The Doctrine of the Priesthood
DOCTRINE OF THE PRIESTHOOD
A. Definition.
1. A priest is a member of the human race who represents some
portion of the human race before God. He was always a male until this
dispensation, never an angel or female.
2. A priest must partake of the nature of the persons for whom he
acts or represents. Heb 7:4–5, 14, 28, 10:5, 10-14 all state that a
priest must be a member of the human race. Heb 5:1–6, “For every high
priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things
pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for
sins; he is able to moderate his feelings with regard to the ignorant
and misguided, since he himself also is subject to weakness, and
because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins as a
substitute for the people, and so also for himself. And no one takes
the honor for himself, but receives it when he is appointed by God,
even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become a
high priest, but He who said to Him, [Ps 2:7 `You are My Son, today I
have begotten You’; just as He also says in another Scripture [Ps
110:4], `You are a priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek.'”
a. We do not offer gifts and sacrifices for sins because our
High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself as the one sacrifice
for sins.
b. A priest had to be a human being. This is how we know
that our Lord Jesus Christ prior to His first Advent was not
Melchizedek.
3. There were three categories of priesthood in the Old Testament
and one category in the New Testament. All four priesthoods are
mentioned in the book of Hebrews.
a. The patriarchal or family priesthood in which the
patriarch of the family functioned as the priest for the family. This
operated from Adam to Moses. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are examples of
this priesthood. They built altars, offered sacrifices, purified and
consecrated themselves and their households, Gen 12:7; 13:18; 26:25;
23:30; 35:1-2.
b. The Old Testament king-priest is represented by
Melchizedek.
(1) The historical pattern is found in Melchizedek, a
king who was the head of his family and a priest, Heb 7:1–3. He was
the king of Salem, which later became the city of Jerusalem. He was
both a king and a priest with no emphasis on his genealogy. He was a
priest as the head of his family, not by birth. He was a Gentile
believer-priest living in the time of Abraham. The relationship
between Melchizedek and Christ are what we would classify as type and
antitype, a New Testament reality prefigured in the Old Testament.
Each was a human being, a king, and a priest. Both in their humanity
were superior to Abraham as the father of the Jewish race and are
without priestly genealogies related to Israel. Heb 7:3, “Without
father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of
days nor end of life, but having resembled the Son of God he remains a
priest perpetually.”
(a) This verse means a priesthood not based on
physical birth, a priesthood without recorded genealogy related to the
priesthood of Israel. Melchizedek also offered bread and wine, another
tie in to the Lord Jesus Christ. Melchizedek was a priest perpetually
because he was a believer with eternal life.
(b) Heb 7:12–16 interprets this, “For when the
priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the
Law also. For the One [the Lord Jesus Christ] concerning whom these
things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has
officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord has descended
from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing
concerning priests, and this is clearer still, if another priest arises
similar to Melchizedek, and there has, Who has become a priest not on
the basis of physical requirement but on the basis of indestructible
life.”
(c) Heb 7:17 quotes Ps 110:4, “For this reason it
is witnessed, `You are a priest forever similar to the order of
Melchizedek.'” This the Father’s appointment of the humanity of Christ
to the royal status as king-priest.
(d) Gen 14:18–19, “And Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine; furthermore he was a priest of God the Most
High.” “God the Most High” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Then he [Melchizedek] blessed him [Abram] and said, `Blessed be Abram
by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.'”
(2) The superiority of this priesthood is noted by the
fact that Abraham was ministered to by Melchizedek with bread and wine
and Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, Heb 7:9–11. Melchizedek had
the right to bless Abraham because he was both a priest and a king.
Abraham was only a priest, but not a king. This means that your
priesthood is far greater than the Levitical priesthood.
(3) The cross is symbolized through bread and wine as
the only ritual of the royal priesthood.
(4) The Levitical priesthood was based on natural
generation while the royal priesthood is based on regeneration. A
priesthood based on physical birth is inferior to and can never be as
effective as a priesthood based on regeneration. A priesthood based on
physical birth has no effective function related to the postsalvation
spiritual life.
(5) Rev 1:6, “He made us a kingdom of priests to God,
even His Father; to Him be glory and ruling power forever and ever.”
c. The Levitical priesthood of Israel. The concept of their
ministry in spiritual things is found in Num 16:5. “Tomorrow the Lord
will show you who is His priest and who is holy, and will bring him
near to Himself…” Aaron was chosen along with the tribe of Levi.
(1) This priesthood is limited to the Jewish Age and
the Millennium.
(2) This priesthood was perpetuated through natural
generation.
(3) This priesthood was supported by thirteen Levitical
cities, Josh 21:13–19. Plus there was a special annual tithe to the
Levites as well as the redemption money of the firstborn, Num 18:6.
(4) The spiritual function of this priesthood was
related to ritual and to the teaching the Word of God, Heb 10:1–4.
d. The one priesthood of the New Testament is the universal
priesthood of all believers after the pattern of Melchizedek. Jesus
Christ is the high priest of the royal priesthood. All the priesthoods
in the Old Testament were specialized priesthoods. In the New
Testament, there is no priesthood of a few people, that is, a
specialized priesthood like the Roman Catholic Church. A spiritual
life is no better than its priesthood. Heb 5:9–10, “And having been
made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal
salvation, being appointed by God high priest according to the order of
Melchizedek.”
(1) Having been born a king in Israel as a Jew from the
tribe of Judah, He was not even qualified for the Levitical priesthood.
(2) Both Melchizedek and our Lord were not appointed on
the basis of genealogy. Melchizedek was appointed on the basis of
regeneration. Our Lord was appointed a royal high priest by divine
decree in eternity past and at His resurrection, ascension, and
session. Therefore, Christ is a king-priest after the order of
Melchizedek.
(3) The Unique Characteristics of Jesus Christ as our
High Priest.
(a) Jesus Christ is the first and only high priest
in all of human history to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He was
filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. No one before the hypostatic
union was ever filled with the Spirit.
(b) Jesus Christ is the first high priest and the
only priest that has been resurrected. He functions as a high priest
in resurrection body, seated at the right hand of God, not standing in
the Holy of Holies as the Levitical priests. The next resurrection in
history will be the resurrection of the royal priesthood. You precede
the greatest of Old Testament believers because you have the greatest
spiritual life that has ever existed in history.
(c) Jesus Christ is the only high priest who
offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. All other high priests offered
animal sacrifices, but never offered themselves. True spiritual life
is almost a total absence of ritual. The only ritual we have is the
remembrance of the sacrifice of our High Priest for sin.
(d) Jesus Christ is the only priest who can
provide eternal life for the human race.
(e) Jesus Christ is the only priest who is not
only perfect humanity but eternal God in one person forever.
(f) Jesus Christ is the only priest who has tested
and proved the prototype spiritual life for the Church Age. This
spiritual life is an infinitely greater spiritual life because every
believer in this dispensation is a priest.
(g) Jesus Christ as our high priest is the One who
originated this unique spiritual life in all of history. There will
never be another spiritual life like it, not even in the millennium.
There is nothing comparable to your spiritual life.
(4) As our high priest, He is the minister of spiritual
things, Heb 5:1.
(5) Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, Heb
9:26-27, 10:10-14. The priestly sacrifice of Christ includes
redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation.
(6) He makes intercession as a high priest for each one
of us, Heb 7:25.
(7) He has an eternal and non-transferable priesthood,
Heb 7:20–21, 24.
(8) Christ fulfilled the necessary requirements of the
priesthood.
(a) He was qualified for the office, Heb 1.
