Then, in the New Testament, all believers are called as priests. Priests enjoyed a special relationship to God: They alone could offer sacrifices they alone had access to the holy portions of the tabernacle and the temple where God manifested His presence they alone were the guardians of the Law.
It was a tremendous privilege to serve as a priest in Israel-a gift.
Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death Num. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. Priests were chosen from among the tribe of Levi (one of the 12 tribes of Israel) to serve as mediators between God and His people. Why do I write on this, I believe that if we could catch our Image and Likeness, our identity, many challenges would pass and life would be lived very differently, its time to finally realise the goal of the Father in this. Perhaps to understand the privilege of being named a priest, we need first to examine what priesthood meant to those who had a history of understanding of the practice of Priesthood. Such a notion would have shaken them to the soles of their sandals. Peter confers on these new Christians both a Jewish heritage (“you are a holy nation, God’s own people”) and the privilege of priesthood (“you are a royal priesthood”). 2:9, RSV), he was writing mostly to people who formerly had nothing to do with Israel and its God. When Peter wrote, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” ( 1 Pet. Imagine how it was received by the early Christians. You should! every believer is anointed to serve as a priest.įor the early Christian in the New Testament, the word priest is never used of a church leader it is only used to characterise the role of all believers. Heavens resources are working to bring the image and likeness of God back in view to all.īack to the question on that Sunday morning, how many people do you think would rise? More important, would you stand? The Holy Spirit is working to bring about a people of image and likeness to the Father in the cosmos, it is an important issue today. One of Gods central concerns, at this time, is to produce his image and likeness back into his world and humanity, that Christ might have supreme position in all – Restoration. This is central to all dealing with how we see and think of ourselves. Before you start looking to other denominations and saying ‘Ah they would….’ What have we slowly and subversively come to? The question deals with the fleeting issue of ‘Image and Likeness’ and ‘Identity’. Some would be comfortable to stand and others wait for those in the vocation or profession to stand. Who would stand and who would you expect to stand? Suppose that you gathered one Sunday morning, and some one stood before the congregation asking, “Would any priest here please stand?” I am sure for some their historical backgrounds would determine the response. This is what our High Priest the Christ has done before us. We are a community and family of priests unto our God, here to minister to one another and bring explanations of the Father to our world. Some however have taken it to such an extreme that they have become islands of faith and individuals with no connections, that is yet another extreme. We have to become a priesthood to all creation, while maintaining a corporate people of God understanding and existence. Today with the great cry for freedom and liberty all around us, we should take hold of our position through the love of God.
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