As we approach the days of the Kingdom, the teaching that the Holy Spirit is bringing to us deals to a great extent with the priesthood. This is not new teaching.
To Him who ever loves us and once for all released us from our sins by His blood, and has made us a kingdom of priests for His God and Father, to Him be glory forever. Amen. Revelation 1:5b–6, Williams’ translation.
This message may have much meaning to you. It will explain some of the dealings of the Lord that we have been through. I did not realize that He was bringing us through a period of devastation in order to prepare His priesthood. God has so engraved the awareness of this in my heart. I do not want to give you an idealistic picture of this priesthood, some new innovation; I want to show you what you have been through, what is happening to you now, and what is going to happen to you. I want you to see what changes have taken place and how you are going to function.
Why are preaching and exhorting not emphasized so much as teaching is now? Why is worship so intermingled with warfare now? Why do we no longer have any positions, but rather commissions from God, with a relationship and a oneness with Him? Why is the emphasis on the family of God now? Why has there been so much spiritual discipline? Why have these things befallen us?
Is there something involved of dispensational significance? Was God doing something that He had said He would do, but we did not have the wisdom to perceive what it was? That may be of God too. In the Scriptures we see that God does this sort of thing. Jesus spoke to His disciples and told them certain things which they didn’t remember or relate to until after His resurrection. It was then that they remembered what He had said (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:6–9, 44; John 2:19–22).
The Holy Spirit is concerned about the prophecies that you do understand, but He is also concerned about the prophecies and teachings that you do not understand—those that will be written on your heart, those that He can later spotlight.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:26.
Then you will say, “Yes, we did hear that. We did know it. We may not have realized that truth fully, but we did know it.” This is why I remind you now that the teaching on the priesthood has been coming for over thirty years. Have I understood this revelation all these years? I would have to go home and repent if I were to say that I did. I have told you many things that were real to me by revelation, but I certainly did not always know the full extent of what I was prophesying or teaching. The same has been true for us all; God has spoken to us, and now He will have to explain to us everything He was trying to tell us, everything He was trying to do to us.
Happy is the person who is so humble that whatever God has said, whatever He has put him through, he still seeks God’s face to know the full extent of what God really meant (James 5:11). That is probably the most important thing we can do. What happens to us if we do not do that? We get to the place where we begin to nitpick, to argue with God over whatever He says. Do not do that. When the Lord says something you do not understand, do as Mary did—hide it in your heart (Luke 2:51). Hide these things in your heart, and wait until God begins to show you what it is really all about.
This is a time of dispensational change. We are entering into a level of the Kingdom. Do you know what you will do after this message explains this new level to you? You will worship. You will intercede. Everything will change. Did you prefer the days when your preacher just got up and preached? No, you really didn’t. How many times would you have to admit that the preaching service was an ordeal for you? Many of you like it better now, even when you do not really understand what is coming, but the service is a breaking of the loaves and fishes and a feeding to you (Matthew 14:16–19).
We have to change the emphasis from the prophet’s exhortation to the priest’s teaching. Do you know what led to Israel’s downfall in the Old Testament? There were no teaching priests in the land—no one who really understood the Word to teach it.
“And for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.” II Chronicles 15:3.
If you have been waiting for God to give you that gift of “preach,” forget it. Instead, look to God to anoint you as the priesthood of the Lord who will teach. What is the difference? This teaching is done with impartation; you write it on the tablets of the heart, and it becomes a reality (II Corinthians 3:2–3). To speak it is to create it.
What is the particular ministry of Christ that is most exalted? For two thousand years we have been catching up to the fact that the greatest ministry to us in the world is that we have a high priest who is touched by the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15, KJV). We have a high priest who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:24–25, KJV). The priesthood of Christ will become important to us because that is what the remnant, the Body of Christ, is going to manifest: the ministry of Christ’s priesthood.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15–16.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Hebrews 7:24–26.
As we move deeper into this teaching, we will understand that worship will no longer involve just creating hymnals and songbooks and singing at one another and singing to God; instead, there will be something about the Word of God in our heart that is going to come forth in a new creative level. You will sing to the desert, and it will spring forth wells of water (Numbers 21:17–18). You will sing while Pharaoh’s hosts are drowning in the Red Sea (Exodus 15). You will sing, and the jails will spring open as they did at Philippi (Acts 16:25–26). You will worship the Lord. You will go forth singing and worshiping the Lord, and when you reach the valley of Beracah you will find all your enemies there are dead (II Chronicles 20:19–28). You will realize what the priesthood can do: they can move into the authority and the finished, perfect work of Jesus Christ; they will sing it into manifestation! This is the music that is coming.