(b) He was appointed by God, Heb 5:1–10. Heb 5:5-
6, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high
priest, but He [God the Father] who had spoken face-to-face with Him
[Ps 2:7], `You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.’ Just as He
said in another Scripture [Ps 110:4], `You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
(c) His priesthood was a higher order than the
Levitical priesthood, Heb 5:6–10, 7:1-8:6.
(d) All functions of the priesthood were performed
by Christ, Heb 7, 9, 10.
(e) His priesthood is eternal and superior, Heb
7:25, “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through
Him, since He always lives to make intercession as a substitute for
them.”
(f) With the ascension and session, Christ had a
new royal title, but no royal family and no priestly order. Both were
combined on the Day of Pentecost.
(g) You are in union with Christ. Therefore, you
are royalty and priests forever. We represent ourselves before God as
royal priests.
(h) Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was a priestly
sacrifice, but His high priesthood came after the resurrection.
(i) You are not designed to lean on others or to
be counseled by others, but to lean on your own priesthood, your own
spiritual self-esteem, and the Bible doctrine in your own soul.
(j) You are a royal priest and royal family of God
because of union with Christ.
B. Rebound is the basic function of the royal priest, 1 Jn 1:9.
1. Rebound is not a part of your spiritual life, but is a
function of the privacy of your priesthood.
2. You cite or name your sin to God, who forgives you and
cleanses you from all sin. At the same time you are removed from the
cosmic system. You don’t have to tell your sins to anyone else, as the
believers in the Old Testament did to the priests.
C. The Priesthood and Operation Z. Your major function as a priest is
to learn doctrine as a part of operation Z. Your positive faith
perception allows God the Holy Spirit to metabolize the doctrine taught
by the pastor. This is the basis of momentum in the function of your
royal priesthood.
D. The priesthood demands the function of prayer and intercession.
E. The Sacrifices of the Priesthood, Heb 13.
1. Separation, v.13.
2. Praise, v.15.
3. Production from momentum, v.16.
4. Enforced and genuine humility, v.17.
5. Developing spiritual self-esteem, v.18-19.
F. Old Testament Versus New Testament Priesthoods.
1. There never has been a priesthood in the history of the world
that required the priest to be a believer. Every priesthood prior to
the Church Age was based on physical birth not spiritual regeneration.
2. The priesthood of the Church is the only priesthood based on
being born again. Old Testament priesthoods were based on the head of
every family before Israel and then the Levitical priesthood based on
the sons of Aaron.
3. No high priest in Israel ever functioned in resurrection body
as does our High Priest–the Lord Jesus Christ. No one in history ever
had a high priest who functioned in a resurrection body. Only the
royal family of God has a High Priest in resurrection body.
4. Jesus Christ was never a high priest to Israel. He is only a
high priest to the Church. Therefore, your spiritual life is unique.
Our Lord was not even qualified to be a high priest in Israel because
He was from the tribe of Judah.
5. Our priesthood is composed of every member of the Church. You
are a member of the highest priesthood that will ever exist, including
the millennial reign of Christ. Only in the Church Age could a woman
ever be a priest.
6. The faith-rest drill gave reality to the Old Testament
believers related to their extensive ritual. The doctrines were real
because they saw them being portrayed in the ritual.
7. The humanity of Jesus Christ, as the better hope, executed the
better spiritual life of the Church Age. The better hope of Heb 7:15
in the dispensation of the hypostatic union became precedence for the
unique spiritual life of the Church Age. The better spiritual life was
tested and proved in prototype. The better hope begins when the Church
Age believer enters the door of hope on God’s agenda. We have the
unique heritage of all human history. We have a better hope, a better
priesthood, and a better spiritual life.
8. Heb 7:11–16, “If therefore, on the one hand fulfillment had
come through the Levitical priesthood but it did not (for on the basis
of it the people received the Law), what further need for another
priest to arise similar to the order of Melchizedek, and not be
designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is
changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the Law also. For
the One concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another
tribe [Judah], from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it
is evident that our Lord has descended from Judah, a tribe with
reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is
clearer still, if another priest arises similar to the likeness of
Melchizedek, Who has become a priest not on the basis of physical
requirement but on the basis of indestructible life.”
a. Indestructible life is God deciding the time, place, and
manner of your death. You are going to be on this earth with your
spiritual life until your High Priest takes you out of this life. Your
indestructible life has already started now. You are guarded by the
power of God.
b. The indestructible life then goes into the eternal state
where you are absent from the body and face-to-face with the Lord in an
interim body, but still you have no resurrection body.
9. Lev 21:17–20 teaches that no man of the tribe of Levi could
function as a priest if they had physical defects. Men were also
disqualified for immorality, Lev 21:3–4, 7, 9. No one was disqualified
for being an unbeliever. Mt 27:12,41; Mk 14:1, 55; Lk 22:2; Jn 19:15
shows that the Chief Priest at the time of our Lord was trying to kill
Jesus, therefore, probably an unbeliever. No Church Age believer is
disqualified for having a physical defect.
a. The divine mandate to Israel authorized a priesthood
related to physical birth, not regeneration.
b. The divine mandate which authorizes the Levitical
priesthood carries a disqualification clause based on birth defects or
subsequent physical defects. The reason for this was that there must
be nothing that distracted the Jews when they were watching the ritual,
and physical defects are distracting.
c. There was no disqualification clause about being an
unbeliever. Therefore there were three categories of Levitical priests
who could officiate at the altar: the believer-priest, the unbeliever-
priest, and the carnal believer-priest.
10. The Levitical priesthood was authorized under the Mosaic Law,
Ex 6:18, 20; 28:1. The universal priesthood of the believer is based
on believing in Jesus Christ. For us to function under our High Priest
we must have perfect righteousness, because our priesthood can never be
nullified or rescinded.
11. The Church has one High Priest–the resurrected humanity of
Jesus Christ at the right hand of God the Father. The royal priesthood
of the Church Age with one High Priest forever is better than the
Levitical priesthood based on many high priests and physical birth.
Our High Priest is in the real Holy of Holies on our behalf. He is the
only high priest who has indestructible life and serves in resurrection
body. Our Lord will function as the only High Priest on earth during
His millennial reign after His second Advent.
12. Why all of this?
a. Ritual without reality is meaningless.
b. In the case of Israel, the unbeliever priest or
unbelievers in the congregation of Israel who witness the ritual could
not possibly profit from it doctrinally. The Jews could never profit
from the rituals representing codex two of the Mosaic Law unless they
could relate the ritual to the doctrines. Many Jews considered the
rituals as “good luck” charms. For believers negative to doctrine the
ritual was also meaningless.
c. Codex two of the Mosaic Law was fantastic for positive
believers; for they associated ritual with reality in their spiritual
life of the faith-rest drill and they developed doctrinal rationales
they could apply.
13. Heb 7:18–19, “For, on the one hand, there is a rescinding of
the former commandment [the Mosaic Law that authorized the Levitical
priesthood] because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law
brought nothing to completion), but on the other hand, there is the
bringing in of a better hope [the second door of hope for the Church
Age believer–a personal sense of destiny–by which we enter the adult
spiritual life] through which we draw near to God.”
a. The former commandment authorized the Levitical
priesthood in client nation Israel.
b. The weakness of the Levitical priesthood is that it did
not require regeneration for its modus operandi.
c. The uselessness of the Levitical priesthood was the
perpetuation through genealogy and physical birth rather than
regeneration. The Law brought nothing to completion because it takes
one High Priest who is permanently a High Priest to bring everything in
human history to completion.
d. The better hope refers to the new covenant to the Church
administered by our Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest.
e. Our spiritual life of the Church Age is personalized.
