THE HEART OF A PRIEST

PART FIVE

“At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi,
to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
to stand before the LORD to minister unto him,
and to bless in his name”
DEUTERONOMY 10:8

In the Old Testament in the days of Israel, men were born priests by virtue of belonging to a certain tribe. (There were qualifications for the priests which we will cover at a later date) In the New Testament we see that we are made priests through the dealings of God and the cooperation by faith of our lives with Him.

“And hath made* us kings and priests unto God…”
Revelation 1:6

All of God’s dealings with His own are to this one end, to make us in thought, word and deed men and women who reveal the Great High Priest. In distresses, weakness, temptation and great fiery trials the imprint of His grace, mercy and longsuffering are woven into the fabric of our being so that in the passing of time all of His graces become the unconscious outflow of our own lives. Let us not waste time in consternation over the trials that come upon us, for He is at work to bring forth in us depths of mercy that cannot be learned by sermons and teachings. These qualities cannot be known by textbooks and weekend seminars; they must be learned in the crucible of life and by taking His yoke upon us. He has come to lead us and guide us into ALL truth and we must see that truth is a person (not a collection of facts). It is in knowing Him that we see and know what truth really is.

What a man is is revealed by what he does.

We cannot expect to send men and women to Bible School and by intellectual understanding have any hope of producing the true priesthood of the New Covenant. We must first know HIM! And in the process of learning of Him we discover that He is HOLY! Men, who know not God, fear not God. Wisdom only begins within those who have touched the sphere of HIS HOLINESS, who have seen themselves by virtue of seeing HIM. Isaiah prophesied for a season and yet in the passing of King Uzziah, Isaiah SAW the Lord, High and Lifted up and immediately he knew his true condition and the condition of those around him. The Glory of God is the great leveller of ALL MEN. Calvary’s real value is only known by the touching of God’s Holiness. We see and hear little of the Blood in this hour because we have lost sight of the Holiness of God! The true priests of God are those who have seen and known their unworthiness, they have felt the weight of their own wickedness, the futility of psychological methods and the programs of men and self help ideas, to rid themselves of the principle of sin. But, thanks be to God, we are not left to our own resources, there is a river that flows where sin can be cleansed, hearts made crimson with sin’s dark stain can be cleansed whiter than the snow, mourning can be turned to dancing and the crooked places made straight. His name is Jesus, His name is Emanuel, His name is Prince of Peace and He has all authority to save those that come to Him by faith and trust. This is our God and in knowing HIM and HIM alone do we have the right and the privilege of becoming a royal priesthood unto our God. The priesthood of the individual believer in not a doctrine, it must be the reality of the Body of Christ. Those who are functioning and walking in some measure of this high calling cannot find rest in their own attainment, for the purpose of ministry is to bring others into their own expression. The key word of Ephesians 4:11- 13 is the word TILL…

“…Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”
Ephesians 4:13

Only those in whose hearts this truth is a passion and a fire that burns with the singularity of purpose to see this one thing come to pass will know of the precious truth of the heart of a priest. It is not about us, it is all about HIM! Let us recognize that in the Old Testament the priests HAD NO INHERITANCE IN THE LAND. TRUE PRIESTS SEEK NOT THEIR OWN BUT ONLY LIVE TO SEE THE GLORY OF GOD ARISE IN THIS DAY SO THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT HAVE THE PREMINENCE.

“The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne,
and worship him that liveth for ever and ever,
and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:
for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created”
Revelation 4:10

*MADE (The Greek Word used here poieō means “To make, form, produce, bring about, cause, spoken of any external act as manifested in the production of something tangible, corporeal, obvious to the senses, completed action”   Spiros Zodhiates, TH.D

Brian Troxel