Now we will lay a foundation that is deep in the Word, but very simple. The book of Malachi deals with the corruption of the priesthood which resulted in the final breakdown of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. There were prophets for many generations, and so the Old Testament is filled with books which we call the major and the minor prophets. But the book of Malachi explains that the real problem was the fact that there was no longer a priesthood which could function. When the priesthood broke down, the people broke down (Malachi 2:1–9). It came to pass: “Like priests, like people” (Hosea 4:9). The prophets could exhort and tell the people they were transgressing, but it was the priests who could minister all the functions of impartation and transference. A priest could lay hands on a sacrifice and impart to it the sins of the people (Leviticus 16:21). He could minister in the Holy of holies, the Holy Place, or the altar of burnt sacrifice where the sinners were identified with the sacrifices.
The priests were not men who functioned as we picture them today. Before they could go into the presence of God, they had to wash off the blood and guts of sacrifices they had presented to the Lord. Imagine the stench while watching them kill a sacrifice and offering it to the Lord.
The prophets had nothing to do with this process. They received a Word from the Lord, which they communicated to the people. But usually communication ended there; the people either heard it and repented, or they did not. We too have experienced this; but the priesthood is what we are coming into now, and this is the ministry that is working changes in people.
When I go into a church, no longer is my concern about only preaching to the people. I am concerned that impartation flows to them. The laying on of hands changes everything for them. It absolutely changes their lives. This is why laying hands on people and commissioning them is so important. When the brothers lay hands upon you, do you understand what is happening to you? Do you understand that this present period is a change in ministry; it is a change in dispensation? You are not preached into it. You move into a new level that is imparted to you by the priesthood of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for you, brings it to you (Hebrews 7:25). Is it hard for you to understand this? The amazing thing is that you are not dependent so much on understanding as on just simple faith to appropriate it. Receive it, and it really begins to work for you. Something happens within your very spirit.
We have mentioned that the book of Malachi relates the breakdown of the Levitical priesthood. When the prophets came and spoke their Word, they had some effect. But you must consider that the era of the prophets was actually created by the priesthood. And when it ended, there was still the fact that it was the priesthood that God was dealing with. Let me explain this. In the New Testament Peter refers to the times of restoration which, he says, were “spoken of by all the prophets, from Samuel on down” (Acts 3:21–24). Samuel was the prophet who came forth as a priest because his mother had such a tremendous faith for him (I Samuel, chapters 1–3). Samuel came forth, born of Hannah, through Hannah’s intercession. Samuel became a very marked intercessor; he was one of the three great intercessors of the Old Testament. He told the people, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in failing to pray for you” (I Samuel 12:23). That was the focus of his intercession. He is the prophet whose mother made a little ephod for him from year to year, measuring his growth; and while still a child the Word of the Lord began to come to him (I Samuel 2:18–19; 3:1–21). But he did not begin as a prophet; he began by ministering in the sanctuary, keeping the fires and lamps burning before the altars of the Lord.
Although the schools of the prophets came forth from Samuel (I Samuel 19:20), he was the one who was appointed to come before the Lord and make the sacrifices (I Samuel 7:9). Saul, as a king, once intruded upon that office. Later he explained to Samuel, “The people were ready to leave me, so I forced myself, and I made the sacrifices; I took over the office of the priesthood.” Samuel told Saul, “Now God is severing the kingdom of Israel from you; you are through” (I Samuel 13:8–14).
The authority that made kings was often the priests. There is authority involved in their creativity. The authority that makes prophets is often the anointing of the priests.
It is significant that John the Baptist came forth from Zacharias and Elizabeth of the priestly order (Luke 1:5–13). There is something that God honored in the priesthood which we do not fully understand. But we will understand more as the book of Hebrews becomes more alive to us, because this Epistle speaks about our Christ, the great “High Priest and Apostle” (Hebrews 3:1).
