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Psalm 23 is familiar to us, but perhaps we have not noticed what is stressed at its end. “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me / All the days of my life, / And I will dwell in the house of Jehovah / For the length of my days” (v. 6). We know that this psalm starts with the green pastures and continues through the paths of righteousness and the battlefield until the psalmist eventually comes to the point where he dwells in the house of Jehovah forever. The goal of this whole psalm is that of dwelling in the house of Jehovah.
Now let us read more verses in the Psalms noticing the relationship of the speaker to God’s house. “O Jehovah, I love the habitation of Your house, / And the place where Your glory abides” (26:8).
“One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple” (27:4).
“They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. / For with You is the fountain of life; / In Your light we see light” (36:8-9).
“How lovely are Your tabernacles, / O Jehovah of hosts! / My soul longs, indeed even faints, / For the courts of Jehovah; / My heart and my flesh cry out / To the living God. / At Your two altars even the sparrow has found a home; / And the swallow, a nest for herself, / Where she may lay her young, / O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God...Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, / In whose heart are the highways to Zion” (84:1-3, 5). “A day in Your courts is better than a thousand; / I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God / Than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (v. 10).
Besides these verses in the Psalms, we need to read some verses from the Prophets. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple” (Isa. 6:1).
“The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin” (Jer. 1:1).
“The word of Jehovah came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Jehovah was upon him there” (Ezek. 1:3).
“By speaking to the priests who belong to the house of Jehovah of hosts and to the prophets, saying, Shall I weep in the fifth month and separate myself, as I have done these many years? Then the word of Jehovah of hosts came to me, saying, Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even for these seventy years, was it at all for Me that you fasted?” (Zech. 7:3-5).
We must also read a verse from 2 Samuel: “David danced with all his might before Jehovah; and David was girded with a linen ephod” (6:14). All of us know that an ephod is a special robe for the priest. But here, David the king was girded with this priestly robe.
Now, let us look at the New Testament. “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zachariah, of the course of Abijah; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth” (Luke 1:5).
“There was one Anna, a prophetess, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow up to the age of eighty-four, who did not depart from the temple, serving God with fastings and petitions night and day” (2:36-37).
“Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers...As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:1-3).
“I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in spirit...” (Rev. 1:9-10).
In the last chapter we saw that a priest is the type of person that God planned to have for the fulfillment of His purpose. He is not merely a person serving the Lord but one who is in reality mingled with the Lord to fulfill His purpose.
Not many Christians talk about the eternal purpose of the Lord, because very few are clear about God’s ultimate intention. In order to know the real priesthood, we must first know the spiritual, eternal intention of God. The Bible shows us that God’s intention is to work Himself into us that we and He may be fully one. This is the principle of incarnation. In other words, God comes into man to be fully one with man so that it is hard to discern which part is God and which part is man. While the Lord was on the earth, He did many things, the source of which people could not discern. They could not tell whether they were done by God or by man. It was because Jesus, that wonderful person, was the God-man. As the very God, He became incarnated as man to be the expression of God. This is the principle of incarnation, and this principle reveals the real meaning of the priesthood.
One stronghold in the human mind is the concept that man must work for God. Before we were Christians, we simply forgot about the Lord and never talked about God. But once we turned to the Lord, we began to exercise our mind to think what we must do for the Lord. These thoughts flood into our mentality all the time. This is not of the Lord but of the enemy.
Two sources exist in the whole universe—the divine source and the satanic source. The two trees in the garden reminded Adam of these two sources. The tree of knowledge reminded him that Satan is the source of death, and the tree of life, that God is the source of life. We may read the Bible many, many times yet never realize that knowledge, work, and even good things other than God do not belong to the divine source. They always belong to the source of Satan. To do something for the Lord may be good, but its source is the wrong tree. We must realize that to do something for the Lord is awful, even terrible! What brought death into humanity? It was the tree of knowledge, and any consideration of doing something for the Lord comes from the same source.
The Lord’s only intention is for us to open ourselves to Him and let Him come into us to fill us and be one with us. Then He will do something through us. Whatever He does through us will flow out of Himself. This is the real service which God is seeking today.
If we have the spiritual understanding of the Bible from beginning to end, we will realize that this book never commands us to do anything for God. God is continually presenting Himself to us as enjoyment. The Bible shows us that we must enjoy God; we must eat of Him and drink of Him. We must take Him as our life and as our life supply. This is why the tree of life is at the very beginning of the Bible. At the end of the Bible we find the tree of life again. From the beginning to the end of the Bible, the tree of life signifies that God is our life supply and our enjoyment in life. The more we enjoy Him, the more we will be filled with Him. The more we enjoy Him, the more we will be saturated with Him. The more we enjoy Him, the more we will be taken over by Him; and the more we enjoy Him, the more we will be one with Him.
