“He maketh the rebel a priest and a king,” the old hymn says. This is a thrilling discovery for the believer; that God has called each of us to be a priest to God. That which going on in modern Christendom, the ordination of women and who knows what else as priests, has nothing to do with what the Bible teaches about priesthood and the church.
The idea of priesthood can be traced back through the Old Testament days when, for example, in Genesis 4 and 5, from the practice of Cain and Abel, every man acted as a priest in making an offering to God. In Genesis 8 and 12, we find that Noah and Abraham built altars to offer sacrifices to God. We could conclude from this that the priesthood had narrowed to the head of the family. From Exodus 19, we learn that God looked only to Israel for priests and in Exodus 28, we find a further narrowing of the priestly class, coming only from the family of Aaron.
This history of priesthood showed at least one disappointing element. It failed. It failed so badly that when we come to the ministry of the Lord Jesus, the high priest Caiaphas, who should have been the spiritual guide of the nation, chose not to recognize the Great High Priest Himself.
In the church age, however, we see a priesthood that works. Both Peter and the writer to the Hebrews who, using the picture of Israel’s priesthood, show us a wonderful truth we have come to call “the priesthood of all believers.” Once this gets a grip of you, your Christian life will be forever changed.
Peter teaches us in 1 Peter 2:5, 9 that we are a “holy priesthood” and a “royal priesthood.” The holy priesthood, we are taught, is to “offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ.” The royal priesthood is to “show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” The holy priest is a worshipper. The royal priest is a witness. The holy priest directs his ministry to God. The royal priest directs his ministry to men.
Those different aspects of our priesthood have at least one thing in common. It requires work. Interestingly, it does not have anything to do with gift or differences in roles of men and women. It is for all believers.
We can identify the sacrifices of the holy priest in the New Testament. There is the sacrifice of ourselves, of our persons (Rom. 12:1). There is a sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15), the fruit of our lips. And there is the sacrifice of, in modern language, the pay check (Heb. 13:16). Of these sacrifices the Scripture says, “God is well-pleased” (Heb. 13:16).
Sacrifices by their nature are costly. They cut across personal rights that self may demand. For instance, to learn to be a worshipper will demand quietness in the presence of God, not applause in the presence of men. The “living sacrifice” Paul speaks about in Romans 12 will be the death knell of self as we are exposed to all kinds of demands upon us. The giving of our resources as holy priests speaks volumes to God. Remember the widow with two mites. Heaven still has not forgotten.
There is a caveat to the costliness of sacrifice. Another factor is at work. It is this well-known truth: “God is no man’s debtor.” No investment of resources can repay like investments in eternity. Nothing can compare with the fellowship with God which the worshipper understands. Preservation of self leaves an emptiness, not to be compared with the joy of giving to God.
The royal priest is God’s witness. The church has had some gems throughout her history, men and women who got a vision of the truth of God and could not contain it. With zeal and power they showed their generations the wonders of God. They appreciated their own deliverance from darkness. They never lost sight of redemption. Instead, they lost sight of the world, and in so doing, rendered the world the greatest service a man or woman could give.
Holy priests and royal priests. Worshippers and witnesses. God should have found in Israel a priesthood that served Him, but by and large He was disappointed. In the church there is a priesthood and each believer is a part of it. Let’s not disappoint Him. It is a priesthood that works.