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between an apostle and a prophet? The apostles went forth and prophesied; they ministered by revelation and by other gifts of the Spirit—so did the prophets. Apostles and prophets are very similar. There is only one distinction; the apostleship takes on the nature of the priesthood. This distinguishes it from the ministry of the prophet. Find an apostle, and you will find someone who does not cease day and night to make intercession before God.
When the early Church had apostles, they were told by them, “You do all the other work; we will give ourselves to the ministering of the Word of God and prayer” (Acts 6:3–4). There was something different in the ministry of the apostles. It was a priesthood ministry, and this is what God is restoring. The priesthood ministry will be restored in these days. This is where our intercession will be focused: for an apostolic company that will be the kingdom of priests coming forth which Revelation 1:6 speaks about. This will be our priestly worship before the Lord.
What did the priests do in the days of the Old Testament? They carried the presence of the Lord through Jordan’s overflowing banks (Joshua 3:11–17). They carried it into battle (Joshua 6:8, 11). They went singing before the Lord when a confederacy of nations was set to destroy them in the days of Jehoshaphat (II Chronicles 20:17–22). They were some of the most unique and amazing people ever known.
God established the law of the firstborn (Exodus 13:2, 12). But later He said, “I am changing that now; I will take just the Levites. You Levites will not be allotted any portion of the land; I will be your inheritance. You will not get anything but Me” (Numbers 8:14–18; 18:20, 24; Deuteronomy 10:8–9). I am reminded of what the Lord once told me, when I asked, “Lord, what will come out of this? What am I going to have?” My question was similar to what Peter asked the Lord in Matthew 19:27. The Lord told me, “You will have exactly what you bargained for: a walk with Me.” And this is what I have had. Other things have come and have gone; I have had plenty, and I have had nothing. “I have abounded, and I have been abased,” as Paul said (Philippians 4:12). But somehow it never meant much one way or the other, because I always had Him. I always had a walk with Him.
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.” Malachi 3:1–3.
This passage is not speaking about just a natural tribe; it is referring to a spiritual application of the priesthood which Levi represents. The Lord will purify them. Have you ever wondered, “Why is it that I’ve gone through so much? The people I know in the church down the road don’t go through that. Why don’t they go through the difficult testings that we do when we come into this walk with God?” He wants to “purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver”—He wants to purify them.
Why do we have to go through refinement? He did this because He wanted the priesthood to come forth! He wanted to change us from being preachers to become priests! We had much preaching and much exhortation (which is mainly preaching). The marvel to me is how little has been accomplished through the preaching—and how much is really done when there is an anointing for the teaching. Teaching leads people into becoming what God wants.
Why is God going to refine the priesthood like gold and silver? So that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Do you understand this? “… that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.” Malachi 3:3. We are a priesthood! Let’s get away from the idea that we are only preaching now. There is teaching that comes; and with it a presentation to the Lord, the worship. It is significant that Christ did not want to violate the laws of the priesthood. He did just one thing when the ten lepers cried out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” He told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed (Luke 17:12–14). At another time, after He had cleansed a leper He told him, “Go talk to the priests about it; present the offerings of your purification” (Matthew 8:2–4). Though Christ actually cleansed them, He was conforming to a principle: the priesthood is involved with the creative cleansing and purifying of God’s people.
“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.” Malachi 3:4.
Some have rather human motivations for wanting the restoration: “Oh, we want this restoration! We want apostles and prophets and evangelists, and pastors and teachers. We want the nine gifts; we want the nine fruits of the Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:4–11, 28–31; Galatians 5:22–23). But God is talking about what He is going to receive out of it. What is the purpose of restoration? If it is not just for the ministries or the gifts or the fruit of the Spirit, then is it so that we can do miracles and the greater works? No, that’s not it either.
The whole purpose of this restoration is to bring forth a priesthood that will offer the offerings and sacrifices to God that are right, those that God is pleased with (I Peter 2:5). It is not what we or the world is going to get; it is what God is going to receive of this.
You must never forget the selfishness of God. You say, “Oh, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son’ ” (John 3:16). Yes, but have you ever considered why? Was it to redeem you? Yes! Don’t stop there—He is interested in sons (Romans 8:14–23, 29). He is interested in oneness (John 17:21–23; I Corinthians 12:12, 20–26). Read Ephesians chapter 1: He is interested in “His inheritance in the saints” (verse 18). God is interested in what He is going to inherit. You can talk about what you’re going to get, but God says, “Don’t forget what I’m going to get.”
