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Scripture Reading: Matt. 3:1-2, 4; Rom. 15:16; 12:1; Col. 1:28; Rev. 5:9-10a; 1 Pet. 2:5; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Cor. 14:26, 31
I. The Old Testament priest turning to become the New Testament priest — Matt. 3:1-2, 4:
А. No longer offering bulls and goats.
B. Instead offering sinners in Christ — Rom. 15:16.
C. That the beloved saved ones may offer up themselves in Christ — 12:1.
D. That the saints may be presented full-grown in Christ — Col. 1:28.
II. The universal priesthood of the New Testament — Rev. 5:9-10a; 1 Pet. 2:5:
А. Everyone preaching the gospel — Matt. 28:19.
B. Everyone attending the home and group meetings — Heb. 10:24-25.
C. Everyone prophesying for the Lord — 1 Cor. 14:26, 31.
We have seen that God’s ordained way always matches the nature of the things He desires to do and accomplish. In the New Testament God has an excellent purpose, which is to gain a group of sinners, whom, after saving them, He continues to separate, sanctify, and transform until they are one spirit with Him and become a people one with Him. These ones become inseparable from God. Not only are they joined to God; they are even mingled with God. They are simply a group of people who belong to God. In their daily walk and through their expression, when men see them, they see God. They are the expression of God and are God manifested in the flesh.
The reason that God does all this is to gain a group of people who can win others to God. Not only can they win others to God; they can offer these same ones to God as offerings, that is, as food for God that He may be satisfied.
In the Old Testament the duty and responsibility of a priest were to take the bulls and the goats to the altar and offer them up day and night as burnt offerings to God. These became food for God. They were living sacrifices to God, satisfying God’s heart. All these sacrifices were only types.
In the New Testament all the types are fulfilled. By now, what the priests of God offer as sacrifices are the sinners. We can see this turn in Matthew 3. Verse 1 says, “Now in those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.” When John the Baptist came to fulfill his ministry, he did not do it in the holy temple nor in the holy city. Rather, he went to a deserted wilderness. There was no religious flavor nor any cultural background there. Moreover, he “had his garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (v. 4). Leviticus 11:4 tells us that the camel is an unclean animal that cannot be eaten or touched. But here was John who put on camel’s hair. Not only he himself was wild, but his food was wild also. All this shows that he fulfilled his ministry in a wild way. He did not abide by any of the old regulations.
What he did was even more wild. He preached, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). If anyone was willing to repent, he would baptize such a one into the water. The baptism at that time was unlike today’s practice with a proper baptistry and changing rooms. John called for repentance, and group after group went out to him confessing their sins and were baptized by him in the Jordan River (vv. 5-6). John did not fulfill his ministry according to the Old Testament way of worship at all. What he did was absolutely contrary to religion and culture. This shows that he completely rejected God’s arrangement in the Old Testament in order that he might bring in God’s New Testament economy.
But we must not forget John’s family background. He did not come from a “wild” family. His father, Zachariah, was not only a priest (Luke 1:5) but one who took the lead in the priesthood. Hence, John was born into a priestly family. Moreover, his birth was of God (v. 13). He was given to his parents by God. In addition, he was the firstborn, who should have inherited his father’s career to serve in the temple. However, he did not put on the priestly garments. Rather, he put on camel’s hair. He did not eat any priestly food. Rather, he ate locusts and wild honey. Neither did he remain in the holy place, burning the incense and dressing the lamps. Instead, he went to the wilderness, baptizing people into water. These were wild moves and methods. It shows that the old way of worshipping God was over; a new way was introduced. In reality John was the one who was serving as a true priest.
John was born a priest. But this was only a type and a shadow. It was not the reality. In him the Old Testament priesthood had a turn. It turned from the type to the reality, from the shadow to the body, and from the offering of physical bulls and goats to the offering of sinners as sacrifices. This is the sacrifice that God has been seeking for before the foundation of the world in eternity past. These sacrifices are the individual sinners. Ephesians 1:4 says, “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” We the saved ones were chosen by God before the foundation of the world. In eternity past God chose us. It does not matter in which country or corner of the world we are; He has chosen us. We did not know when we would be born or where we would be born. God predestinated us before the foundation of the world that we would be chosen, in time be saved, and become offerings to God in Christ.
Although we were chosen before the foundation of the world, the time of our salvation was not yet fulfilled (Gal. 4:4). After the God-created man fell, God came in to knock at the door of Adam’s heart in Genesis 3. He called and said, “Where are you?” (v. 9), and He preached the gospel to him by saying that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head (v. 15). This word was the gospel and also a promise. Two thousand years later, at the time of Abraham, God came in to promise Abraham again, saying, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (12:3). The seed of Abraham is Jesus Christ. After that, two thousand more years passed. Four thousand years after man was created, Jesus Christ was born of a woman and became the seed of the woman. Mary, the one who bore Jesus, was a descendant of Abraham. Consequently, Jesus, the One begotten in her, was also a seed of Abraham.
