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Priests
by
Cadet Xander Coleman
We Christians are a funny lot,
aren't we? A
motley crew.
Sometimes I look around congregations I'm in and think to
myself about how little I have in common with many of the
people around me.
On what basis could I ever have a relationship with the
elderly Zimbabwean lady or homeless Pakistani man or the
football-crazed teenager who join me in worship on a Sunday
morning?
What we do have in common,
though, is no small thing: we have experienced the mercy of
God and are now passionately committed to Him.
We have been purchased for God from 'every tribe and
language and people and nation' and have been made into a
'kingdom and priests to serve our God' (Revelation 5:9-10).
Peter tells us, 'Once you were
not a people, but now you are the people of God.
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received mercy' (1 Peter 2:10).
Somehow, in God's incredible plan, He has taken a bunch
of diverse individuals with disparate interests and
temperaments and histories, and transformed them into a new
people. His
people. We are
brothers and sisters, united through adoption by God the
Father. We are 'a
chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who
called you out of darkness into his wonderful light' (1 Peter
2:9).
There is a clear call here for
us to live holy lives.
We, God's people, should be living differently to the
prevailing culture.
I'm not just talking about sanctification as
sin-management here: holiness is so much bigger than that!
The values of the kingdom of God and not the values of
the world become the standard for our lives.
We live as citizens of a different, a heavenly country
(Hebrews 11:16), and as strangers and aliens in the world (1
Peter 2:11). We
are defined by different things and measure ourselves by
different criteria.
We are not conformed 'any longer to the pattern of this
world' but are 'transformed by the renewing' of our minds
(Romans 12:2). We
are ruled by the law of love, and are 'being transformed into
his image with ever-increasing glory' (2 Corinthians 3:18).
This is who are are, what we
are called to as the people of God.
It's what brings us together and unites us, this
pursuit of holiness.
John Wesley asserted that 'there is no holiness apart
from social holiness', and it is as you and I and the rest of
God's people experience this holiness of life that the whole
world is transformed:
the collective effect of the transformation of
countless individuals 'from every tribe and language and
people and nation'.
But it's this idea of a royal
priesthood, or a kingdom of priests, that I really get excited
about. I was
having a discussion with some fellow-cadets recently about the
extent to which a Salvation Army Officer could be described as
a priest. I
suggested that we may be called priests, but only inasmuch as
any believer may be called a priest of the living God.
As good Salvationists, we believe the scripture teaches about the
'priesthood of all believers'.
There is no longer any need for an intermediary between
God and humanity.
The only priest recognised under the New Covenant is Jesus
Christ Himself, who is our High Priest and 'able to save
completely those who come to God through him' (Hebrews 7:25).
(Incidentally, if you and I are already members of a priesthood, having
been ordained by God, what need is there for me to be ordained
again by the Territorial Commander in the commissioning
ceremony? But
that's a conversation for another time).
What is our role as members of this priesthood of all believers?
If believers now need no intermediary but can access
God themselves, what need is there for a priesthood?
And yet, God calls us a priesthood!
I want to suggest that our role as 'priests' is to
administer Christ to a world that doesn't believe in Him.
The world is broken and hurting and dying around
because it cannot or will not see God.
But 'how can they believe in the one of whom they have
not heard? And how
can they hear without someone preaching to them?' (Romans
10:14). Like
Jesus, we are called to show an unbelieving world what God is
like; we are to be God-with-skin-on.
We, collectively – the people of God – are to be
intermediaries between God and a humanity that doesn't
acknowledge Him.
It is the collective effect of a billion believers living
their lives so as to bring Christ to a dying world, that will
spread salvation abroad.
Do I need to repeat that holiness of life is a key to
this?
This call to be a kingdom of priests is not unique to the New Testament,
however. God had
this idea in mind when he called the people of Israel out of
Egypt. Just after
they'd escaped from Pharaoh and crossed the Red Sea, they came
to Mount Sinai and God spoke these words to Moses regarding
the nation of Israel:
'...you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation.' (Exodus 19:6)
Just take a minute to really feel the weight of those words.
Long before the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost,
long before the great commission, long before Jesus came, God
is calling His people to be a kingdom of priests.