Consider what happens when He gives you a Word. You respond, “Oh boy, look what I’ve got!” But remember that you don’t get a gift without your getting something else too. I have wondered whether God has ever done anything without intending that He be glorified and magnified in it. He is the only One who is entitled to say, with no hint of apology, “The Lord thy God is a jealous God!” (Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 5:9.) You are not to have anything that will rival Him. He will knock down everyone in the world who is jealous. He is the only One entitled to be jealous. He knocks down the possessiveness of people who grab and grab. He says, “You grab continually, then you take all that stuff and put it in a bag of holes” (Haggai 1:6). Only God is entitled. One of our first Jewish brothers used to say, “He’s entitled!” God can be anything He wants to be, and you will love Him for it. You will submit to it. He will put you through testings because He is inheriting you.
It is easy for someone to say, “I’m an heir of God,” but what does that really mean? What is an “heir of God”?
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. II Timothy 2:12a, KJV.
By the time someone has suffered with Him in order to reign with Him, everything of a wrong motivation has been burned out of him. Then the offering will be right; it will be pleasing to the Lord. What can we say about our present spiritual state? Out of it, finally, God is going to get what He wants. Are you frustrated because everything is upset and you don’t know where you are going? That doesn’t really matter—God knows what He is doing. He is realizing His claims on you. He is possessing you.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:5.
Now we know that God intends this priesthood to come forth, but where did it first start? It started in the heart of God. Have you ever thought about all those oppressed ex-slaves wandering through the wilderness, and have you tried to figure out why God ever brought them out of Egypt in the first place? What was He after? He seems to have gone to a great deal of trouble to get them out. I think it is a valid question; let’s go back to the book of Exodus and see why. This account in Exodus chapter 19 takes place after the Passover, just before the laws were given at Sinai; it is an awesome chapter which offers us some insight.
And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons 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 then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’(or a “holy kingdom”). These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” Verses 3–6.
That didn’t work out, and so God had to appoint the sons of Levi to be His people. We have seen that the people of the tribe of Levi were the only ones who did not receive any part of Canaan, but why didn’t they get any part? It was because the Lord said, “Levi is going to be My inheritance.” God was looking for a holy priesthood. Then eventually the tribe of Levi failed.
At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day. Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him. Deuteronomy 10:8–9.
It is clearly established in the Old Testament that God was looking for the priesthood, and to that end He went to the tribe of Levi. Later, in the book of Malachi, we are given the prophetic significance, in symbolism, that in the end time when God brings forth His Kingdom, the first thing He does is devastate those that are to come into the priesthood that is to be restored.
Now we begin to understand why we have gone through the dealings of the Lord. Now we are glad that we did, because we are closer to the Lord than ever before. God is becoming something to us that we wanted Him to be, and we are beginning to feel that our relationship to the Lord is becoming what He wanted, too. It is happening. If all His dealings accomplish what God wants, it is worthwhile.
God says that He will be a refiner and a purifier of all the sons of Levi; and if they are in the refining fire, be assured that they will not get out of it until they are completely devastated. It takes a while to break some of us down. Meanwhile, complaining to God doesn’t help; He has ordered the purifying. You can come out of the devastation with a walk with God.
One thing has been burned in my heart: a revelation from God that He would have a people, a remnant. Many times throughout these thirty years I have thought, “There are still too many people in the walk.” I was not speaking about the numbers; I was speaking about the quality. Now the mixed multitude has gone (Exodus 12:37–38; Nehemiah 13:3; Matthew 13:36–41).
We have seen in Exodus that God wanted a people, and we have seen in Malachi that in the end time He would refine them. We will now read a passage about the royal priesthood in I Peter. Notice how many times the revelation of the priesthood, the holy Kingdom, is brought out—the thing that God is going to do in order to have a people that He will possess. They will be His inheritance, and He will be their inheritance. Like the Levites, they will not get a split of everything; they will be blessed of God to be His own inheritance.
And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:4–5.
If you don’t quite understand this, Romans 12:1 (KJV) will clarify it for you.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (or better translated, “which is your mode of worship,” Revised Berkeley Version). Romans 12:1.
We come now to the priesthood that does not offer up animals, such as sheep and goats; instead, God’s people offer themselves. You offer yourself, a sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable unto Him, which is your mode of worship. That is your way of worshiping God.
