“Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in
My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house,
and he shall walk before My anointed forever.”
(1 Sam 2:35, NKJV)
On Day 27 and 28 we spent some time looking at the high priest and the significance of its prototypical qualities for believers. We also based our understanding on the assumption that a change of priesthood occurred with the shift from Old to New covenant, as stated in Heb 7:12.
In the Old Covenant God chose priests from a specific group. Even before the Law was given to Israel (which included ordinances relating to the priesthood’s identity and responsibility) there were already priests who had dedicated their lives to serving God (Ex 19: 22 & 24). In Num 3:9-12 the priesthood’s calling within this new status quo is spelled out: “And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are given entirely to him from among the children of Israel. So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.” Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine …” There was clearly a priesthood who ministered between God and man.
But in 1 Sam 2:35, as we quoted it above, God prophesies that He will raise up a different priesthood unto Himself. This priesthood will not only be a priesthood in name, but will indeed be what is in the heart and soul of the Father. In Is 5:21 God prophesies that He will even include Gentiles within this priesthood, and in Jer 31:31-34 the covenant within which these priests will minister is sketched – “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
In the New Covenant every born again believer is called to be a priest. As 1 Pet 2:9 states: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light …” which thus scraps any distinction between clergy and laity.
- Sela: Affirm before God that you are one of His priests
- Read: 2 Kings 14; Jer 15; 1 Cor 14
- Memorise: 1 Cor 14:26
- For a deeper understanding: Read David R. High’s book Kings and priests.
