Nearly two months ago we were at our debrief in South Africa
sitting in a room listening to a sermon that Tonya, a squad leader or ours,
wanted us to listen to. The topic ended up being about the power of
testimonies. However, it started a tangent that I have been mulling over since
that time and I felt you might like to hear it.
First of all, I highly suggest you read Hebrews 7 through
the end and look back at some of the other scriptures I’m going to mention. I
am not at all done processing everything and am curious to see your feedback.
In Hebrews 8, there is a small statement that says ” they
serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” when talking a little about
earthly priesthood in the days of Moses. I think that everything that we see,
experience and understand is only a copy of what is fully real. In a weird way
it’s a bit like the Matrix where there is more to this life than we ever fully
grasp. Not trying to be all mystical or anything but realistically we rent
these bodies for a lifetime and we live in a very physical world but I’d
suggest that we are more spirit than flesh just as much as this world is more
spirit than physical.
In 1 Peter 2:5, it says “you yourselves like living
stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to
offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
I don’t believe that this “priesthood” was designated to
certain Christians but rather to all. However, what does it mean to be a royal
or holy priest? Well, that is a fairly large question and you would have to
read very large portions of the old testament to get a better picture of what
the requirements were of the “original” priesthood. Likewise, it is talked
about more directly in Hebrews and 1 Peter as well…however, let’s focus first
on the Levites.
I’ve always known that in the days of Moses, God set up the
Levites to be the priests out of the tribes of Israel. Their inheritance was
the Lord which meant that they didn’t get an inheritance of land like the rest of the Israelites. They
had a number of responsibilities but from what I know of them, their main task
was to:
1. Worship the Lord and minister to Him
2. Offer sacrifices and prayers on behalf of the people
Obviously there was a lot more to it than this, but the main
point is that God was their inheritance and that while they were worshiping,
ministering, sacrificing and praying, He was protecting them and providing for
all of their needs. He often did so through the other tribes in various ways
which you are most likely aware of.
OK, I feel like most of you who have made it this far are
still with me so let me take another jump for you. That night when we were
listening to the sermon from Tonya, the preacher started out by using a passage
in Exodus 19. This is where Moses is chatting it up with God on Mt. Sinai. God
says to Moses:
“…tell
the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now
therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my
covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all
the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the nation of
Israel.”
The first thing I want you to recognize is that at the start
and end of this passage, He makes it clear to Moses that all of Israel is to
hear this message. The second thing is the word “if.” Often times later on in
scripture, God mentions how the people didn’t obey His words and often forsook
His covenant. The third thing I want you to see is that God wants to make them
a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now I want you to put those three
things together.
Is it possible that God’s original design at the time was to
make all of Israel a kingdom of priests instead of just choosing the Levites to
be the priests?
If you believe the answer is yes, I want you to think of the
ramifications of that. We have an idea of what the Levites were all about…but a
whole nation? God was still planning on bringing them into the “promised land”
which then begs the question as to who would then meet their needs? The reflex
answer of course is that the Lord would be their inheritance as He was for the
Levites. However, the Levites had their needs tangibly met through the other
tribes while they ministered before the Lord and prayed for forgiveness for the
sins of the Israelites.
That means that if God was setting up Israel to be a holy
nation and a kingdom of priests, than He would have used the nations to meet
their tangible needs some way as the Israelites worshiped Him and prayed for
the forgiveness of the nations. A little bit different? Not what you have heard
in church? Bible school?
This concept raises questions but I think there’s more depth
to His idea of priesthood than I have previously understood.
Another obvious question is why would God end up choosing
just the Levites if His original intention was to make all the Israelites into
a kingdom of priests. Well, here is a possible reason:
Moses comes down off of the mountain in the next chapter
with the ten commandments and the words of God to speak to the Israelites.
Immediately after Moses finishes speaking, the people respond this way: “Now
when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound
of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled
and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us and we will listen;
but do not let God speak to us lest we die.'”
There are plenty of scriptures where God basically says to
hear my voice and obey. The very first response of the people is that they don’t
want to listen directly to Him because He scared them. God won’t force His
blessings on you and what He had planned for them was far better than what they
settled for. They essentially traded away much of their inheritance for a
shadow of what could have been. (Inheritance is another Huge topic that I would
love to get into a ramble about sometime as well so remind me)
Earlier I made a remark about how God often shows us the
shadow or copy of what is to come. I believe that God still set apart the
Levites to be a testimony for not only the Israelites but also to the nations
of what was coming later. Hebrews talks a lot about the need for a different
kind of priesthood than that of the Levites. The Levitical priesthood was
flawed and the high priests were humans with sin. What was needed was a priest
in the line of Malchizadek (another tangent) who reigns as a priest forever.
Obviously this person is Jesus and “coincidently” He comes from the line of Judah…not
Levi.
I decided to break this post up into two in hopes that more
people would actually choose to read through it all…so I guess you can consider
this as your intercession…more to come soon J
