No. 3.
MY DEAR―, It is quite true that God does has His priests on the earth; but they are not of an earthly order, like that of Aaron. Neither does the New Testament teach that they are any particular class of God’s people; for all believers are priests; Christ Himself, who has ascended into the heavens, being the High Priest.
Aaron and his children, who formed the priesthood of the past dispensation, shadowed forth, in some measure, the heavenly priesthood of this present time. The attempt to set up the past order again is to leave what is substantial, and to return to the shadow. This is always man’s tendency. It is, in other words, to leave what is spiritual, and to return to what is carnal; to grow weary of the life and walk of faith, and go back to what is of sight and of sense. May we be watchful and prayerful!
It is because all believers are priests that we sometimes sing, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
This is a blessed position. We are both kings and priests, only we have not yet entered upon our kingly position. We expect to reign with Christ, but now our place is one of rejection with Christ. We shall sit on thrones by-and-by.
As the priests of old were separated unto God in His sovereignty, and by the blood and anointing oil, for a special ministry in the sanctuary, so is it in the present order of priesthood. God in His sovereignty calls, and by the precious blood of Christ, and gift of the Holy Ghost, separates us unto Himself, giving us liberty to enter into the holiest to offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Hence we are told, that we are a royal and a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
As Aaron and his sons had continually to be dealing with the sacrifices and the blood, so Jesus, our great High Priest, entered oven into heaven by His own blood, and now appears there in the presence of God for us; and because of this we have liberty to enter at all times into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Because the priests were God’s servants, He cared for them in every way. They were not only clothed with garments for glory and beauty, sprinkled with blood, and anointed with oil; but God fed them. He provided for their nourishment and sustained them: “They were to eat of those things wherewith the atonement was made.” A striking shadow of Christ being the Food and Sustainer of our souls; and if we would be fitted for our priestly office, we must live upon the food which our God has provided for us. Everything here is calculated to nourish our fleshly desires. We must, therefore, look above by faith to Him who made atonement for our sins, and feed our souls on Him, if we would find nourishment to sustain us in our priestly service. We shall be spiritually weak and feeble, if we are not nourished by the sincere milk of the word which testifies of Christ. It is impossible that we can thrive in divine things if we neglect the divine food which God has given us. The lamentation of one of the prophets was, “He feedeth on ashes:” therefore he adds, “A deceived heart hath turned him aside.” (Isa. 44:2020He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (Isaiah 44:20).) And we may be sure, that if we are not found in the banqueting house feeding inside the vail on the bread and wine of the Father’s house, we shall be feeding on the ashes of this ungodly world, and be easily turned aside from the ways of grace and truth. Christ is the living bread, the true bread, the bread of God, which came down from heaven―the One who is the nourisher of all that are spiritual. He said, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father so he that eateth me, even He shall live by me.” (John 6:5757As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57).) Let us not forget, then, that the priests were to “eat those things wherewith the atonement was made.” (Ex. 29:3333And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy. (Exodus 29:33).)
The effect of thus feeding will be consecration unto God― “to sanctify and to consecrate them.” The more we feed on Christ, the more we shall realize that His flesh is real meat, and His blood real drink. As Aaron and his sons fed upon the wave-breast and heave-shoulder, so we shall learn more and more that our real power is in seeing that Christ’s perfect love and almighty strength are engaged on our behalf. The more we enter into His affections, the more our desires will be called forth after Him. Consecration must, therefore, be the result of communion with God―feeding on Christ. We shall be sanctified or separated unto God. I say, unto God. We may be separated from evil things without being separated unto God; but if we are consecrated or sanctified unto God by the truth, we must be removed from that which is evil.
It is, then, of the highest importance that we cultivate this personal fellowship with the Lord Himself. We shall be lean and poor, and, it may be, fretful and easily perturbed, if we are not abiding in Christ, drawing from Him. In this was alone we shall be able to walk worthy of the Lord.
Yours affectionately,