What is a
priest? He is not an official or a member of a religious
caste, but a man who withstands death and ministers life.
The one all-inclusive issue of the ages, the great
purpose of God from eternity to eternity, can be
described in New Testament language as eternal life. As
soon as sin entered the world then death ensued, and so
men needed an altar and the shedding of blood in order
that sin could be countered by righteousness and death be
overcome by divine life. Together with the altar there
emerged the personal activity of a man called a priest,
and so, as time went on, such service grew and grew until
it developed into an elaborate priestly ministry.
Death as an active power could only be arrested,
nullified and removed by having its ground of sin
adequately dealt with, hence the priestly ministry of
righteousness, the perfect righteousness of incorruptible
life expressed by the blood of the offering. Israel was
to be a nation of priests, a people based and grounded on
God's own righteousness, and therefore able to face death
and defeat it. The Church was called to take up this
ministry. The Lord Jesus Himself foretold this by saying:
"the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and
shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof" (Matthew 21:43). Peter later explained that
redeemed sinners have entered into the spiritual calling,
being the "chosen nation", the "royal
priesthood" which has to undertake the great
vocation of being God's ministers of life in the earth.
So we find that as members of Christ's body we have a
relationship to Him, the great High Priest, which is
analogous to that between Aaron and his sons who shared
his work of priesthood. In the letter to the Hebrews,
which deals with this subject, we have a kind of New
Testament Leviticus. In this epistle believers are
addressed as sons as well as "holy brethren",
as though Christ regards us as His sons - "I and the
children whom God has given me" (Hebrews 2:13).
Through us, therefore, as members of Christ, the great
high priestly work in heaven is to find expression here
on earth. If we ask what is the significance of the
Lord's continuous work as High Priest, the answer is to
set life over against death, to nullify the operation and
reign of spiritual death. The Church's great conflict is
with spiritual death, and the more spiritual a man
becomes, the more he is aware of the awful reality of
this battle with the evil power of death.
No priest or Levite of the Old Testament was ever tempted
to become lyrical on this subject or to talk in poetical
language as though death were some sort of friend. Oh no,
they knew death to be the great enemy of God and of all
God's interests. When the Scriptures speak of death as
the last enemy, they not only mean that it is the last on
the list but that it is the consummate enemy, the
inclusive expression of all enmity. The effect of
priesthood is illustrated again and again in the Word of
God. We observe death breaking in because of sin, and
then God intervening with His answer of life by means of
blood sacrifice. The blood speaks of an accepted
righteousness, and by means of it, the priest was able to
meet death, counter it and minister life. Finally we are
told of the Lord Jesus, who met death in the
concentration of all its enmity, overthrew it by means of
the perfect sacrifice of His own life's blood, and then
entered upon His priestly work of ministering life to
believers.
The priest is a man of authority though this is spiritual
and not ecclesiastical. He has power with God. The
apostle John speaks of the case of one who has sinned a
sin which is not unto death, and he says: "He shall
ask life..." for him (1 John 5:16). This reference
discloses that a believer who is standing on the ground
of righteousness by faith through the blood of Jesus, can
exercise the power of priesthood on behalf of an erring
brother, and so minister life to him. Surely there is no
ministry more needed on earth today than such a
vitalising ministry. If we minister truths which do not
issue in life, then we are wasting our time. God has not
commissioned us to be mere imparters of information about
divine things or teachers of morals; He has loosed us
from our sins so that we might be ministers of life to
others by virtue of priestly authority. We live in a
world where death reigns. Daily there are multitudes
being swept away by a tide of spiritual death. Why?
Because of unrighteousness. What is needed is the
activity of those who will accept their priestly
responsibilities, both asking life for others and
offering them that life through the gospel. We must
minister Christ. Not mere doctrines about Him; not mere
words or commandments; but the vital impact of Christ in
terms of life. So every believer is called to stand
between the dead and the living giving the answer of
Christ to the activities of Satan.
No wonder that the kingdom of Satan was at war with
Israel, for the presence of this nation on a right
relationship with God proclaimed effectively that sin and
death do not reign universally in God's world, but they
have been met and overcome by the power of a righteous
and incorruptible life. In the end Israel lost this
testimony and so lost the priestly ministry. The Church
was then brought in to take it up, being no longer a
localised people in one land but a spiritual community
scattered in all the earth, a people whose supreme
calling is to maintain God's victory over death according
to the testimony of Jesus. And what is the testimony of
Jesus? It is the testimony of the triumph of life over
death. He Himself so described it to John: "I am he
that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of
death" (Revelation 1:18).
This testimony was deposited in the Church, and
immediately the disciples presented it powerfully among
the nations. Alas! In many respects the Church is now
failing in its priestly vocation. This vital element of
victorious life seems to be lacking. The letters at the
beginning of the book of Revelation show that Christ was
not satisfied with the churches' many good activities,
zealous works, correct teaching, patient persistence in
orthodoxy. He sought to call them back to their true task
of demonstrating the power of His overcoming life in the
face of every challenge. What ministry do we want? To be
running around taking meetings, giving addresses,
supporting Christian work? All this may be included, but
it is of little value if it does not fit into the context
of priestly warfare against death, the bringing in of the
powerful impact of Christ's victorious life to meet
death's challenge.
The book of the Revelation makes it plain that such a
testimony provokes the animosity of Satan, but such
enmity should be a compliment to us, for it means that
our lives are really counting for God. The day when you
or I are no longer involved in the spiritual battle will
be a bad day, for it will mean that we have lost our true
vocation and are no longer providing any real challenge
to spiritual death but are failing in this matter of
priestly ministry. On the other hand, the painful
antagonism of the powers of evil may be a clear proof
that we are truly serving as priests.
Test everything by life. The life that is victorious over
sin. The life which delivers from bondage, especially the
bondage of fear. The life which expresses itself in terms
of love for needy sinners. Not only does John encourage
us to ask for life, he assures us that in answer to such
prayer God will give it - "...he shall give him life
for them that sin not unto death". We must not fail
in our priestly ministry.
From
"Toward The Mark" Mar-Apr 1973, Vol. 2-2