The spiritual life of Israel under the Mosaic Law is ritualized. The
new covenant to Israel given by our Lord to Israel at the second Advent
will change that. When the new covenant to Israel is fulfilled at the
second Advent it will not be based on physical descent or physical
birth but on regeneration. The new covenant to Israel in the
millennium is different from the new covenant to the Church. The new
covenant to the Church is the greatest thing that God has ever done in
history because it relates to the angelic conflict.
f. The Law brought nothing to completion because it was only
the shadow of coming good things (Heb 10:1), but not the real image of
the universal priesthood of believers. It was not the image of the
indwelling of the Trinity.
g. Principles.
(1) The new priesthood of the Church means a new
spiritual life for believers that never existed before in history. A
new priesthood means a new modus operandi. We have a greater spiritual
life, a unique spiritual life.
(2) A priesthood based on physical birth has no
effective function related to a postsalvation spiritual life.
(3) The unique spiritual life of the Church Age is
based on the prototype spiritual life of the humanity of Jesus Christ
in hypostatic union.
(4) The Church has one High Priest, the resurrected
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father with
indestructible life. No high priest is going to die on us as with
Israel.
(5) The royal priesthood of the Church Age believer
with one High Priest is better than the Levitical priesthood, which was
based on many high priests and physical birth.
14. A better hope demands a better covenant, Heb 7:20–21, “And
inasmuch as it was not without an oath (therefore on the one hand they
have become priests without an oath, but He [God the Son] on the other
hand with an oath through the One [God the Father] who said to Him,
`The Lord [God the Father] has sworn and will not change His mind, “You
are a priest forever.”‘).”
a. This is an oath from God the Father, which is part of the
two immutable things in the last few verses of Heb 6:18–20. The first
immutable thing is a sacred oath from God, Ps 110:4. God swears by
Himself, since there is nothing and no one greater by whom He can swear
an oath. The second immutable thing is God Himself. Our priesthood
was given under two immutable things: the oath of God and God himself.
b. There was no divine oath attached to the Levitical
priesthood because it was based on physical birth and genealogy, but
there is a divine oath with regard to the royal priesthood. Our
priesthood is the only priesthood with a sacred oath attached to it,
the only priesthood with a High Priest in resurrection body, the only
universal priesthood, and the only priesthood based on faith in Christ.
c. The royal priesthood of the Church Age serves under one
High Priest as a forever priesthood. Therefore, every royal priest of
the Church Age has forever life through regeneration. The spiritual
life must match the priesthood. The spiritual life is only as good as
its priesthood, and we have the greatest priesthood in history. Only
the royal priesthood is not stopped by death. Our death does not stop
our priesthood. We continue to be priests forever in our resurrection
body under our High Priest.
15. Heb 7:22, “to a greater degree Jesus has become the guarantee
of a better covenant.”
a. “Jesus” is the title of our Lord’s humanity. He serves
as a High Priest in His humanity.
b. The new covenant to the Church is better than the Mosaic
Law and the Levitical priesthood. Therefore, we have a better hope. A
better hope demands a better covenant. A better covenant demands a
better spiritual life. Our spiritual life is better than any spiritual
life that has ever existed or will ever exist.
16. Heb 7:23–25, “On the one hand therefore, the former priests
existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from
continuing, but on the other hand, because He abides forever, He holds
His priesthood permanently. Therefore, also, He is able to save
forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives
to make intercession for them.”
a. We have and always will have only one high priest, and He
is perfect forever. His priesthood goes on forever because of
resurrection body. The only operational priesthood for all eternity is
the one given to you. You will still be a priest in eternity no matter
how you fail or succeed in time.
b. Many of the high priests in the Old Testament were bad
and it reflected in the spiritual life of the country. You have a
greater hope, a greater priesthood, and a greater spiritual life.
c. You draw near to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You must believe in Christ to qualify for this priesthood, in order to
possess the necessary eternal life for the perpetuation of the
priesthood into the eternal state.
d. Heb 7:16–17 compared with Heb 7:25 gives an amazing
conclusion–we have an indestructible priesthood. Only one priesthood
survives beyond the grave to become operational in the eternal state.
Heb 7:16 says our Lord has “indestructible life.” Heb 7:17 says that
our Lord is “a priest forever.” Heb 7:25 says that He always lives to
make intercession for us.
17. Heb 7:26–28, “For it is fitting that we should have such a
high priest, impeccable integrity, the One who cannot do evil,
undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; Who
does not need daily, like those priests, to offer up sacrifices, first
for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this
He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints
men as high priests who are weak, but the word of His [God the
Father’s] oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has
become perfect forever.”
a. Our High Priest gave us a spiritual life which is
infinitely greater than anything found in the Old Testament. Our High
Priest is unique. Jesus Christ is the only high priest who is perfect
humanity and eternal God in one person forever. He is the only high
priest who was ever sinless. He is the first high priest ever filled
with the Spirit. He is the pioneer and perfecter of our spiritual
life, Heb 12:2. He is the only high priest who offered Himself as a
unique and efficacious sacrifice. He is the only high priest who
offers eternal salvation.
(1) Our High Priest was born perfect, but was brought
to completion (the verb TELEIOO) through the function of the same
unique spiritual life given to you.
(2) In the prototype spiritual life Heb 4:15 says that
our Lord, “was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
There never has been a temptation in the human race that was not faced
by our Lord and overcome by the same spiritual life you have. In
addition to that, He was tempted far beyond anything we would ever
face.
(3) TELEIOO is used in seven passages in Hebrews and
is translated to bring to completion. The translation “to be made
perfect” cannot apply to our Lord since He was created perfect as Adam
was created perfect.
(a) Heb 2:10, “For it became Him, for whom are all
things, and through whom are all things, in having led many sons to
glory, to bring to completion the author of their salvation through
sufferings.” Our Lord was brought to completion by the sufferings for
blessing in the advance to spiritual maturity and by the sufferings on
the Cross.
(b) Heb 5:8–9, “Although being a Son, He learned
obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been brought
to completion, He became to all those who obey Him the source of
eternal salvation.” As God there is no need for Jesus Christ to be
brought to completion, but as perfect humanity He had to learn doctrine
under the filling of the Spirit just as we must do.
(c) Heb 7:18–19, “For on the one hand there is a
rescinding of the former commandment because of its weakness and
uselessness (for the Law brought nothing to completion), but on the
other hand a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near
to God.” “The Law brought nothing to completion” means that observing
the Mosaic Law cannot save. You are saved by faith and not by the
works of the Law. The Law cannot provide the spiritual life after
salvation, Gal 3:2–3,5. The spiritual life of the Old Testament was
the faith-rest drill, not keeping the Law. You can never complete the
spiritual life without the four mechanics of the spiritual life (the
filling of the Spirit, metabolized doctrine in your soul, the ten
problem solving devices, and the execution of the protocol plan of God.
Drawing near to God is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for personal
salvation.
(d) Heb 7:28, “For the Law appoints men as high
priests who are weak, but the word of His sacred oath, which came after
the Law, [appointed] the Son, Who has been brought to completion
forever.” The high priests of the Mosaic Law were weak because some
were carnal believers or unbelievers. Our Lord was brought to
completion by His perfect execution of the prototype spiritual life, by
offering Himself once for all on the Cross, and by His resurrection.
The result was His ascension and session at the right hand of the
Father. Jesus Christ as our high priest offers completion to us in
three stages.
i. Stage one completion is salvation through
faith alone in Christ alone.
ii. Stage two completion is the execution of
the unique spiritual life of the Church Age resulting in maturity.
iii. Stage three completion is resurrection.