The first page of the New Testament records, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). Following this it says, “Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob...,” until the end of the genealogy where “Matthan begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (vv. 15b-16). In the genealogy of Matthew we see the fulfillment of the promise made to Adam and Eve. Moreover, God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled as well. The Lord Jesus bruised the serpent’s head, and He is the One in whom all the families of the earth are blessed.
When Christ came, He fulfilled the promises in the Old Testament. But before Christ came, God had set up the priesthood in the Old Testament already. What was there was only a shadow. God required that the Old Testament priests offer up bulls and goats. These bulls and goats were types of Christ. In the New Testament the priests no longer offer bulls and goats. Instead, they offer the sinners chosen by God and saved in Christ.
Now we understand why John, born a priest, would not offer bulls and goats when he came out to fulfill his ministry. Instead, he would now offer sinners. He preached in the wilderness, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). If men would repent and confess their sins, he would baptize them, offering them up one by one to God. John was the first priest of the New Testament and the last priest of the Old Testament. From God’s point of view, after John the Baptist there were no more priests in the Old Testament. The system of service in the Old Testament ceased completely. In other words, the age had changed. The old way was changed to the new, and the Old Testament priest turned to become the New Testament priest.
We have seen that the new way is God’s ordained way. It matches what God wants to accomplish in Himself. However, although it is now the New Testament age and the church age, there is still the old way. The reason for this is the degradation of the church. Not long after the church was established by the apostles and even before these apostles passed away, there were believers who had left the way brought in by the apostles. The church became degraded, and its nature changed. As a result, the service, worship, and meeting of the church all changed. Everything became according to man’s natural inclination, resulting in fallen Christianity.
The degradation of Christianity did not come about suddenly but through a gradual decline. Beginning from the second century, through the third century and extending to the sixth century, the degradation worsened. By A.D. 600 the archbishop of Rome was recognized by all the churches as the pope, and the Roman Catholic Church was officially established. After that the Catholic Church sealed up the Bible and forbade the ordinary believers to read it. Only the pope and the clergy were allowed to read it. The Bible was locked up, and this period is known in Western history as the Dark Ages.
By the sixteenth century Martin Luther rose up to begin the Reformation, and the sealed Bible was unlocked. This was a great accomplishment of Luther. Based on the Bible, he also recovered the truth of justification by faith. However, the ways of serving in the church and preaching the gospel remained unchanged.
From Catholicism, Protestantism developed. Early Protestantism was comprised of all the state religions. At that time the northern European countries all established their own national churches. In England it was the Church of England. In Denmark it was the national Church of Denmark. Later, the private, independent churches, such as the Baptists and Methodists, developed from the state churches. All these are private churches. They have nothing to do with individual countries. At that time there was a gradual recovery of the church, but the recovery was not that thorough. There were still many things that Protestantism had inherited from Catholicism.
By the eighteenth century Brother Zinzendorf was raised up by the Lord to lead others to a recovery of the church life. In the nineteenth century there was a further recovery when the Brethren were raised up. After another century, around 1920, the Lord raised up Brother Watchman Nee in the Far East in Fukien, China. At that time I was in northern China. Although we were far apart, the Lord gained both of us. We loved the Lord and realized the real need to be delivered from the poison left by degraded Christianity. Sixty years ago we thought that we were quite thoroughly delivered from these things. Then the Lord enlightened us more and showed us that the degraded elements of Christianity had not been fully purged from us. It seemed as if we had inherited these fallen elements. Although we tried hard to be sterilized, the germs never left us.
We can take the way we meet as an example. Whenever we mention the meetings, there is the hope within us that as many believers as possible should be gathered together. A meeting of five hundred is better than one of one hundred, and eight hundred is better than five hundred. Of course, a thousand is even better than eight hundred. I believe that you are all very happy this morning because both the upper floor as well as the ground floor are filled with people. There are even those who are watching on closed-circuit television. All of you are listening to my speaking. You cannot say that this kind of meeting has no place. The New Testament records that when Paul went to Troas, he stayed there for seven days. Because he was about to leave on the following day, he talked with the believers until after midnight. One young man by the name of Eutychus fell down from the windowsill of the third floor. When he was taken up, he was already dead. Paul went down and fell upon him. He told everyone that the young man’s life was still in him. Then Paul went up again and conversed with the congregation for a considerable time until daybreak and went away (Acts 20:6-11). Hence, there is occasion for this kind of meeting also.
However, the Bible reveals to us that the regular meeting of the believers should be from house to house (Acts 2:46). After the day of Pentecost when three thousand people were saved, Peter and John only went occasionally to the temple to speak to the multitude there. Most of the time they gathered from house to house. During those gatherings, it was not just one speaking while all others listened. Rather, it was everyone speaking and everyone listening. There were fellowship, prayer, the breaking of bread, teaching, and the preaching of the gospel. All these were done in the meetings in the homes of the believers. This is also the original way ordained by God for the church to meet together.