The Lord said, “I am the bread of life...He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:48, 57), and to those who receive Him, He will become in them a fountain of water springing up (4:14). We must forget about working. God only intends for us to enjoy Him all the time. There are many, many ways to speak about this one thing: to breathe Him, to take Him, to drink Him, and even to absorb Him as the sunlight. Only then will we be fully occupied, filled, saturated, and permeated with Him. Only when we are one with Him in this way will He work something out through us.
The Bible gives many different illustrations to show us this one thing. Look at the branches of the vine. They do nothing. They simply abide in the vine and absorb, or enjoy, the riches of the vine. When these branches are filled with the riches and saturated with the life-juice of the vine, something will be worked out through the branches. This is the real meaning of John 15. This very simple matter has been totally missed or lost by most Christians.
God intends to work Himself into us in such a way, for only then will we be in the priesthood. A priest is a person who is filled, saturated, and permeated with God until he is one with Him. God will then express something of Himself through such a person.
In the last chapter we saw that Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all priests. If we read the whole Bible, we will see that these godly persons were priests who fulfilled the purpose of God.
We have mentioned that the leading ministry in God’s economy is the priesthood and that the kingship was brought into function through the priesthood. David was anointed by Samuel. Samuel was more than a prophet; he was a priest. Samuel was brought up and even educated in the house of God as a priest. It was through him that the kingship was brought into function.
The first positive king in God’s sight was David. One day when they brought back the Ark of God, David was so excited that he put on a priestly garment, the ephod. What did that signify? It simply meant that the king needed the priesthood. It was the priesthood that brought in the kingship.
Spiritually speaking, it is the life that is filled with God Himself that brings in the authority. The kingship coming out of the priesthood means that God’s reigning power comes out of God’s life. If we have this kind of life, we will then have the authority.
Christians are not only holy priests but also royal, or kingly, priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). In other words, we are the royal priesthood.
First, God created man in His own image and then committed His own authority to man (Gen. 1:27-28). The image is related to the priesthood, and the authority is related to the kingship. The authority of kingship comes out of the life of God’s image. We must be so one with God that we become His very expression. Then out of the life of God’s image we will have the authority. Thus, the authority of the kingship is brought in by the image of the priesthood.
Not only was the kingship brought in by the priesthood, but, by careful reading of the Bible, we will see that the prophethood was also brought in by the priesthood. Although Isaiah was a prophet, he was really a man in the presence of the Lord. Actually, he was not a priest, but spiritually, he was a priest. Also, Elijah and Elisha were not legally priests, but in reality both of them were priests, because they spent their time and their life in the presence of the Lord.
Before we can be a prophet, we must be a priest. I have heard many people talk about 1 Corinthians, saying that we must desire the gift of prophecy. However, only the priesthood can actually bring in the real prophethood.
I am especially interested in those prophets who were in the recovery. Nearly all the main prophets in the recovery were priests. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah were priests. These three priests were the main prophets for the recovery. Also, if we read the book of Daniel, we will see that he was spiritually a priest, even though he was not one legally. He spent his time and his life in the presence of the Lord. Eventually, he was a person who was really one with the Lord. Many people pay attention to the prophecies of Daniel but neglect the priesthood of Daniel. Daniel was a priest because he was first mingled with the Lord.
We have seen that the kingly authority comes from the priesthood. Now we see that the real spirit of prophecy also comes from the priesthood. Look again at Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. Without exception, their prophethood came absolutely out of the priesthood. Whether you are a priest, a king, or a prophet, you must first have the priesthood. The priests need the priesthood, the kings need the priesthood, and the prophets also need the priesthood!
Look again into the Psalms. Although most of the psalmists were not priests, all of them were spiritually in the priesthood. For example, “One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple” (27:4). David wrote this psalm. If he were not a priest, how could he dwell in the house of Jehovah? To dwell in the house of Jehovah indicates the life of a priest!
One psalmist says that to dwell in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand days (84:10). This is the best way to redeem the time, because it can be redeemed one thousand times! We must not be satisfied to stay in the outer court. We must learn to stay in the very presence of the Lord; for there, an hour is better than one thousand hours! This is the priesthood which brings in the kingship and the prophethood.
Have you ever noticed that the New Testament begins with the priesthood? The priesthood was expressed through Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. We know that John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Lord, but who brought in John the Baptist? It was the priesthood through his father. The priesthood through Zachariah brought in the forerunner of Christ, who brought in Christ Himself. So it was through the priesthood that the New Testament was opened and brought into reality.
We know that Zachariah was a priest both legally and spiritually. This means that John the Baptist was also a priest because he was the son of a priest. Although he stayed in the wilderness, he was really in the Holy of Holies.
