Priestly Service and Levitical Service   

I.   The priestly service is spiritual, related to life and living. 

A.   In order to live as priests, we have to draw near to God both individually and with other saints. We need to live in the Holy of Holies by exercising our spirit and turning to our spirit to fellowship with God. When we come together to release our spirit and blend in spirit, this blended spirit is the Holy of Holies as well.

B.    In order to live as priests, we must enter into the Holy of Holies and spend time in prayer. Then we will bear the image of God and represent the authority of God.

1.     The Lord Jesus shed His blood for us. Through His blood we have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 10:19).

2.     The Lord Jesus split the veil to the Holy of Holies, thus opening a new and living way for us to pass through the veil and enter in (Heb. 10:20).

C.    God’s original intention was for man, beginning with Adam, to be a priest, a person who receives God as life, lives before God, and lets God live in him. 

1.     After Adam’s fall, redemption became a requirement for the priesthood. Abel, Enoch, and Noah all needed to offer a redemptive sacrifice (Gen. 4:4; 5:22; 6:9; 8:20), the shedding of blood, so that they could be brought back to God and contact God. This is a matter of the priesthood. 

2.     Abraham’s life revealed more concerning the priesthood. Abraham built an altar, pitched a tent, and lived a practical priestly life (Gen. 12:7-8; 13:4, 18).

3.     Furthermore, he enjoyed God’s appearing, he received revelation from God, and he experienced wonderful fellowship with God. All these experiences are aspects of the priestly service.

4.     Abraham even received God’s blessing through the high priest Melchizedek, a proper type of Christ as the eternal One, our perpetual High Priest (Heb. 7:1-3; Gen. 14:18-20). Wherever Abraham went, he blessed others (20:17).

D.   After the children of Israel left Egypt, God clearly spoke of His desire for his people to be a kingdom of priests (Exo. 19:6). When they failed, God chose the house of Aaron out of the tribe of Levi to be priests (Exo. 32:25-29).

1.     The Aaronic priests lived before God continually and in typology, enjoyed Christ fully. With the exception of the burnt offering, the priests enjoyed all the sacrificial offerings together with God: the meal offering of fine flour and oil (Num. 18:9; Lev. 2:1-2, 14); the breast and the right thigh of the wave offering (Num. 18:18); a portion of the firstfruits that the Israelites offered to God, such as the new wine and the grain (v. 12).

2.     In typology, the priests put on Christ completely with their unique priestly garments. Christ was the glory and beauty of the priests, their outward expression (Exo. 28:2). Many of the materials used in the tabernacle were also used in the garments worn by the priests: fine twined linen, gold thread, and blue, purple, and scarlet strands.

3.     The priests worn the breastplate with twelve precious stones set in gold (vv. 17-21). This is the aggregate of God’s people, transformed through the priesthood, built together as one entity, to become the New Jerusalem.

4.     The priests also received revelation from God through the Urim and Thummim

5.     Every person gained by God through His redemption should be a priest. God’s desire in the universe will be accomplished only when He gains the priesthood.

II.  The levitical service is physical, related to work and function.

A.   The Levites were appointed over the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Num. 1:50-51) and over the furnishings, furniture, etc. and the taking down and setting up of the tabernacle whenever the Israelites traveled or encamped.

B.    When the Ark was to be brought back from the Philistines, the Levites bore the Ark and led the singing with musical instruments. “And the sons of the Levites bore the Ark of God as Moses had commanded, according to the word of Jehovah, upon their shoulders with the poles upon them. And David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers with musical instruments – harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals – to raise sounds of joy. …And Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites was over the song; he instructed about the song, because he was skillful.” (1 Chron. 15:15-16, 22)

C.    In the New Testament, Paul was a “minister of Christ 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)  In all his four ministry journeys, Paul was accompanied by a “Levite” in the person of Luke, who recorded the details of their gospel work in the Acts of the Apostles. Without this important service, Peter and Paul’s priestly service would have suffered a great shortage, and we would have been seriously lacking in knowledge and appreciation of what the Lord had done through the apostles.

D.   The priestly service gives the supply and direction to the levitical service. The levitical service provides the support and help to the priestly service.

1.     We need all the saints to participate in the service of prayer and gospel preaching for sinners to be saved, shepherding and nourishing for them to grow in life, and teaching and perfecting for them to be transformed and be built up as God’s spiritual habitation.

2.     We also need the saints to participate in various services related to the use of the meeting hall, the preparation of materials for gospel work, printing and distributing gospel tracts, providing food, hospitality, transportation for visiting saints; and many other services such as singing with musical instruments, caring for the facilities in the meeting hall, church property, and other business matters.