Num. 18:1-19
All the children of God are priests. Peter speaks of a double priesthood of Christians (1 Peter 2:5-9), of a holy and of a royal priesthood: spiritual, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; royal, to show forth the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The apostle makes allusion there to Christ as being Priest according to the order of Melchizedek who will come thus to manifest His excellencies and His power. Being royal priests we are called to bear testimony to this power as being children of light in the midst of darkness.
All the character of priesthood which is in question here (Num. 18) is grace. After the murmurs of the people of Israel (Num. 16:41) God took away the rod from the hands of Aaron, whose election showed grace (Num. 17:5), to conduct the people Himself across the desert. “And it shall come to pass that the man's rod whom I shall choose shall blossom; and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.” The love of God is greater than the sin of the people: without that they would never have been able to cross the desert. The rod of Aaron is thus the complete manifestation of the grace of God. It is not a question here, as to our priesthood, of our personal relationships with God; for we are already under grace by the death and resurrection of Christ. To be able to understand my priesthood, I must be convinced beforehand of my position under grace.
God, without ever sanctioning sin, permits it in the case of some, who failed to learn otherwise, to show that His grace is greater than sin. He puts these persons, spite of their sin, in relation with grace. Grace here consists in the development of love in the midst of evil; but the foundation of all is ever the individual conviction of the state of grace. The standing of a priest means to be in the midst of evil in relation with the grace of God. The perfection of Christ's love is to be occupied with His people in whatever state they may be. He would that God should be glorified, and thus He carries everything on His heart. In this position grace is manifested more powerfully than the evil. In the midst of evil the priest may glorify Him in grace; and it is a great privilege to be the vessel of this moral glory which is manifested in the midst of evil. The angels desire to sound the depths of such grace as is shown thus powerful in the midst of evil. (1 Peter 1:12.) Naturally God manifests already His glory in heaven because of the purity of all that surrounds Himself; but the denizens of heaven cannot otherwise understand how God can manifest His glory in the midst of evil. Our position is in the midst of evil, the tent of the meeting-place in the midst of the people, where God Himself dwells in the midst of a people miserable and sinful. There has God set His priests. The Holy Spirit ever kept in activity by the love of God brings home the want of holding fast the grace of God in the midst of sin and for it. As a priest of God the Christian has the power of God's love in presence of evil.
Two things are to be remarked here, responsibility and grace. According to responsibility all that which hinders the soul from being in relation with grace is a sin also of my priesthood, and therefore sin against the sanctuary and my priesthood. The priests who draw near to God ought to speak of God's love in presence of sin and of sin in presence of God's love.
All the tribe of Levi is joined to the priesthood, and there is found the tabernacle of witness, the tent of the meeting where God manifests Himself. The church has this position. The world has rejected God in Jesus. The church is the tabernacle of the testimony, the epistle of Christ before the world, and this far more than the priesthood in Israel.
Verse 5 sets forth the responsibility of these priests; verse 7 sets forth their position and ours. The church, as a testimony, ought to carry the wants of all on the heart for the blessing of God to be in and on the church.
In verse 8 we see that the priests were anointed, as we are with the Holy Ghost. (Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:27) Thus have we the unction from the Holy One, and God is He who has anointed us, and also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. How many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen unto the glory of God through us.
The priest was to eat, but only in the most holy place, in the presence of God Himself. It is only on Christ in His presence that we can nourish our souls. If I carry the wants of the church on my heart, then it is impossible not to feel the grace of God, to be able to carry those relations to God and of God to us. It is only when I understand the riches and the fullness of the grace of God in Christ that I can approach God about evil. It is only in communion with Him, in the possession of peace, in the presence of grace that I can thus draw near.
Verses 11-15. All belongs to the priest's house as to a family. It eats the fruits of the land, on which the eyes of Jehovah rest continually, the land of promise. In all the whole house rejoiced, and with all the whole family was nourished,
But the priest has not this position only; he is also anointed. It is a delight to rejoice in the promises that are accomplished in Christ, which are accomplishing, and which are to be accomplished in Him. The Holy Spirit gives joy as well as the bread of life; but what is still more is to find the fullness of grace in the midst of evil before God, and occupied with wants.
It is now for us to ask ourselves up to what point we are suitable for carrying on our hearts the wants of the church and the love of God; up to what point we nourish ourselves in the presence of God, and we own the riches of grace, of God's love in Christ.