In this end time, God is opening up a realm of ministry which His people have not walked in before. It can best be described by two pictures. One portrays the greatest revelations and the highest spiritual level of the priesthood. The other portrays the greatest revelations and the highest spiritual level of the prophets.
Rev 1: 6And hath made (specific point in the past, endow with a certain quality, the end of the act) us kings (lord of the land) and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We live in the day in which we are entering into the governmental role of kings and priests (Revelation 1:6). All will prophesy (speak into existence in the natural realm) and in the days to come the very least will move in a greater anointing than that which rested on the Old Testament prophets.
Also, as the spiritual priesthood of the Kingdom, we will exceed that which came forth in the Levitical priesthood; we will move into the divine order of the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11). What a high level of authority in ministry will come from the remnant of God in these days!
The following passage of Scripture will help us to analyze this concept of the prophet-priest ministry. Ezekiel 37:3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, Thou knowest.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.’
The Hebrew word for “breath,” rauch, is also the word for “spirit.” Likewise, in the New Testament, the Greek word for “spirit” is pneuma, also means “breath,” or “wind,” as we read in John 3:8, The wind bloweth where it will.… so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
This is perhaps the greatest vision of prophecy to come forth from a prophet in Old Testament times. There were prophets who prophesied and kingdoms came down; there were prophets who prophesied and new ages came forth.
But this vision foretells the greatest creative act that would ever take place—a prophet of God standing and prophesying at the leading of God, moving with breath or spirit from the realm of spirit to create something in the natural realm.
Before Ezekiel had finished prophesying, his prophecy began bringing together bones, organs, and tissue, and restoring life. This is an example of prophecy in its creative form. Prophets of God are coming forth in this day who are approaching the vision of Ezekiel in their prophesying.
Prophesying is listed as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to function in the Church for edification, exhortation, and comfort (I Corinthians 14:3). However, the New Testament emphasis was not upon the creative role of prophecy that is found in Ezekiel 37.
The office of a prophet, is to teach the Body of Christ how to prophesy, so that they can participate in the prophesies too exponentially (rapid increase in size or extent) the force of the prophesy. We are to become a prophetic community.
Instead of teaching the Body how to hear the voice of God, the gift has been prostituted to cause the people to be dependent upon the one who is prophesying over people, to hear a word from God, building up their little kingdom, which has to be torn down, instead of teaching the people to hear the Word of the Lord themselves.
In the past, prophecy was used to comfort, to build up the Church, and to exhort the people to draw near to the Lord. Now a transition is taking place and the creative aspect of prophecy will be emphasized in the bringing forth of the Kingdom.
Ezekiel was a priest (Eze 1:3) and also a prophet of the Kingdom. As he prophesied of the loss and the restoration of God’s glory to His people, Ezekiel had various visions. In one of them he saw the Shekinah glory rise and hover over the Temple, hover over the border of Jerusalem, hover on the peak of the mountain, and ultimately disappear (Ezekiel 10:18–19; 11:22–23).
The last chapters of the book of Ezekiel speak of the return of the glory of God. Ezekiel was a prophet who spoke of both the loss and the restoration of the glory of God to God’s people. He spoke of the restoration of the glory of God in the realm of the Kingdom that is coming forth today.
From Ezekiel’s vision of prophesying the bones to come alive and become a great army, we see that God does not recruit the most worthy people on earth to be His bond servants. Instead, He creates His servants. It is a Word from God that causes the people of the restoration to rise up in the Lord.
A true prophet of God would not be doing the will of God if he prophesied, “O Mister Moneybags, give your money to the Lord”; and, “You with a gift of gab, be a preacher unto the Lord.”
God does not care about Mister Moneybags’ money or Mister Gab’s talking ability. He is only concerned with creating out of the dry bones—that which is nothing, that which is foolish, and that which is base—those who will bring forth His will in His name. They will be an exceedingly great army which will stand without breaking ranks (Joel 2:8). They will not be recruited because they have special personality traits or capabilities. They will come forth only because they are the creative act of God. They will be created by the prophecies that God’s people minister to one another.
We still need prophecy in this day to edify, to exhort, and to comfort; and yet prophecy must do more than that for us. We need prophets who will speak the Word of God that creates within us the very capacity to do His will and to be His army. Those dry bones of Ezekiel’s vision did not become an assembly of individuals. They became an exceedingly great army with no limit to their number.
Today God is creating an army which will come forth as every prophet rises to his most noble utterance—that which creates. The utterances of God have never created anything greater than when He formed the world. Just as He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, so also He will say, “Let there be the army of the Lord,” and there will be the army of the Lord.
However, this time He will be speaking through the mouths of prophets. The worlds were created in their fullness by a Word that God spoke, independent of human channels. But He has declared that His Kingdom will come forth through His oracles, through voices like our own, through channels who will speak the Word of the Lord.
This is the greatest ministry that can come forth through the prophet.