Hebrews 13 speaks about the priesthood offering up to God continually the sacrifices of praise.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15.
The book of Revelation describes the saints of God sending up that precious incense (referring to the Old Testament priesthood incense, which is the prayers of the saints).
And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Revelation 8:3–5.
The revelation of the priesthood of the believer in the New Testament is one of the truths that must be restored. It is the last truth to be restored, because it is basic to the Kingdom. There will be no Kingdom until we sense ourselves as priests of God. Are we returning to the order of the Roman Catholic or the Episcopalian or some Lutheran churches, which have priests? The titles of priests were adopted because they were the ministries that were identified before the falling away of the early Church. Since the beginning of the restoration, the churches never went back to the actual priesthood; they went into preaching. The strong emphasis of the Reformation and since was preaching, preaching, preaching—a prophetic Word that had to pull people out and say, “Listen, listen, listen.” But now the time comes when sonship will come forth, and we will need the priesthood to stand and make sacrifices before the Lord. We will need the teaching priest, the ministering priest who leads in worship, the priest who leads us into spiritual warfare, the priest who carries the presence of God into unknown territories, just as of old when the Levites carried the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 10:8). That will be the mark of the priesthood God uses—not the preachers as we have known them.
How will this revelation of the priesthood fit into the services? After we get into intercession, should we get back to having some services in which we try to bring all the people in and talk to them, and preach to try to get a few converts? No, remember that we come together to worship. We come to intercede. When we leave, that may be all we have accomplished. That is good, because we have ministered to the Lord. Do we want to come to church to minister to someone else? Why? If we minister to the Lord, He will bring them in. When the early Church ministered to the Lord, they did not break from the apostolic teaching (which is the priesthood teaching); and it was said of them, “The Lord added daily such as were being saved” (Acts 2:42–43, 47). A sermon now and then would bring in thousands. Today a thousand sermons scarcely bring in one.
You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race … (this means a whole generation of life). I Peter 2:5–9. Have you ever wondered why Nehemiah and Ezra, in the restoration, had to trace their genealogy when they went into the priesthood? (Nehemiah 7:5.) Because one has to be born by God into this.
Verse 9 says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.… “Kings and priests” is close to the idea, but Revelation 1:6, as we quoted from Williams’ translation, says “a kingdom of priests.” It is a kingdom of priests who make kings. How did God get a David who would rule as a king, a prophet, a warrior, a general, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), and everything that God had in mind? God sent the priest to go over the hill and pour oil on his head (I Samuel 16:13). The elders of Bethlehem were never disturbed when King Saul came around; but when Samuel came around, the elders of the city “came trembling to meet him, and asked him, ‘Is this a friendly visit?’ ” (I Samuel 16:4.) Why? Because authority was invested in the priesthood—an authority that created.
Are you wanting to get into the greater works? You will do it as a priesthood of God—worshiping Him, loving Him, adoring Him, moving into the intercession. Stand before God. Don’t be afraid to be called a priest of God, because the priesthood is not so much an individual thing as it is a spiritual state that God is bringing forth for the Kingdom.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession … I Peter 2:9. “A royal priesthood, a holy nation”—this means a holy Kingdom. “A people for God’s own possession”—this is like God’s promise to Levi, “You’re going to belong to Me. You’re going to be My possession.”
God is saying to the priesthood today, “Now My will is fulfilled: that which I revealed in Exodus 19, that which I have had in My heart from the foundation of the world. I will have a holy priesthood who will belong to Me; you will intercede, you will pray, you will believe.”
… that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I Peter 2:9–10.
Do you understand what God means in talking about the priesthood this way? This is the bottom line of devastation—the “refining of the sons of Levi” to bring you forth. Why have you had to go through devastation? So that you can offer holy, beautiful offerings to the Lord in righteousness. You are going to give God what He wants. I cannot ever get discouraged over all the things that happen to the people, because I realize that God is getting what He started this walk for in the first place: He is getting a remnant. Maybe we will never be a lot of people. That doesn’t matter, just as long as we become God’s own possession, His holy nation, His Kingdom—just as long as we become that royal priesthood, His kingdom of priests.
And He has made us to be a kingdom, priests (kingdom of priests, Williams’ translation) to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:6.