Because of the degradation of the church, this kind of meeting has been lost. What one sees exclusively in Christianity today are big gatherings with one speaking and all the rest listening. They have all left God’s ordained way and fallen into human tradition. This traditional way suits man’s natural disposition and matches the spirit of the age. As early as 1948 Brother Watchman Nee said that this kind of gathering is like the Israelites following after the customs of the nations (2 Kings 17:8). It is not scriptural. It is not easy to see through this from the surface. There are hymn singing, sermon teaching, and gospel preaching, and men are being saved. It seems as if there is nothing wrong. However, what is hidden beneath is something contrary to the universal priesthood ordained by God.
The priesthood that God ordained for everyone is one in which all the saved ones are priests. Moreover, the foremost offering in the New Testament is the offering of the saved sinners to God. This is the first function of the priests of the New Testament.
For this reason, after the coming of the New Testament age, God revealed to the last priest of the Old Testament, John the Baptist, that he was not to offer up bulls and goats anymore. Instead, he should offer up sinners in Christ. After this the Lord Jesus came. He was also a real priest. He continued to bring sinners to salvation. The Lord Jesus also sent out disciples to preach the gospel. First, He sent out the twelve (Luke 6:12-16). Then He sent out seventy (10:1-24). After His resurrection the Lord said to the disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18b, 19). The Lord sent us to all the nations to preach the gospel to every man, baptizing them into Himself, and offering them up as sacrifices to God. In the Epistles Paul also said that he “might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16). Paul was a priest of the gospel of God. He offered up the saved Gentiles as offerings to God.
We still may have natural concepts. We may think that since Brother Paul was the number one apostle, he was surely capable of preaching the gospel. But since we are neither an apostle nor a prophet, we cannot preach the gospel. To preach the gospel, we have to invite a gospel giant to come to us and have him speak to everyone. This is very unscriptural and does not match the nature of God’s ordained way in the New Testament. God ordains in the New Testament that every one of the believers should preach the gospel.
However, the church has become fallen. As a result, the organic function of many believers is killed. All have become incapable of preaching the gospel. Only a few have become capable in preaching the gospel and serving as a priest. The result is a clerical system. Most believers are laymen who come only for the worship services, sitting in the pews without functioning at all. This kills the arrangement and ordination of God. For the past two thousand years many Christians have become incapable of serving God. Some may not understand this. They may think that they are still serving God. Every week they still go to the meeting hall to sweep the floor, vacuum the carpets, clean the windows, arrange the chairs, and serve as ushers. All these are but the work of the Levites. They are not the services of the New Testament gospel priests.
From 1984 we have seen the need to change the system. However, during the last four years we have not rid ourselves completely of the poison of Christianity. It is not easy to be delivered from any kind of old tradition or system. For example, as far back as a hundred years ago the founding father of the modern Chinese Republic, Mr. Sun Yat-sen, proposed that the Chinese government turn from imperialistic rule to democracy. Today Taiwan has only a little dawning of such a system. To have a democracy is not easy. Take as another example our dress. Sixty years ago few Chinese dared to wear Western suits. They even dared not to speak English after they had learned it. But today sixty years later in Taiwan most mothers are so keen to have their children learn English. Everywhere we find people wearing Western suits. The reason for this is that the age has changed, and the tide has turned. In commerce and trade Taiwan has improved and advanced tremendously. If we do not turn, we will be left behind.
We have to see that the same thing is true in the service of the church. We cannot change the truth of the Bible. But how to preach and teach the truth requires much studying and improvement. We can see from the Bible that the gospel meetings with one speaking and all the rest listening is not scriptural and is not according to God’s ordination. The Lord sent the seventy disciples to people’s houses and told them that “into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon it; but if not, it shall return upon you” (Luke 10:5-6). The Lord never charged the disciples to call a big meeting. Rather, He sent them out.
Hence, every brother and sister has to go from door to door visiting people. Today we are in God’s New Testament economy. We are all priests and should all offer sacrifices. The first sacrifice we should offer to God is the sinner. If we do not offer up sinners, we are not functioning priests. In the future we will have to give an account before the Lord. The Lord’s way is not for a few qualified and gifted ones to preach the gospel. He wants every saved person to go and preach the gospel. As long as you can talk, you can preach the gospel. First Corinthians 14:31 says, “You can all prophesy one by one.” The Bible says that we can all speak. For this reason we all have to go and speak the gospel to others, thus fulfilling our duty as priests of the gospel.
After we have led sinners to be saved and have offered them up as offerings, Paul tells us in Romans 12:1, “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.” Paul exhorted the sinners to present their bodies and offer themselves willingly as sacrifices to God. This is another step that we have to lead others to take.
In Colossians 1:28 Paul says, “Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” To be presented full-grown is similar to being picked as ripe fruit in an orchard during harvest time. This whole process of growth is included in the home meetings, the group meetings, and the district meetings. In the end through these different meetings we will be perfected step by step until we can finally be presented to God full-grown.
Today we have to see that we are all New Testament priests. Everyone needs to preach the gospel. Everyone has to attend the home meetings and group meetings. Everyone must prophesy. When we prophesy, we have to exercise our spirit. There must be not only the revelation and the light; there must be the inspiration also. In this way Christ will be spoken into others. Only when all these things are put into practice can the universal priesthood be realized.
