistle of the New Testament, yet it is not fully expounded or understood.  We begin by asserting the teaching of scripture, that there is a Priesthood of which Christ is the great high priest, and in which every believer in Christ is a priest!  The modern concept of priesthood is altogether unbiblical.  A separate caste of special people who wear distinctive garb, and perform religious ceremonies to which all adherents must conform.  They operate in places of worship, overseen by an often invisible hierarchy, in public buildings designated as sanctuaries.  Even evangelicals of all denominations, as well as "non-denoms" have it wrong by the erroneous belief that when they gather together the Lord descends to be with them.  This arrogance is accentuated by the delusion of some, that theirs is the only place of worship, to the exclusion of all others.  Thus, some sectarianists seek to "domesticate" Christ to themselves, resulting in multiple divisions and endless confusion in the minds of believers, not to mention the disastrous effect on the unbelieving world.  Scriptures are emphatic:

1)  "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands..."  1st Kings 8v27 "But will God indeed dwell on earth? behold the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (also 2nd Chron. 2v6); Acts 7v48-49 "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?"; Acts 17v24-25 "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things".

Conclusion: THERE IS NO BUILDING ON EARTH WHICH IS A PLACE OF WORSHIP, OR SANCTUARY, WHERE GOD DWELLS.

Some will counter that God built a dwelling place on earth in the Tabernacle.  This notion is false for what He built was "the patterns of things in the heavens"-(Hebrews 9v23); the entire system was only a "shadow of heavenly things"-Hebrews 8v5.  Jesus said in John 4v21-24, in connection with present day worship "Woman believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father...the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him...".  Worship today is spiritual and has nothing to do with buildings or ceremonies.  The Apostle Peter said the same, that we are "a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ"-1st Peter 2v5.

2)  There is a new order of priesthood in place today.   "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek"-Psalm 110v4, repeated also in Hebrews 5v6v10 and 6v20 and 7v11 and 7v17.   This new order is superior to the Aaronic priesthood, which is now superseded (Hebrews 7v12).  "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building"-Hebrews 9v11.  In this new order, Christ is our great high priest, as is made clear as follows:

He deals with the sins of His people "He is a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people"-Heb. 2v17.   

He is "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession"-Heb. 3v1.  As Apostle He represents God to us; as High Priest He represents us to God. 

His sphere of operation is the sanctuary in heaven...."We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God"-Heb. 4v15; "We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man"-Heb. 8v1-2; "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us"-Heb. 9v24.

He deals with our infirmities, our weaknesses, our frailties.  He has lived here in this world, and experienced the hardships of life in a world opposed to God.  He knows, not only the facts of life on earth, but the feelings of our infirmities.  He knows about bodily weakness and pain.  He knows all about the inhumanity of man to man.  He knows about the loneliness of standing for God in this world.  He knows about the frustrations and disappointments in so-called friends.  He knows about the wiles and flaming darts of the devil.  Everything that we will suffer here, He has suffered, and He is fully qualified to succour us in our trials.  Relevant scriptures are: Heb. 2v10, 2v17-18, 4v15, 7v24-25.

This is the reality of worship in the present time.  We can worship Him from wherever we are, both individually and collectively.  It must be obvious to us that when we gather to worship, the Lord does not descend to our man-made buildings, rather we ascend in spirit to the sanctuary in heaven where our great high priest presides over our sacred exercises to the glory of the Father.

The Aaronic priesthood is now set aside, but it was the only priesthood instituted by God, and many of the features are retained, ether by comparison or contrast, as we shall discover when we study Leviticus chapter 8-10.  There is no separate priestly caste today, as we shall see in the next study.