This is referring to our Lord Jesus Christ who has made us a kingdom of priests to His God. First the breakthrough comes whereby all the ministries of the Church are under Christ. Now Christ produces the priesthood that ministers to the Father. It must come to this, for there is no completed cycle of the Kingdom unless the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and when He has put down all rule and authority, He presents it all to the Father (Revelation 11:15; I Corinthians 15:24). It is all coming to be exactly the way God wants it to be.
… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds … Revelation 1:5–7a.
This is overwhelming. Now we realize that all we have come through has been the preparatory period, so that now we will “live in His sight,” as Hosea prophesied: Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Hosea 6:1–2, KJV. We will be His priests.
Let the Lord make this real to you. Then all you have been through will make a lot of sense; you will dump the confusion and the questions. You will say, “God, finish the work! Complete all that You have begun within me! Bring me forth in Your priesthood, in order that I can offer to You those pure sacrifices in righteousness, as in the days of old when You were pleased with them.”
In the Old Testament, the priesthood who sang and brought worship before the Lord were more than musicians. They created the will of God. They brought the presence of the Lord into warfare, and they defeated the enemy (II Chronicles 20:21–24). They were the keepers of the sword of Goliath which had been deposited in the house of the Lord against the day that it was needed (I Samuel 21:9). This priesthood is something that God wants to bring forth in our lives, and we take it with all faith. This Word is more than an explanation. This is a Word of faith from God. Believe it. Thank God for all the things that He did to you. Esteem them above those things that you had formerly esteemed to be blessings, because what He put you through were the refining fires that made you what He wanted you to be in His sight.
I am reminded of Psalm 72:6 which talks about the Lord coming as the latter rain upon the new-mown grass.
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. Psalm 72:6–7, KJV.
This is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that God is bringing now. It is an impartation that is coming to us. It is alive; it is a flow. It is raining on us; it is raining on the new-mown grass. Do you understand what this means? If you feel as though God has cut you down, then receive the rain. It is for you. Take it in the name of the Lord.
And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. Job 29:23, KJV.
These two passages in the Psalms and in Job tell about the latter rain coming forth that we are believing for. This is dispensational. Realize that the preparation in the heart of man is of the Lord (Proverbs 16:1). God has prepared your heart. If He has plowed deep, it is because He spoke through prophecy in the Old Testament, “Zion shall be like a plowed field” (Jeremiah 26:18). He said He would plow you deep. Now He is getting ready for the harvest of the earth. The latter rains are coming to bring forth His will, to bring forth His purpose (James 5:7).
What God is doing to us now is the greatest thing He has ever done. No flesh will glory in His presence now (I Corinthians 1:29, KJV). Nothing can glory in His presence. This is why the Kingdom will be so powerful.
Now the maimed and the halt and the blind are going to receive (Luke 14:13, 21). Remember that there are no manners in the Kingdom; there are no rules of etiquette. You eat with your hands, and from the hands of your brothers.
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. Psalm 72:6–7, KJV.
There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. Verses 16–18.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. Verse 9.
Something else must be inserted here: Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. I Chronicles 16:22, KJV. Why do we include this Scripture? Because now, he who touches this anointed priesthood is going to touch God. God commands that no one even touch this priesthood. He spoke, “Do My prophets no harm”—certainly no one even touches His priesthood without there being a retribution. There is a judgment that God will bring upon those who touch His anointed ones.
Christ was called “the anointed One.” Christos means “anointed One.” We are called “Christians,” which means, “anointed ones.” People were first called Christians because they were moving in the priesthood.
To truly be a Christian, to be in the priesthood, is to have an anointing, not a profession. Christ means “the anointed One.” Jesus said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me …” Luke 4:18, KJV. He was anointed for all the things that He was to do—far beyond the scope of preaching. That anointing involves all the greater works which are to come forth.
… He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. John 14:12, KJV.
The prophet brought a Word from God to the people; the priest brought the people into the presence of God.
Prophets proclaim the Word; preachers publish the Word; priests create the fulfillment of the Word. We all appropriate it.
A priest can create a king; a prophet can bring one down.
The prophets minister a proclamation of the Lord; the priests minister the presence of the Lord.
The kingdom of priests will lead people into becoming what God wants.
Preaching tells you what God wants of you; impartation imparts it to you.
The priests minister to God at the fires of the altar to produce pure disciples; the preachers’ fires produce converts.