(e) Heb 10:1, “For the Law, having a shadow of
coming good things but not the real image of those events, can never by
the same sacrifices, which they kept on offering year by year, bring to
completion those who draw near.” The “coming good things” is the
fantastic spiritual life given to us. Jesus Christ brought to
completion the greatest spiritual life in human history during the
dispensation of the hypostatic union, and this spiritual life has been
given to you. The Law could not bring personal salvation to completion
through the animal sacrifices, nor could it bring the spiritual life to
completion through its ritual.
(f) Heb 10:14, “For by one offering He brought to
completion for all time those who are being sanctified.” The offering
of Jesus Christ on the Cross relates to the new covenant to the Church,
1 Cor 11:24–25, not to the new covenant to Israel.
i. We, the Church, are the ones being
sanctified. We are taken by God the Holy Spirit and entered into union
with Christ forever. This is positional sanctification. We share the
life, righteousness, heirship, destiny, election, and priesthood of
Christ. Experiential sanctification is the postsalvation experience of
advancing from the point of spiritual birth to maximum glorification of
God. Ultimate sanctification is the resurrection of the Church.
ii. The application of sanctification is found
in Heb 10:35–36, “Do not throw away as worthless your confidence, which
keeps on having rich distribution of blessing; for you keep on having
need of perseverance, so that when you have accomplished the will of
God, you may receive the promise [escrow blessings].”
iii. Compare 1 Pet 1:2, “According to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by Him blood.” Believers
who fulfilling the unique spiritual life are being sanctified
experientially.
iv. Rom 15:16, “to be a minister of Christ
Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that
my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the
Holy Spirit.”
(g) Heb 11:39–40, “And all of these, having become
witnesses through faith, did not receive the promise [resurrection],
because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us
they should not be brought to completion.”
b. A better priesthood is based on virtue and values of
perfect integrity. We have a better priesthood because we have a
better spiritual life. Our spiritual life is the highest form of
virtue and values that has ever existed or will exist in human history.
Therefore, our spiritual life is absolutely different under the
ministry of God the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine circulating in the
stream of consciousness.
c. Our priesthood has greater escrow blessings for time and
eternity.
d. Our impact as priests is better because it is invisible
heroship.
18. Heb 10:1–10, “For the Law, having a shadow of coming good
things, but not the real image of those events, was never able with
those sacrifices which they kept on offering year by year to bring to
completion those who continued to approach the altar. Otherwise, they
would not have ceased being offered. Why? Because the worshipers,
having once been purified, would no longer be having a consciousness of
sins. But in those same sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by
year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take
away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He says, `You have
not willed sacrifice and offering [as a solution to the problem of
sin], but a body You have prepared for Me; You have not been
propitiated by whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.’ At that
time [the virgin birth], I said, `Behold, I have arrived (in an Old
Testament scroll of a book it stands written concerning Me) to
accomplish Your will, O God.’ After saying the above, `Sacrifices and
offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not
willed as a solution, nor been propitiated by them’ (that which is
being offered according to the Law), then He said, `Behold, I have
arrived to do Your will.’ He has rescinded the first that He might
establish the second [the new covenant to the Church]. Through the
agency of which will we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
a. The shadow offerings included the burnt offering–
propitiation with emphasis on the salvation ministry of our Lord, the
food offering–propitiation with emphasis on the perfect humanity of
Christ in hypostatic union, the peace offering–reconciliation, the sin
offering–rebound with emphasis on the unknown sins, the trespass
offering–rebound with emphasis on known sins.
b. These offering were offered for 1511 years from B.C. 1441
until 70 A.D.
c. God the Father prepared a human body for our Lord Jesus
Christ so that our Lord would be able to carry our sins in His own body
on the Cross. That was the end of the Levitical priesthood, but they
would not quit offering sacrifices.
d. Jesus Christ had to have a human body to be true humanity
in order to become the efficacious sacrifice for sin.
e. There are two whole burnt offering, Lev 1. The first is
a picture of the salvation work of Christ from the standpoint of
propitiation. The second is the sin offering, a picture of rebound.
f. There is a new covenant to the Church which was never
known to the Old Testament believers. You have a new covenant that was
never known before, that never existed before. This new covenant
includes a new priesthood, a new spiritual life, the filling of the
Spirit, a completed canon of Scripture with mystery doctrine now
revealed.
(1) The new covenant of the blood of Christ was
announced by our Lord at the last supper and is a part of the mystery
doctrine of the Church Age. We do not have a new will and testament,
but a living covenant. Our new covenant could not even be mentioned
during the age of Israel. The new covenant to the Church is the best
covenant because it gives the best spiritual life of all human history
to the Church.
(2) In Jer 31:31–34 the new covenant to Israel was
given. It was revealed in the Old Testament and is not a part of the
mystery doctrine of the Church. During the millennium the Jews will
offer animal sacrifices as their memorial of the Cross. The Levitical
offerings of the old covenant to Israel will be integrated into the new
covenant to Israel, which is going to be fulfilled in the millennial
reign of Christ. The new covenant to Israel takes the filling of the
Holy Spirit from the new covenant to the Church because we have a
better covenant. We take nothing from the new covenant to Israel
because we have a better covenant. The filling of the Holy Spirit in
the millennial for the new covenant to Israel is different than the
filling of the Holy Spirit during the Church Age. The filling of the
Holy Spirit during the millennium is designed to appreciate the
presence of Jesus Christ on earth.
(3) Jesus Christ became true humanity to function as a
royal high priest for the Church Age believers as a universal
priesthood, 1 Pet 2:5,9 “You also as living stones are being built up
as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” “But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own
possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Rev 1:5–6, “And from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, furthermore
the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who keeps on loving us and
released us from our sins by His blood. And He made us a kingdom of
priests to God and His father. To Him be the glory and the power
forever and ever.” He is also the mediator between God and mankind,
Job 9:2, 32–33. He is the mediator of the old covenant and of two new
covenants.
g. Sanctification has integrated you into a new covenant
with God as a priest. You are confirmed as a priest by positional
sanctification at the moment of salvation by the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Postsalvation experiential sanctification occurs by the unique
spiritual life of human history. Ultimate sanctification is the
extension of our universal, royal priesthood into the eternal state.
There are three agents of this sanctification: God the Holy Spirit, 1
Cor 6:11; 2 Thes 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2; God the Son, Heb 10:10; 1 Cor 1:2,30;
Bible doctrine, Jn 17:17.
G. The New Covenant to The Church.
1. There are two new covenants, one which is operational right
now–the new covenant to the Church, and one which is eschatological
and will not be operational until the millennial reign of our Lord. A
priesthood demands a covenant. We have a new covenant to go with our
priesthood. Our new covenant is based on the Eucharist.
a. A covenant is defined as God’s gracious promises and
provisions for the Church. A covenant is a contract with a favorable
disposition. The favorable disposition is our salvation, our unique
spiritual life, and our resurrection.
b. There are two parties in this covenant to the Church and
one mediator. God the Father is one party. All Church believers are
the other party. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant to
the Church. 1 Tim 2:5–6, “For there is one God, and one mediator also
between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a
ransom substitute for all, the statement brought out in testimony of
its own time.” Heb 9:15, “And for this reason He is the mediator of a
new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place resulting in
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
covenant, those who are being called may receive the promise of an
eternal inheritance [a priesthood in a resurrection body in the eternal
state].” Our Lord is an intermediary between two parties to effect
reconciliation and to provide special benefits [your portfolio of
invisible assets] to the ones being reconciled. A mediator is an
intermediary between two parties to effect reconciliation. Jesus
Christ has reconciled us to God the Father by removing the barrier
between God and man.
c. Your spiritual life is based on what God the Father
provided through the mediator, God the Son, and the power of the Holy
Spirit. You are insulting all three members of the Trinity when you do
not execute this spiritual life.
