The church is preordained to be a Royal priesthood

 

God in His faithfulness and wisdom established certain principles and guidelines by which the church should live so as to become holy, blameless and irreproachable in His sight, and they are manifested in seven distinctive ways which are as follows;

 The church is appointed to be a royal priesthood

Members of the church are the chosen people of the Chosen Stone, of whom it is written; “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; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

 The main responsibility of the church as a royal priesthood, “is to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire (zeal), and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.” And the way the church becomes holy is synonymous to how Aaron the high priest and his sons were made holy which is stated as follows; “Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting: They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy” (Leviticus 21:6; Exodus 29:32-33).

The same way it was the responsibility of Aaron and his sons to eat of those things with which the atonement was made to consecrate and sanctify them, so must the church eat of those things with which the atonement was made, which is the body and blood of Jesus Christ in order for them to be consecrated and sanctified but an outsider shall not partake of it because it is holy. And so the admonition is; “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 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 2:4-5).

 Unfortunately, this is the downfall of many so called religious institutions, even labelling the church as a sanctuary for sinners, what a delusion? This is the stone which the builders rejected and has become the chief cornerstone," and” a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense:" They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed” (1Peter 2:7-8).

The church is appointed as a nation of priests in order to offer to the Lord the food for His offerings at the appointed time. And so we have been instructed saying; “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, 'My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.” There is one specific offering for every offering one offers to the Lord, and there are specific times for specific offerings; for example, there is an appointed time to offer the Lord the regular or thanks giving offering, which is morning and evening, and also at the appointed time to have a holy convocation to offer the peace or fellowship offering (Numbers 28:2; Leviticus 23:37).

 God's covenant with Levi (the priesthood) is continuous, for thus He said; "My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me and was reverent before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity.

“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," Says the Lord of hosts. Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept My ways but have shown partiality in the law" (Malachi 2:5-9).

The covenant of the Lord with regards to the priesthood is so permanent that He said to the prophet Jeremiah "For thus says the Lord: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.' "

 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me " (Jeremiah 33:17-22).

And so the reason why the majority of us stumble, it is because we are disobedient to the word to which also we were appointed, which is to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special people, that we may proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

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To be continued, stay tuned

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph