Old Testament Priestly Garments...
Last Sunday, I preached on Everyone Can Play.....aka The priesthood of all believers.
I talked about the great divide that we have all experienced in church at some point where there is a definite clergy/ laity divide or professionals/ spectators divide. Another way of looking at it would be performers/ consumers. There are messages we receive about our inadequacy to contribute or just that there is a hierarchy that we need to respect.
This along with the western trend toward science and reason is yet another reason for non- involvement.
The biblical view of church is however, one of family, living stones, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9) This gives us a sense of organic flow, of living and moving and breathing together. A living thing. Church is about thinking, understanding AND DOING.
The reason for this divide?
Some thoughts...with the emphasis more and more on preaching the church has become more cerebral... less involved.
The increased value of science and reason has seen less and less emphasis on learning by doing. The praxis model Jesus used to teach is not as prevalent. Remember his show and tell model of walking on water... he showed them, he encouraged them and then he used the situation to teach the disciples.
Another reason could be low self esteem....
Still another relates to Old Testament theology left over in our thinking that we are unaware of.
I then looked at a comparison table of Old Testament Priests and todays' New testament priests. OT fields are in bold. NT in italics.
What a new testament priest might look like:
or this....
Clothing: Special clothing, which set them apart. Linen, head dress, sash, ephod etc. Bell around the leg of the High Priest.
New Testament:None except consideration of others. Modesty and consideration of cultural norms would come into this.
Duties: His office was responsible for the annual Day of Atonement rituals (Lev. 16) On the day of Atonement the priest would go into the altar and splash the blood of the unblemished lamb which would be an offering for our sins. We see some religious traditions today where communion is a ritual that should only be performed by the priest. He was also responsible for all the tithes and offerings of the Israelites .The priests supervised the system of worship and sacrifices at the holy sanctuary and helped regulate the religious affairs and holy days of Israel.
High Priest and priests – The priests aided the High Priest in all practical aspects. Priests inspected leprosy to declare it unclean or clean – healing;
Took your family sacrifice into the temple for you;
Praying for the sick, encouraging one another, confessing and forgiving one another. The sense of belonging as insiders and outsiders is now related to us the community of the church being those on the inside and those that don’t know Christ are on the outside and our hope and passion is that they would be drawn in. Christ has made us `priests to serve His God and Father' (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). As believer priests, all God's people have the privilege of ministering to each other by praying for one another (Ephesians 6:18f; Colossians 4:3; James 5:16) and encouraging one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18; Hebrews 10:25).
Rules and Regulations: Leviticus is a record of all of the rules that the priests needed to enforce. There were rules about the priests themselves being clean and then also declaring clean or unclean many different things that related to disease, diet and bodily functions. There were also many rules about the Sabbath that were interpreted by the Pharisees of Jesus day. Legalism was evident –you couldn’t carry your bedroll on the Sabbath and you couldn’t eat of the ceremonial bread. You didn’t work on the Sabbath – light a fire,
There is a big discussion about which of the rules should be followed now that Gentiles are included in the family – As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality." Acts 21:24-26.
This is a picture of contextualization of the gospel into other cultures.
Family Line: Levites – from the tribe of Levi. Priests were worthy male descendants of Aaron. The high priest was designated from among the first-born descendants of Aaron.
Christ is our brother – our co-heir. We are in the family of God. Eph 1: 2-4
[The God of Glory] How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Gender: Males only
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28
Race/ Ethnic Restrictions: Jews only
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."Rom 10:12
Received or passed on? Priesthood rights given to the oldest son. Hereditary.
Adoption into the family makes us priests. 1 Peter 2:9 says
9-10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. (The Message)
Buildings: Buildings were intricately designed and instructions were detailed and significant. Each person with special skills was to participate and offer their gifts. Tabernacle and Temple both structured and designed for the sense of Holiness and awe.
All of the activities of the priests were around the Temple. In fact in 70AD when the temple was destroyed the Priesthood system (priests and Levites) ceased and developed more into the rulership by the Sanhedrin and governed by one priest and a small group of chief priests. Their principal reason for existence had been the religion of the temple. Without the temple their purpose was gone and their role as religious leaders within the Jewish community passed into the hands of the rabbis, just as the temple was replaced by the centrality of the synagogue.
None. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the living stones of the Church.
1 Peter 2: 4,5 says: 4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Food restrictions No cloven hooved animals, no crusteans, nothing boiled in its mothers milk. Leviticus has the full list.
None except consideration of others.
Festivals and Special Days Sabbath, Festival of booths etc. etc.
Col 2:16, 17: Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
So what is the point of all this?? We are the priests of today. We are the ones to bring God's kingdom to the world around us. We don't need a mediator or a priest.
What about leaders though?
The bible is very clear that there are leaders and fathers in the faith (and mothers).
Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors are all called to raise up more of themselves in the church. They are to give away all they have and empower and equip the church. This is the opposite of using our leadership or position for status. No special clothing and no special seats....
So what are we called to do as these New Testament priests?
To bring the kingdom by:
being Jesus to this world - ie preaching the kingdom and then demonstrating by caring for the poor and oppressed, healing the sick, driving out demons, seeking the lost, and integrating, teaching and training new disciples to do the same.
Why do we do it?
Not for ourselves but because we are loved and we love...
Look at the following checklist and tick off in your mind the things you still want to do as a minister and a priest of this kingdom:
Strengthen feeble hands, steady weak knees, open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, cause the lame to walk, cause the mute tongue to shout for joy, Preach good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, bring freedom to the captives, release the prisoners from darkness, proclaim this time as God’s mercy and favour, proclaim God’s vengeance, comfort all who mourn. Care for the sheep, feed the hungry, chlothe the naked, strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays, search for the lost, raise the dead, feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, invite the strangers in, visit the prisoners, Go, preach the gospel to all nations, make disciples, teach/train, drive out demons, speak in new tongues, pick up snakes and not be hurt. Lay hands on the sick and they will recover….
Last Sunday, I preached on Everyone Can Play.....aka The priesthood of all believers.
I talked about the great divide that we have all experienced in church at some point where there is a definite clergy/ laity divide or professionals/ spectators divide. Another way of looking at it would be performers/ consumers. There are messages we receive about our inadequacy to contribute or just that there is a hierarchy that we need to respect.
This along with the western trend toward science and reason is yet another reason for non- involvement.
The biblical view of church is however, one of family, living stones, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9) This gives us a sense of organic flow, of living and moving and breathing together. A living thing. Church is about thinking, understanding AND DOING.
The reason for this divide?
Some thoughts...with the emphasis more and more on preaching the church has become more cerebral... less involved.
The increased value of science and reason has seen less and less emphasis on learning by doing. The praxis model Jesus used to teach is not as prevalent. Remember his show and tell model of walking on water... he showed them, he encouraged them and then he used the situation to teach the disciples.
Another reason could be low self esteem....
Still another relates to Old Testament theology left over in our thinking that we are unaware of.
I then looked at a comparison table of Old Testament Priests and todays' New testament priests. OT fields are in bold. NT in italics.
What a new testament priest might look like:
or this....
Clothing: Special clothing, which set them apart. Linen, head dress, sash, ephod etc. Bell around the leg of the High Priest.
New Testament:None except consideration of others. Modesty and consideration of cultural norms would come into this.
Duties: His office was responsible for the annual Day of Atonement rituals (Lev. 16) On the day of Atonement the priest would go into the altar and splash the blood of the unblemished lamb which would be an offering for our sins. We see some religious traditions today where communion is a ritual that should only be performed by the priest. He was also responsible for all the tithes and offerings of the Israelites .The priests supervised the system of worship and sacrifices at the holy sanctuary and helped regulate the religious affairs and holy days of Israel.
High Priest and priests – The priests aided the High Priest in all practical aspects. Priests inspected leprosy to declare it unclean or clean – healing;
Took your family sacrifice into the temple for you;
Praying for the sick, encouraging one another, confessing and forgiving one another. The sense of belonging as insiders and outsiders is now related to us the community of the church being those on the inside and those that don’t know Christ are on the outside and our hope and passion is that they would be drawn in. Christ has made us `priests to serve His God and Father' (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). As believer priests, all God's people have the privilege of ministering to each other by praying for one another (Ephesians 6:18f; Colossians 4:3; James 5:16) and encouraging one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18; Hebrews 10:25).
Rules and Regulations: Leviticus is a record of all of the rules that the priests needed to enforce. There were rules about the priests themselves being clean and then also declaring clean or unclean many different things that related to disease, diet and bodily functions. There were also many rules about the Sabbath that were interpreted by the Pharisees of Jesus day. Legalism was evident –you couldn’t carry your bedroll on the Sabbath and you couldn’t eat of the ceremonial bread. You didn’t work on the Sabbath – light a fire,
There is a big discussion about which of the rules should be followed now that Gentiles are included in the family – As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality." Acts 21:24-26.
This is a picture of contextualization of the gospel into other cultures.
Family Line: Levites – from the tribe of Levi. Priests were worthy male descendants of Aaron. The high priest was designated from among the first-born descendants of Aaron.
Christ is our brother – our co-heir. We are in the family of God. Eph 1: 2-4
[The God of Glory] How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Gender: Males only
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28
Race/ Ethnic Restrictions: Jews only
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."Rom 10:12
Received or passed on? Priesthood rights given to the oldest son. Hereditary.
Adoption into the family makes us priests. 1 Peter 2:9 says
9-10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. (The Message)
Buildings: Buildings were intricately designed and instructions were detailed and significant. Each person with special skills was to participate and offer their gifts. Tabernacle and Temple both structured and designed for the sense of Holiness and awe.
All of the activities of the priests were around the Temple. In fact in 70AD when the temple was destroyed the Priesthood system (priests and Levites) ceased and developed more into the rulership by the Sanhedrin and governed by one priest and a small group of chief priests. Their principal reason for existence had been the religion of the temple. Without the temple their purpose was gone and their role as religious leaders within the Jewish community passed into the hands of the rabbis, just as the temple was replaced by the centrality of the synagogue.
None. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the living stones of the Church.
1 Peter 2: 4,5 says: 4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Food restrictions No cloven hooved animals, no crusteans, nothing boiled in its mothers milk. Leviticus has the full list.
None except consideration of others.
Festivals and Special Days Sabbath, Festival of booths etc. etc.
Col 2:16, 17: Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
So what is the point of all this?? We are the priests of today. We are the ones to bring God's kingdom to the world around us. We don't need a mediator or a priest.
What about leaders though?
The bible is very clear that there are leaders and fathers in the faith (and mothers).
Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors are all called to raise up more of themselves in the church. They are to give away all they have and empower and equip the church. This is the opposite of using our leadership or position for status. No special clothing and no special seats....
So what are we called to do as these New Testament priests?
To bring the kingdom by:
being Jesus to this world - ie preaching the kingdom and then demonstrating by caring for the poor and oppressed, healing the sick, driving out demons, seeking the lost, and integrating, teaching and training new disciples to do the same.
Why do we do it?
Not for ourselves but because we are loved and we love...
Look at the following checklist and tick off in your mind the things you still want to do as a minister and a priest of this kingdom:
Strengthen feeble hands, steady weak knees, open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, cause the lame to walk, cause the mute tongue to shout for joy, Preach good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, bring freedom to the captives, release the prisoners from darkness, proclaim this time as God’s mercy and favour, proclaim God’s vengeance, comfort all who mourn. Care for the sheep, feed the hungry, chlothe the naked, strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays, search for the lost, raise the dead, feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, invite the strangers in, visit the prisoners, Go, preach the gospel to all nations, make disciples, teach/train, drive out demons, speak in new tongues, pick up snakes and not be hurt. Lay hands on the sick and they will recover….
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