2. The new covenant to Israel is used as an eschatological
illustration to challenge us to our spiritual life in the new covenant
to the Church. This is an illustration for application to the Church.
a. Heb 10:15–17 quotes Heb 8:8–12 and Jer 31:33–34, part of
the new covenant to Israel. “And the Holy Spirit bearing witness to
us; for after He said [Heb 8:8–12], `This is the covenant that I will
make with them [Israel in the millennium] after those days
[Tribulation],’ says the Lord. `I will put My laws upon their hearts
and upon their minds I will write them [Operation Z], Both their sins
and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'”
b. Heb 10:18, “Now where there is forgiveness of these
things, there is no longer an offering for sin.” Jesus Christ was the
offering for sin, and we are forgiven all past sins the moment we
believe in Christ. There is a offering for sin in the millennium, Ezek
43:19, but not in our spiritual life under the royal priesthood of the
new covenant to the Church. There is no sin offering during the Church
Age.
c. Heb 10:19–23, “Since therefore, brethren, we have
confidence to enter the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way [the unique spiritual life of the Church Age] which He
opened for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a
great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of doctrine, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our body washed with pure water [rebound]. Let us hold
fast the acknowledgement of our hope without wavering, for He is
faithful who promised.”
(1) Only the Levitical high priest could enter the Holy
of Holies during the old covenant on the day of Atonement. But now
that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law we can enter the Holy of
Holies.
(2) We, as priests, can now enter the Holy of Holies by
a new and living way. The “new and living way” is the new covenant to
the Church. There must be metabolized doctrine circulating in the
stream of consciousness and consistent use of rebound as the new and
living way. The quote from Jeremiah is used to illustrate this.
(3) Our Lord opened the veil for us into the Holy of
Holies. Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38 says that the veil was opened at the moment
of His physical death. After the destruction of Solomon’s temple by
Nebuchanezzer the Holy of Holies was empty. There was no ark of the
covenant and no mercy seat. Jesus Christ opened the veil to let people
into the empty room. The high priest kept going into an empty room and
sprinkling blood from the time of Zerubbabel’s temple. The veil was at
least thirty feet high (Josephus says it was ninety feet high; the
Midrash says it was sixty feet high; others said it was thirty feet
high) and eighteen inches thick. Why was it empty? Because the Holy
of Holies was no longer the Holy of Holies. It was empty to represent
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ to the true Holy of Holies in
heaven. It was empty because our High Priest is in heaven and there is
a new covenant to the Church. When the Jews came back to Jerusalem
under Zerubbabel they had to operate on Bible doctrine in the soul.
The empty room meant they did not need the furniture any longer; they
had a soul full of metabolized doctrine, an anchor in the soul.
(4) We have an absolute confidence based on the empty
room, a reminder of the importance of metabolized doctrine in the soul,
Heb 6:18–20, “in order that by two immutable things [the sacred oath of
God and God Himself], by which it is impossible for God to lie, we who
have taken refuge might have strong motivation to seize the hope
[absolute confidence in the word of God] that is set before us, which
[hope] we have as an anchor of the soul both secure and reliable, and
one which enters [the Holy of Holies] behind the veil, where Jesus, our
advanced guard, has entered for us, having become a high priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.” We take refuge in the doctrine
in our stream of consciousness. The Bible doctrine that fills your
soul gives you a full room in the soul. The empty room behind the veil
is filled by you. The anchor inside the veil is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our High Priest does not dwell between the cherubs but is seated at the
right hand of the Father in the true Holy of Holies. The empty room is
a reminder that we will enter the true Holy of Holies in heaven at the
resurrection.
(5) The “house of God” is the true Holy of Holies at
the right hand of God in heaven.
(6) Our hope is brought to completion by eternal
security related to salvation, by the unique spiritual life of history,
and by that day when our place in heaven will be fulfilled in our
resurrection body, which is represented on this earth by an empty room.
Tit 2:13; Rom 5:5; Rom 15:4, “…that through perseverance and the
encouragement of the Scripture we might have hope.” Our absolute
confidence is that we as priests are operating out of the true Holy of
Holies.
(7) Your body is now the veil and the anchor in the
soul is the indwelling of the person of Jesus Christ. Compare Col
1:27. The anchor represents a problem solving device for the storms of
life. The anchor prevents the ship from drifting off course and
stabilizes the ship in storms.
3. Lk 22:20, “And in the same way He took the cup after they had
eaten, saying, `This cup which is poured out as a substitute for you is
the new covenant with My blood.'”
a. This is the announcement of the new covenant to the
Church, not to Israel. We provide blessing for the new covenant to
Israel. The new covenant to Israel provides nothing for us.
b. The new covenant to the Church supercedes the old
covenant to Israel.
c. The Lord’s table or Eucharist was performed after the
last passover meal and was separate from it.
d. The new covenant to the Church is signed with the Lord’s
once and for all sacrifice on the Cross.
4. The priesthood of the new covenant is explained in Heb 8.
a. Heb 8:1–2, “But in addition to what is being said the
main point is this: we keep on having such a high priest, who sat down
at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a priest
of the Holy of Holies even the true tabernacle, which the Lord has
irrevocably established, not mankind.”
(1) The session of our Lord is the transfer of the Holy
of Holies on earth to the throne room of God in heaven. This is why
the veil of the Temple was split from top to bottom to reveal an empty
room. The Holy of Holies will never be moved again or be destroyed.
The true Holy of Holies is irrevocably established in the third heaven
forever. We have the only High Priest who has ever sat down in the
presence of God the Father, compare Heb 12:2, 9:12, 7:26, 10:12. Jesus
is sitting down in the true Holy of Holies because He has done
everything He can for you until the Rapture of the Church.
(2) The new covenant to the Church is different than
the new covenant to Israel because our High Priest is seated in
resurrection body in heaven. The only priesthood that will exist in
the eternal state is the priesthood of all Church Age believers.
(3) We have a high priest who is the only savior. He
is resurrected and making intercession for us. Jesus Christ is the
high priest of the new covenant to the Church. He is never a priest in
Israel. The descendants of Zadok are the priests of the new covenant
to Israel. Zadok was the high priest in the time of David. Jesus
Christ can never be a high priest to the old covenant. Ezek 43:19,
“`And you shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the
descendants of Zadok, who draw near to Me to minister to Me a young
bull for a sin offering,’ declares the Lord God.”
(4) The new covenant to Israel fulfilled in the
millennium is an extension of the Levitical priesthood of the old
covenant. The new covenant to Israel, which is not even operational
yet, can never rescind or supercede the old covenant to Israel, Heb
7:18. The new covenant to the Church supercedes the old covenant to
Israel.
b. Heb 8:3, “For every high priest is authorized to offer
both gifts [food offerings] and [animal] sacrifices; hence it is
necessary that this One also have something that He may offer.”
(1) Our Lord cannot offer anything in the Levitical
priesthood since He is not in the tribe of Levi. He will not be a
priest functioning in Israel in the millennium. He has His own
priesthood in the millennium–you in a resurrection body. The only
thing He has to offer is Himself as a sacrifice for sin. He offers to
those who believe in Him salvation, resurrection, eternal life, a
unique spiritual life, and a unique, eternal, royal, high priesthood.
(2) There were five Levitical offerings.
(a) The salvation offerings.
i. The burnt offering, which taught salvation
with emphasis on propitiation, Lev 1.
ii. The food offering, which taught salvation
with emphasis on the unique person of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union,
Lev 2.
iii. The peace offering, which taught salvation
with emphasis on reconciliation, Lev 3.