I mean, this is the OLD covenant!
The Levitical priesthood hasn't even been consecrated
yet, and God is daring to call the whole nation of Israel to
be a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
A nation that lives differently from the nations of the
earth (holy), but that also administers Yahweh to the nations
of the earth (priesthood).
The rest of the Old Testament reveals how Israel failed, to a greater or
lesser degree, to live up to this high calling.
So what happened?
Why was this calling never fully realised?
Well, check our Exodus 19 – this is what went down: God told Moses that
He was going to come down to the people in a glory-cloud so
that the people themselves could hear Him speaking for
themselves (Exodus 19:9).
He said that the people should prepare themselves for
this holy visitation by consecrating themselves for three
days, washing their clothes and abstaining from sex (19:10,
11, 15). God also
said that people should not go up the holy mountain until the
'ram's horn sounds a long blast,' otherwise they will die
(19:12, 13).
Moses told the people these things and they committed to consecrating
themselves for the three days.
But when the third day came and God descended of the
mountain in a glory-cloud, and the ram's horn blasted long and
clear, God warned Moses not to let the people come up the
mountain to see the Lord because they would die (v21).
God goes on to say,
'Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must
consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against
them.' (Exodus 19:22).
It would seem that the people hadn't followed Moses' instructions to
consecrate themselves, and because of that God wouldn't let
them up the mountain.
He knew that if they forced their way through to
approach Him in their sinful state, they would be overcome by
His glory and be struck dead.
Encountering the fire of God without being consecrated
is a deadly thing!
(We do well to remember that when we pray for the fire: do we
really want it?)
This calling to be a holy nation, a set-apart nation, a consecrated
nation – it was messed up before it even started!
I'm not standing in judgement here: you and I know how
difficult it can be to stay consecrated.
They say that the difficult thing about living
sacrifices is that they tend to climb off the altar.
Which is all the more reason to take God's holy call
seriously.
God didn't give up on the people of Israel (and still hasn't), and He
doesn't give up on us.
No matter how many times we might fail at this holiness
thing, He's there to dust us off and help us to try again.
We are called to live without sin, but even if we do
sin, 'we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence –
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins' (1 John
2:1-2). God, help
us to live up to Your calling to be a holy nation!
God calls us to a holy life, both individually and corporately, and we
must be a holy nation if we're going to impact the world for
Jesus. Revivalist Robert Murray McCheyne used to say, 'the
greatest need of my people is my personal holiness'. The same
is true corporately of the church: what a broken and dying
world needs most is a holy, righteous, spotless church! God
help us to be so!
The tragedy of Israel's rejection of God's call upon them to
be a kingdom of priests continues. After the Israelites mess
up on the holiness part, Moses is given the ten commandments
in Exodus 20. This
is all still part of the same interaction between Israel and
Yahweh. Right
after the ten commandments are given, the people, who are
waiting at the base of the mountain, start to freak out:
'When the people saw the thunder and lightening and heard the trumpet and
saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They
stayed at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself
and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will
die' (Exodus 20:18-19)
Say what?! The God
of heaven had invited them into an intimate experience of His
presence which would result in them being transformed into
this kingdom of priests, but they beg for an intermediary!
They abrogate their calling to be a kingdom of priests
and refuse to allow God to speak to them directly.
They stayed at a distance.
How often do we, as God's people, stay at a distance? How
often do we resist an intimate encounter with God for fear of
what it will cost us? We're not willing to consecrate
ourselves, so going up the mountain is filled with only dread!
How often do we say to the corps officer or the cell group
leader or prophetic-type, 'you speak to me for God, I'm too
afraid to listen to Him myself'
Here's how the story ends: Moses tells Israel not to be
afraid, and that God will help them to keep from sinning. But
'the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the
thick darkness where God was'. We have a choice, just like the
people of Israel. We can stay at a distance, far off from God,
speaking to him through the intermediary of a person or a
doctrine or a liturgy or a formality or a... Or, like Moses,
we can choose to approach the thick glory-cloud where God is,
and take up our position as member of a priesthood that brings
the reign of God to a world desperately in need of it.
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