As we read the four Gospels, we realize that no one is as priestly as the Lord Jesus. He was the Priest among all priests. All the time He was one with God and constantly lived in the presence of God.
Even the book of Acts is a full record of the priesthood. In those first ten days, the upper room in Jerusalem was the real Holy of Holies. The disciples were simply in the presence of the Lord. Legally, they were not priests, but spiritually speaking, they were the real priests. They spent their time, their life, and their all in the presence of the Lord. Eventually, on the day of Pentecost, they became one with the Lord.
Today many people talk about Pentecost but forget that this was the priesthood. They think that Pentecost was a matter of gifts. No, Pentecost was a matter of the priesthood. A gifted person and a priestly person are two different persons. What the church needs today is not gifted persons but priests. Peter, John, and the others were priests, not merely gifted persons. They lived in the presence of the Lord and lived as one with the Lord.
Further on in Acts, it was while Peter was spending time in the presence of the Lord that the heavenly vision came. At that time, Peter was in the Holy of Holies.
Then, Acts 13 records the story of Antioch. Again, it is the story of the priesthood. Paul, with the others, ministered to the Lord in the spiritual Holy of Holies. They spent their time, their lives, and kept their person in the presence of the Lord. When they were one with the Lord, then the calling came. The calling was simply an expression of the Lord through those people who were filled and saturated with God Himself. This was nothing but the priesthood.
Finally, in the last book of the Bible, John the apostle is found in spirit. Today our regenerated spirit, indwelt by the Lord, is the very Holy of Holies. When John was in his spirit, he was in the Holy of Holies. It was there that he saw the Lord, the visions about the church, the New Jerusalem, and even the judgments that will be exercised on the earth. Remember, it was Peter and John who told us that we have been made priests, even the kingly priests, by the Lord’s redemption.
In the priesthood there has always been failure on the human side and continual recovery on the divine side. Following the restored creation, Adam was put into the real position of the priesthood. When Adam failed, God came in to recover the priesthood by His redemption. Abel was brought back by redemption into the priesthood. He became a redeemed priest to enjoy and contact God, to function with God and partake of God.
Eventually, even this priesthood under redemption was lost by man. Then God came in to select Abraham out of the fallen race and bring him into the priesthood. He became a priest interceding for others. Genesis 18 reveals that God came to the tent of Abraham. That tent was the Holy of Holies. Abraham was in the Holy of Holies being one with the Lord. Therefore, he received the vision about Sodom and the Lord’s plan.
Gradually, Abraham’s descendants, the children of Israel, fell into Egypt. Thus, they lost the priesthood again. But the Lord redeemed them through the passover and told them that He intended to make them a kingdom of priests, or a priestly kingdom (Exo. 19). There would not be just one priest but a kingdom of priests. However, it was not long until the whole nation of Israel fell by worshipping the golden calf. Then the priesthood was turned from the whole nation to the one tribe of Levi. Later, during the time of Eli, the situation with the priests of the tribe of Levi was very poor. They were so fallen that they lost everything of the priesthood. But God raised up the kings and the prophets to restore the priesthood. All the kings and prophets who were with God were brought into the real priesthood.
Now we come to the New Testament. As we have seen, the Lord Jesus, who is the Priest of all priests, brought us into the priesthood through His redemption. The whole church must now be the priesthood. However, this priesthood has also been lost. Therefore, the recovery of the church life is the recovery of the real priesthood. It is not a matter of service, work, or activity. It is solely a matter of the priesthood. We must be recovered into this priesthood, which means that we must be brought back into the real fellowship with the Lord.
Clearly, it is not a matter of doing something for the Lord, nor is it a movement. The Lord’s recovery is entirely a matter of the priesthood. We have to be brought into the presence of the Lord. We must learn how to be possessed and occupied by the Lord until we are filled, saturated, and permeated with the Lord. Let us forget about any kind of work. That is not our responsibility—it is His. Our responsibility is simply to take care of the priesthood.
The record in the Bible clearly shows that none of the work of God was initiated by man’s thought or activity. All His work has been initiated through the priesthood. We must forget about the work, activities, movements, methods, forms, and even the teachings and gifts. Our one unique need is the real priesthood.
We need some time to be on the “housetop,” on the “island of Patmos,” on the “side of the river,” and in the “wilderness.” This simply means that we need some time to be separated and shut up unto the Lord so that we may spend not just our time but have our very life and person in His presence. Then He will occupy us, and our whole concept will be changed to the heavenly view of the priesthood.
I must say again that the recovery of the Lord is the recovery of the priesthood. The recovery of the church life is not a movement, work, or activity but only the recovery of the priesthood. What the Lord needs is a group of people who are brought into His presence and even into the Lord Himself until they are one with Him. Then He will have the freedom to flow out and work out His will for the fulfillment of His purpose.