(b) The rebound offerings.
i. The sin offering, which taught rebound
with emphasis on the unknown or forgotten sins of the believer, Lev
4:13, 22, 27.
ii. The trespass offering, which taught
rebound with emphasis on the known sins, Lev 5.
c. Heb 8:4, “If on the one hand therefore He were on earth,
He would not even be a priest, for there are those who continue to
offer gifts in conformity with the Law.”
(1) This verse shows that this epistle was written
prior to the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. Our High
Priest was not on earth, but already ascended and in heaven. Yet from
30-70 A.D. the Levitical priesthood kept on offering animal sacrifices
according to the Mosaic Law, which had been rescinded by its
fulfillment by our Lord on the Cross.
(2) Jesus Christ will never be a priest to Israel in
the millennium. He is not from the tribe of Levi and the Levitical
priesthood will be revived during the millennium, Ezek 48:9. The
priesthood of Christ is for the Church Age and eternal state only.
(3) At the time of writing of Hebrews, Herod’s temple
was still operational with its perpetual offerings. Under the old
covenant to Israel, the Mosaic Law, Jesus Christ was and always will be
the royal high priest but never a Levitical priest. The descendants of
Zadok, son of Aaron, was the operational priesthood under the old
covenant to Israel in the past and the descendants will function as the
Levitical priesthood during the millennium. Because the humanity of
Christ was not descended from the tribe of Levi, He will never be
qualified to serve as a priest in the millennial Temple. When Jesus
Christ was appointed royal high priest forever in the divine decrees
(Ps 110:14), His royal high priesthood belongs exclusively to the
Church.
d. Heb 8:5, “who have been and still are serving as a
shadow-copy of heavenly things, just as Moses was warned when he was
about to erect the tabernacle; for, `See to it,’ he says, `that you
make all things according to the pattern which was made known to you in
the mountain.'”
(1) The temple and all of its functions were a shadow
copy of our Lord seated in the Holy of Holies. Compare Heb 10:1, “For
the Law having a shadow of coming good things but not the real image of
these events.”
(2) The reality of the shadow copy is our Lord’s work
of salvation on the Cross and His session in the third heaven as the
High Priest of the royal priesthood.
e. Heb 8:6, “But as the case now stands He has gained a more
excellent high priestly office by so much as He is also the mediator of
a better covenant, which has been legally enacted on the basis of
better promises.”
(1) Jesus Christ can only perform His high priestly
office outside of and separated from Israel. Therefore, the high
priestly function of Jesus Christ is for the Church Age only.
(2) The superiority of the royal priesthood of Jesus
Christ explains why there must be a new covenant to the Church.
(3) He had to be a priest to offer an efficacious
substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross and He had to be a mediator for
reconciliation of mankind to God.
(4) The superiority of the high priesthood of our Lord
explains the necessity for a new covenant to the Church. Jesus Christ
is the only mediator between God and mankind, therefore, He is the only
savior of mankind. It was as mediator and royal high priest that Jesus
Christ provided the efficacious, once-and-for-all sacrifice, Heb 7:26-
28, 9:13-14, 10:12-14. This sacrifice had to be offered by a priest-
mediator.
(5) Why is the new covenant to Israel quoted twice (Heb
8:8-12, 10:15-16) in the book of Hebrews, which deals with the new
covenant to the Church?
(a) It is quoted to demonstrate the doctrine that
the royal high priesthood of Christ under the new covenant to the
Church provides a better spiritual life for the Jews living in the
millennium under the new covenant to Israel, which is a better
spiritual life than the Jews had in the Old Testament. The Jews in the
millennium have a better spiritual life because of the new covenant to
the Church. It is the new covenant to the Church that provides the
spiritual life for the new covenant to Israel.
(b) The unique spiritual life of history belongs
to the new covenant to the Church under the sponsorship of the
priesthood of Jesus Christ, Heb 8:6.
(c) It was the prototype spiritual life of the
humanity of Jesus Christ as a royal high priest and mediator of the new
covenant to the Church which provided the efficacious sacrifice for
sin.
(d) This same prototype spiritual life was given
to every Church Age believer as the operational type spiritual life of
the royal priesthood of the dispensation of the Church.
(e) Furthermore it was the new covenant to the
Church with its unique spiritual life which rescinded and superceded
the old covenant to Israel. The reality replaced the shadows.
(f) In rescinding the old covenant to Israel by
the new covenant to the Church we now have history in contrast to
prophecy. When the new covenant to Israel is fulfilled in the
millennium, the two power options of that new covenant to the Church
(the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine in the soul) will be
given to every born again Jew as a restored client nation.
(g) The blessing of the new covenant to the Church
overflows to the new covenant to Israel in the millennium, Ezek 39:29;
Joel 2:28–9; Zech 4:6; 12:10. We are living the spiritual life that
will be given to the Jewish believers in the millennium.
(6) Why is Jesus Christ unique as a high priest?
(a) He is the only high priest who was appointed
in eternity past, Ps 110:4. This appointment did not become
operational until the virgin birth.
(b) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to be born as Adam was created–perfect in His true humanity.
This was necessary for mediatorship.
(c) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
(d) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to offer one efficacious sacrifice for sin, and He did it under
three principles.
i. As a priest, His substitutionary atonement
on the Cross resulted in propitiation, which is directed toward God.
ii. As a mediator, His substitutionary
atonement on the Cross resulted in reconciliation, which is directed
toward mankind.
iii. As impeccable humanity His substitutionary
atonement on the Cross resulted in redemption, which is directed toward
sin.
(e) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in
history to be both a priest and a mediator, 1 Tim 2:5–6; Heb 8:6, 9:15,
12:24. Our Lord made the decision to be a mediator. He was appointed
as a high priest by God the Father. Priesthood emphasizes the work of
salvation. Mediatorship emphasizes the way of salvation.
(f) Jesus Christ is the greatest hendiadys of all
human history, our priest-mediator. A hendiadys is a historical
representation in which a complex idea is expressed by two words
connected by a copulative, for example, “pastor-teacher.” Another
hendiadys in this context is “shadow-copy.” Another hendiadys is Jesus
Christ as the “God-man.”
(g) Jesus Christ is the only priest-mediator who
is both perfect humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever.
The reason for His humanity was to be a priest, to be a mediator, to be
a savior, to be a son of David.
(h) Jesus Christ is the only high priest in all of
human history to have a resurrection body and to be living in the true
Holy of Holies.
5. The new covenant to the Church rescinds and supercedes the old
covenant to Israel.
a. Heb 8:7, “For if that first [covenant] were faultless but
it was not, there would have been no place sought for a second [the new
covenant to the Church].”
(1) The new covenant to the Church supercedes and
rescinds the old covenant to Israel, Heb 7:17–28. Our spiritual life
is the greatest reality in relationship to God that has ever existed.
(2) The first covenant was not faultless because it was
based on physical birth. The old covenant to Israel is rescinded and
superceded by the new covenant to the Church, Heb 7:18–19.
(3) The Mosaic Law could not bring anyone to salvation.
The Mosaic Law does not produce the filling of the Spirit, Gal 3:2,3,5.
The Mosaic Law could not bring anyone to completion spiritually. The
baptism of the Holy Spirit and indwelling of the Trinity bring us to
completion in the execution of our spiritual life in the Church Age.
b. Heb 8:8–12, “For finding fault with them, He says
`Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will bring a new
covenant to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. Not like
the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did
not persevere in My covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord. For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the Lord; I will be giving My laws for the purpose of
their thinking, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be
their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach every
one his fellow-citizen, and every one his brother, saying, “Know the
Lord,” because everyone will know Me from the least to the greatest of
them, because I will be merciful with reference to their wrongdoings
and I will remember their sins no more.'”
(1) This is a quotation from the Septuagint of Jer
3:31-34.