Nothing in the ministry of the priesthood equaled what could be conveyed through the laying on of hands, which was an ordinance of the Lord. When the people brought their offerings, and the priests laid their hands upon the animals, the effect was even beyond what they understood.
If we can grasp the spiritual truths of this ritual, God can teach us about transference and appropriation. The innocence of the animal was appropriated, and the guilt of the sinner was transferred. The sacrificial animal actually became a sinner, even though it never had any conscience concerning law.
When the priest cut the animal’s throat, it died bearing God’s judgment for the sin of the person who stood there. Then that person was free to enter into the Tabernacle and worship God. He could worship God because of a simple act that is the greatest miracle of all time. This is to be our ministry as priests to forgive peoples sins( John 20:23). Until they learn how to receive forgiveness themselves.
The Old Testament ministry of the priesthood was a ritual of great significance until Jesus came forth. The Lord Jesus Christ was led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). When John the Baptist saw the Lord walking toward the Jordan, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He meant that the Father would lay His hand upon Jesus and place upon Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). This vicarious act involved appropriation and transference. When we accept the Lord into our lives, we are appropriating the righteousness of God and transferring our sins to the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as Christ accepted our sins and died for them, so we must accept His righteousness.
The ministry of the prophet and the ministry of the priest will be combined and manifested as one in the ministry that God is bringing forth today. He is combining two functions which have been separate in the past.
The prophet approached the people on behalf of God, whereas the priest approached God on behalf of the people. The prophet was God’s spokesman, while the priest was the people’s spokesman. The prophet spoke a Word from God to the people, and the priest spoke a word from the people to God.
God has reserved a better way of ministering today: that which was separated in the Old Testament ministries is being united now in the Body of Christ to form one effective ministry.
In the ministry of the prophets, we can speak to the congregation and create a people to move before the face of God. As priests, with the effective ministry of intercession we can transfer the people’s guilt to Jesus, who is our sacrifice, and transfer the innocence of Christ to the guilty.
John 20: 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on (to breathe into, this is the born again experience “Passover”, different from the baptism of the Spirit “Pentecost”, which happened to them 50 days latter) them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit (to forgive, to send forth or away, let go from oneself) , they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
We will be able to prophesy a Word, just as Jesus did when He said, “Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). People will not struggle to appropriate. They will be cleansed, and righteousness will be transferred to them. The Body of Christ will come forth without spot or wrinkle by the washing of water by the Word (Ephesians 5:26–27). A Word of the Lord will come to cleanse. A Word of the Lord will come to create. A Word of the Lord will come which will allow us to stand before the lord, clothed with his righteousness.
Our shortcomings are of no significance at all; through the ministry of the priesthood we can be cleansed. The prophet can stand and say, “In the name of the Lord, we appropriate the righteousness of God for this people.” There will be deliverance in the remnant whom the Lord shall call (Joel 2:32).
The ministries of the prophet and of the priest are coming together. They will speak the Word and an army will be created. They will speak the Word and we will be clean and free and whole, exactly what God has ordained us to be. The creative Word is being restored to that height of effectiveness.
When we go to church, we do not go just to hear a sermon or to be convicted. We want to hear someone say something that will create in us the capacity to do the will of God beyond anything that we could ever be or do otherwise.
When Jesus came, He moved as a prophet and He moved as a priest. However, being of the tribe of Judah, Jesus was not qualified for the priesthood of Levi. So He came forth as a priest after the order of Melchizedek—that divine priesthood which was instituted on this earth which preceded the Levitical priesthood.
Therefore, we stand in the priesthood of Christ which is not a revival of the Levitical priesthood. Instead, our priesthood combines the creativity of Ezekiel in his prophet ministry with the creativity of the priestly order of Melchizedek. Through prophecy, capacities that people have never known before will be created in them.
Prophesying can be compared to the act of the Old Testament priest when he laid his hand upon an animal, transferring the guilt of sin and appropriating the righteousness of God.
Great changes will not take place through our own efforts. They will take place by our receptiveness to a Word from God. We Ask the Lord to give us ears to hear and a heart to receive. We will change as we worship the Lord and partake of the highest level of the priest and prophet ministry where the living Word will create in us.
There is a close connection between worshiping and changing. Those who worship God are touching Him with openness and a submissiveness to receive from Him. The greatest creativity of prophecy is found in the climate of worship. When we are open and worshiping God, the Word that comes prophetically with all of its power will create change within us. It will bond us to the Lord. It will release the flow of God’s life to us because of our openness and worship to God.
Our acknowledgment of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and our worship of Him create the climate in which His truths become real to us. When we worship with hearing ears and a giving heart, presenting ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice, He creates the change within us right at that moment. Many people have found God in the climate of worship. Worship is the climate for miracles and for change.
Beyond argument, beyond reasoning—bypassing everything of the mental and emotional processes—God reaches a human spirit and says, “I create you now! Live in My sight!”