REVELATION 1:6-7 THE PRIESTHOOD OF YOU

REVELATION

A Verse by Verse Study

 

A journey of Studying What’s Revealed to Me

 

Revelation 1:6 & 7 Part III: The Priesthood of You

Revelation 1: 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen....

⁷ Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Part III- cont’d from Parts I & II

Jesus is coming quickly!  When he comes, there will be many on the earth that never knew him.  Every eye will see him!  With modern technology we now know that is possible naturally as we already knew it was possible spiritually. I used to wonder how every eye would see, even as recent as in the 80s.  I don’t wonder that anymore! Modern technology is advancing at lightning speed. Truly every eye on earth will see Jesus! The Jews will be here, who in times passed, asked for a thief and murderer to be released and for Jesus, the perfect lover of their soul to be crucified by piercing.  Ultimately we can say all mankind was responsible for the piercing of Jesus since all mankind has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory! People truly need the Lord!  When he returns the tribes of the earth will mourn, some from repentance as they realize they were wrong and some as they realize the judgments that are coming and are here and life as they know it will change and unless they get saved it won’t go well for them!

Before God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law, there were priests who stood before God.  There was no law from God dictating who would be priests.   There were priests in other nations and religions that were not necessarily priests of God.  Only God knew if a person was really approaching him.  God did recognize one priest who was not a priest according to the law, who had no record of birth and who did not fit the description of the qualifications of the law and his name was Melchesidek.  There were other priests. The bible tells us Moses’ father in law was a priest.  Later God established the priesthood according to the law but before the law, whether a priest truly was a priest of the one true God was determined by the heart and by God.   Abraham recognized this Melchizedek and gave him tithes long before the tithe in the law was established.  Abraham tithed to Melchizedek because he recognized he was greater, not because of the law.  The law had not been established, yet, Melchizedek was a Priest of the Most High God, and later in Hebrews was recognized by God! In fact, God himself said Jesus would be a high priest, after the order of Melchizedek! Jesus’ priesthood was not according to the law but was according to the truth. Remember, the law is a schoolmaster to teach truth!

God later established the law and the order of the priesthood according to the law.  Priests had to enter into the line of the priesthood according to their birth.  If one wasn’t a Levite one could not be a priest.  In addition to being chosen by birth, priests were chosen and anointed for their task.  The wonderful lesson here is although the priesthood is no longer Levitical, even today, God chooses men and women for tasks and anoints them.  Once he chooses you, he puts his anointing upon you to enable you to fulfill your call.

God said he would make up his kingdom and nation a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  Some may say he was speaking to Israel but this was never established or fulfilled through Israel and the law because only Levites were priests.  God’s goal is to have a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. This is fully accomplished in Christ alone!

Exodus 19:5-7  ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”⁷ So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. 

Priests were chosen by God to minister both to and before him. They were to live consecrated lives, set apart for God.  Today were are to live our lives both for and before God. We are to live a consecrated life, set apart. We are called out to be distinctly separate from the world even if among the world.

2 Corinthians 6:17 ¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

Priests were to go before God for the people carrying the sacrificial blood of bulls that atoned for sins.  Priests put fire on the altar that became a sweet smell acceptable to God, reminding him, sins had been forgiven.... for a year!  Today we go before God making spiritual sacrifices of prayers, praise and thanksgiving.   Our lives become a sweet smell that reminds God of the blood of Christ that has atoned for sins.  Priests keep the flame burning so there never ceases to be prayers going up for the people.  They keep the flame without mixture.  Strange fire, not from God and unrecognizable to God isn’t allowed to keep the fire burning.  Only pure and holy oil from God creates the holy mix that burns brightly before God.

Priests were and are to stand in the gap for people.  They stand before the Lord and minister to him.  They weep in intercession and cry out for restoration.  They cry out for God to spare people from his judgment.

Joel 2:17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, “Where is their God?”

Priests were to stand before the Lord not only for forgiveness for the people, to keep the flame burning and to stand in the gap but one of the most important things the priests did was bless the Lord.  We today as priests come before God not only for our needs and the needs of others but we come before him to bless his name!

Deuteronomy 21:5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled.

Priests are called to build the house of the Lord and to give the Word of God its’ proper place.   The call to build the house of the Lord is one that moves the heart of priests.  While not all will go into the 5 fold ministry we all have a part in building God’s house. As God moves upon our heart, we are called to build his spiritual house and keep his Word before us and the people. Even if not in the full time ministry, this is done in your home, your life and your service.

Ezra 1:5 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

Nehemiah 8:13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the teacher to give attention to the words of the Law.

The reason understanding the Priesthood is important is God has in the New Testament changed the order of the Priesthood. As he said he would make Jesus the High Priest after the order of Melchizekek. Everything in the Old Testament was a foreshadow of the truth of the New.  Jesus is our high priest, yes, according to birth but not according to the Levitical bloodline. Jesus was of God, not of Levi. He was not of the tribe of Levi. He was after the order of Melchizedek who was a priest before God before the law was ever established. Melchizedek birth was not recorded; he had no beginning or end. Jesus was with the Father in the beginning and Jesus has no end.  He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. His Priesthood was in the beginning before the law and has no end!  Now because of our birth into the family of God, with Jesus as our high priest, not after Levi but after his father, we are a priests after the new order of God before the law.  Jesus is High Priest after the truth, which came and was already in existence before the law. 

Psalm 110:4  The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 2:17  Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 7:11-12 [ Need for a New Priesthood ] Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?

Hebrews 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.

God also said he has made us Kings and Priests, a Kingdom of Priests, a Holy Nation! We are now all Priests and we are the representatives of God that go before God for the people who are not yet saved and who will be saved. We weep between the porch and the altar for the lost. We stand in the gap. We are keepers of the flame!  We keep the Word in its place and communicate it in the earth. We bless the Lord and make spiritual sacrifices in praise, prayer and worship, all of which are a sweet smelling savor to the Lord!

1 Peter 2:5  you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Revelation 1:6  and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The bible says the time is short and he is coming back. If you have been born again into the body of Christ, you are a Priest of God, part of a Holy Nation and a Kingdom of Priests!  We must be not just living for ourselves but live to make his name known and make his name great.  We must be standing in the gap for those who are not yet his, pouring out our hearts as a sweet smell before God, making intercession and crying out for salvation for our loved ones and for those who don’t yet know him.  Behold he is coming quickly and has made us both kings and priests!  Let’s fulfill the role of priests while we still can! Amen!