(2) The spiritual life in every dispensation is always
a system of thinking. The spiritual life is given for the purpose of
thinking. You cannot think without prior cognition. If you cannot
think because of no prior cognition, you have no spiritual life. The
filling of the Holy Spirit is the based for the spiritual life during
the dispensation of the hypostatic union, the Church Age, and the
Millennium. All three dispensations have the two power options–the
filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine in the soul.
(3) Nothing of the past will ever be held against
Israel. They get a fresh start in the millennium with a new spiritual
life.
c. Heb 8:13, “With reference to what is said, `New,’ He
declares the first [covenant] obsolete. Then becoming obsolete and
growing old, it is near to the vanishing point.”
(1) The fact that the old covenant was near to
vanishing at the point of time of the writing of Hebrews indicates that
the new covenant to the Church superceded it.
(2) The basis for rescinding the old covenant to Israel
is the fact that the royal High Priest is infinitely and eternally
superior to any other high priest in history. The royal high
priesthood of the new covenant to the Church has provided a unique
spiritual life superceding any spiritual life before.
(3) We have a better High Priest, Heb 8:1–6.
(a) Jesus Christ as priest-mediator is perfect and
impeccable humanity in hypostatic union.
(b) As our High Priest, He offered Himself as the
only efficacious sacrifice, the basis for eternal salvation.
(c) As mediator between God and mankind in
conflict, He reconciled every human being in history who believes in
Him.
(d) Jesus Christ was the first High Priest in
history to be filling with the Holy Spirit.
(e) As our royal High Priest, Jesus Christ is the
first person in history to be resurrected.
(f) Only in the Church Age does our High Priest-
Mediator indwell the body of every believer, Col 1:27.
(4) We have a better covenant, Heb 8:6, 13.
(5) We have a better temple, Heb 8:6–16; 1 Cor 6:19.
(6) We have a better sacrifice, Heb 10:12, 14, “But He,
having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the
right had of God,…For by one offering He has brought to completion
for all time those who are being sanctified.”
d. The second quotation of the new covenant to Israel is
found in Heb 10:14–17, “For by one offering He has brought to
completion for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy
Spirit also bears witness to us for our advantage; for after saying,
`This is the covenant that I will make face-to-face with them after
those days,’ says the Lord. `I will put My laws upon their heart, and
upon their mind I will write them. Both their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more.'”
(1) Jesus Christ is the only one qualified to offer a
sacrifice for sin. He is qualified because He was born perfect and by
the modus vivendi of His human life, living the prototype spiritual
life with temptations beyond anything we will ever face and remaining
perfect. He was qualified by the divine decrees, being appointed as a
high priest in eternity past. He was qualified by making the decision
to become a mediator. God the Father was satisfied with only one
sacrifice for sin. He was satisfied because He imputed all of our sins
to Christ for judgment. Only God the Father had to be propitiated, no
one else.
(2) Even though the believers of the millennium have
the filling of the Spirit, they do not have a sanctification in the
spiritual life such as we have. The spiritual life of the royal family
of God in the Church Age is unique. The spiritual life of millennial
believers has similarities, but our spiritual life is unique.
Millennial believers will have a similar spiritual to that of Church
Age believers, but the spiritual life of the Church Age is absolutely
unique.
(3) All believers will be brought to completion
spiritually by resurrection, whether winner or loser believer. This
quotation is given about the Jewish spiritual life in the future to
indicate that we have a present spiritual life under the filling of the
Spirit, indwelling of the Spirit, and faith-rest drill. Every believer
is sanctified (set apart unto God for the special purpose of glorifying
Him) at the moment of salvation.
(4) All past failures of Israel are blotted out forever
and they get a complete new start in the millennium. Salvation and
rebound are common to all believers in all dispensations. Everyone is
saved by faith alone in Christ alone, and everyone is restored to
fellowship by the rebound technique of 1 Jn 1:9. There is no spiritual
life apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.
e. Heb 2:8b-10, “But now we do not yet see all things having
been subjected to Him. But we see Jesus, who for a little while was
made lower than the angels, having been crowned with glory and honor
because of the suffering of [spiritual] death, that by the grace of God
He might taste death as a substitute for all. For it was fitting for
Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in
bringing many sons to glory, to bring to completion the leader of their
salvation through sufferings.”
(1) The ultimate of the spiritual life is occupation
with Christ, but first you must learn and use the power options, the
spiritual skills and the problem solving devices.
(2) Christ tasting death was His substitutionary
spiritual death on the Cross.
(3) Our Lord is the leader and originator of our
spiritual life and he brings us to completion in our spiritual life
just as He was brought to completion in His spiritual life. Being
brought to completion begins at salvation, continues in our spiritual
life, and ends in our resurrection. Compare Heb 12:2 (see below).
6. Heb 9:11–15, “But when Christ arrived on the scene a high
priest of the good things that have come, He entered through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to
say, not of this creation; but not through the blood of goats and young
bulls, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy of Holies once
for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been
defiled, sanctify for the purpose of the purity of the flesh [and they
did], how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the agency of
the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this
reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a
death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that
were (committed) under the first covenant, those who have been called
may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
a. Jesus Christ is the anchor inside the veil. He has been
brought to completion by His spiritual life, by His efficacious
sacrifice for sin, and by His resurrection. He is the only human high
priest seated at the right hand of God in the true Holy of Holies in
resurrection body. The greater and more perfect tabernacle not made
with hands is the true Holy of Holies in heaven.
b. The high priest entered the Holy of Holies with the blood
of a young bull once for himself, Lev 16:11, and he entered a second
time with the blood of a goat for the sins of the people. These
sacrifices were a picture of substitutionary atonement of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord offered Himself as a willing sacrifice.
Reality replaced the Old Testament ritual.
c. The dispensation of the hypostatic union is a wall
between the Old Testament spiritual life and the royal priesthood of
the Church with its unique spiritual life. The shadow offerings are
replaced by the efficacious offering of our High Priest. The blood of
animals could not save. They could only teach the reality of the
future offering of Christ Himself as the salvation offering for sin.
d. Heb 9:1–5, “Now even the first covenant had regulations
of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle, the
first room was prepared, in which the lampstand, the table of
shewbread; this was classified the holy place. And behind the second
veil, there was a sacred room. This was classified the Holy of Holies,
having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on
all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holing the manna,
Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. And above it
were the cherubs of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these
things we cannot now speak in detail.”
e. The lid on the ark of the covenant is called the mercy
seat because of Rom 3:22–25, “even the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, (for there is no
distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God)
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is
in Christ Jesus; whom God has publicly displayed a mercy seat through
faith in His blood, a demonstration of His righteousness, because of
the passing over of the sins previously committed.” (The phrase “by
the forbearance of God” belongs to verse 26.) All personal sins of
human history are passed over by God until all sins could be poured out
on Christ on the Cross for judgment.
f. The efficacious substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ on the Cross is greater than the shadow offerings of the
animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. Therefore it follows with
stronger reason that the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ has
an infinitely greater doctrinal significance. The high priesthood of
Jesus Christ has the greatest offering from the greatest power of the
greatest spiritual life that has ever existed. If God accomplished the
greater at the Cross, it follows a fortiori, that the lesser can be
accomplished in the postsalvation spiritual life of every royal priest
through the same spiritual mechanics that Christ used to endure the
Cross. If God accomplished the greater at the Cross, it follows a
fortiori, that He can provide the lesser in the unique spiritual life
of all human history.
g. Heb 12:2, “Be concentrating on Jesus, the leader-
originator of our doctrine, who because of His exhibited happiness He
endured the Cross, disregarding the shame, then He sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God.” The result is a unique and universal
royal priesthood of the Church Age. In 1 Pet 2:5 we are called a holy
priesthood, set apart unto God. In 1 Pet 2:9 we are called a royal
priesthood. In Rev 1:6 we are called a kingdom of priests. This is
why there was an empty room in the Holy of Holies in the temple in
Jerusalem.
7. The Empty Room and the Sacred Temple of the Church Age. You
are the sacred temple of the Church Age. God the Holy Spirit indwells
your body and creates a temple for the indwelling of Christ. This is
the basis for a phenomenal spiritual life.
a. The indwelling of God the Holy Spirit provides a temple,
a sacred building for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory.
This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in indwelling.
(1) 1 Cor 3:16, “Do you not know that you are a temple
[sanctuary, sacred building] of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells
in you?”
(2) 1 Cor 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and
that you are not your own?” The only sacred room on earth is your body
after salvation. The only sacred room in heaven is at the right hand
of the Father.
b. The prophecy of the indwelling of Christ, Jn 14:20, “In
that day [Church Age] you shall come to know that I am with My Father
[session], and you are in Me [baptism of the Holy Spirit], and I in you
[indwelling of Christ in the body of every believer].”
(1) The Greek preposition EN plus the instrumental of
association indicates that a second party (in this case Jesus Christ)
furnishes the means by which our association with God the Father takes
place.
(2) Our Lord is not in the Father, He is with the
Father. Our high priest [the humanity of Christ] is at the right hand
of the Father in the Holy of Holies. The disciples would come to know
this because the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem remained an empty room.
(3) Jn 14:26 is the application, “But the Helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you
all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
c. The cognition test relates to the sacred building of the
Church Age, 2 Cor 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the
doctrine; examine yourselves! Or do you not know this about yourselves
[from metabolized doctrine], that Christ is in you–unless you fail the
test?”
(1) You are a priest, which means you have a
responsibility to God that can only be fulfilled by your responsibility
to yourself. You have a responsibility to yourself to test yourself to
see if you understand Bible doctrine. You have the right in privacy to
determine your own status spiritually. The spiritual life is a private
matter between you and God. You are free to live your spiritual life
in private before God. Taking responsibility means correcting yourself
when you are wrong.
(2) In the spiritual life you have to understand
yourself and know when you failing. You examine yourself in the mirror
of the word of God in your soul. But you do not have a mirror in your
soul unless you have Bible doctrine resident in the seven compartments
of your stream of consciousness.
(3) You have to know that Christ indwells your body as
He indwelt the sacred Temple. If you do not know that you are indwelt
by Christ and the purpose for it, then you have failed the test.
d. The believer can execute the divine mandate of 2 Cor 13:5
because he is a priest.
e. From the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, our mentor
and our teacher, we learn about the indwelling of Jesus Christ, our
High Priest and Shekinah Glory, resulting in the transformation of our
lives. 2 Cor 3:17–18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the
Spirit of the Lord [is, there is] freedom. But we all, with unveiled
face looking into a mirror to produce a reflection–the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory [the
prototype spiritual life of our Lord] to glory [the operational
spiritual life of the Church Age], as it were by the agency of the
Lord, the Spirit.”
(1) The word “Lord” here is used for the deity of the
Holy Spirit.
(2) Where is the Holy Spirit located during the Church
Age? Indwelling your body to create a new Holy of Holies.
(3) You have freedom to live the spiritual life because
God the Holy Spirit indwells your body. You have a freedom as a
believer that no one can ever take from you though people may try
through gossip, legalism, and other things. Only you can destroy your
spiritual freedom.
(4) We are being transformed into the same spiritual
life which our Lord had during the Incarnation. Our spiritual life is
an image of His spiritual life.
(5) Our spiritual life is unveiled because there is no
fading glory in the spiritual life of the Church Age. If you live the
spiritual life, it is not a fading glory, but an increasing glory and
will reach its peak in the resurrection body of the eternal state.
f. There is only one sacred building or temple in the Church
Age–the believer’s body, Col 1:27, “to whom God willed to make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the absolute confidence of glory.”
g. The motivation from the indwelling of Christ is related
to the indwelling of the Spirit, 1 Jn 3:23–24.
(a) Your soul can either be an empty room with no
doctrine or it can be filled with the greatest things that have existed
in the history of the human race. The soul of the believer is the
sacred room in the Church Age. The believer is the only sacred
building during the Church Age. Jesus Christ as God indwells the body
of every believer (“Christ in you, the confidence of glory”). Your
body becomes a sacred body because God the Holy Spirit indwells your
body to make it a temple of God.
(b) Jeremiah made a great prophecy about the new
covenant to Israel concerning the ark of the covenant not being
remembered during the millennium, Jer 3:16, “`And it shall be in those
days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,’ declares the
Lord, `that people shall no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the
Lord.” It will never even enter their minds or be remembered. It will
not be missed nor will another one ever be made.'” In the millennium
there will be a temple and a priesthood, but there will be an empty
Holy of Holies because the reality is in the person of Christ. The ark
of the covenant has not existed since 586 B.C. and will never exist
again. The ark was created by the enduement of the Holy Spirit and
could never be duplicated once destroyed.
(c) The message of Jeremiah to Israel is that in the
future they will not need the ark of the covenant. They will know the
doctrine in their souls. The new covenant to Israel is that the law of
God will be in their minds and written in their hearts. The Holy of
Holies is empty because the Jews in the millennium have Bible doctrine
in their souls.
8. The Empty Room and the Sacred Temple of the Millennium.
a. There is a new temple constructed in the millennium, but
it is not a sacred building. It is described in Ezek 40-44. It has a
Holy Place, a veil, and an empty Holy of Holies.
b. It is an empty room because believers in the millennium
will have a similar but not the same as spiritual life of the Church
Age. The empty room represents the spiritual life of the millennium.
Ezek 39:29 and Joel 2:28 explain the spiritual life and resultant empty
room of the millennial Temple.
(1) Ezek 39:29, “`And I will not hide My face from them
any longer, for I shall pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’
declares the Lord God.”
(2) Joel 2:28, “And it will come about after this that
I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters
will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see
visions.”
c. The Lord first pours out His Spirit on all Israel, and
then on all mankind. He can do this because every person who comes out
of the Tribulation alive will be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
d. The empty room in the millennial Temple indicates that
the spiritual life of Israel in the millennium is related to the new
covenant to Israel. The New Covenant to Israel is a prophecy that
describes the spiritual life of Israel in the millennium. We have a
unique spiritual life in the Church Age that is greater than the
spiritual life of the millennium, but we do have one thing in common–
the filling of the Holy Spirit. The empty room indicates that the two
spiritual lives a similar but not the same.
e. Heb 8:10 quotes Jer 31:33 concerning the New Covenant to
Israel, “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after those days [Tribulation],’ says the Lord. `I will put My laws in
their minds; I will write them upon their hearts, then I will be their
God and they shall be My people.'” This explains the revival of the
Levitical priesthood and sacrifices during the millennium. This also
explains the total forgetfulness of the ark of the covenant during the
millennium, Jer 3:16. It will not be missed, nor will another ark ever
be made.
f. The true Holy of Holies of the millennial Temple is the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth as the God of Israel, as the
Shekinah Glory.
Read more: How can a man who is not a descendant of Aaron hold the Aaronic Priesthood? (Numbers 16:40; Heb. 7:13,14). | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1276097#ixzz0qIxusYN1
by John…. from http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1276097
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/17077006/19-The-Universal-Priesthood-of-the-Believer
(Compiled from scripture. as summarized from “Civilization”, By Orestes Augustus Brownson, T. Nourse, 1884)
