Christian Priesthood - Our responsibility - Part 1 — David Petterson

Now, good afternoon to everyone. Thank you for being here. I'd like to thank the assembly for a kind invitation to join you for this weekend that I've enjoyed very much already together. I'd like to thank the brothers for the Bible readings that we've already had and the blessing that it was for me personally.

Plus, I think it's always good to thank my brothers. They might be nicer to me. Now, we have a lot of ground to cover if you're looking at the outline. And all the verses that have been assigned to this subject, we'll read them just now.

We'll read them in the order in which they're found, just for ease of reference. We will suffer a little bit of a loss by not looking at them in another order. But we'll turn first to Romans chapter 12.

Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Romans 12 and 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The next one in order is chapter 15. Romans 15.

And we'll begin at verse 15. 15 and 15. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort as putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Now over to Philippians. Philippians is next. Chapter 2 of Philippians. Philippians 2 and verse 17. 2 and 17, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.

In the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. Now to chapter 4. Over to chapter 4 and verse 18. 4 and 18, but I have all and abound. I am full, having received as Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.

First Timothy, next. First Timothy chapter 2. First Timothy 2 and 1. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Now next is Hebrews. Making our way through here. Hebrews chapter 13.

Hebrews 13 and verse 15. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.

Now we're almost finished. We have two left. Next is 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. We'll start at verse 4. Read this short section. 1 Peter 2 and 4. To whom coming? As unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.

Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same has made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Now finally, to the book of the Revelation, please, in chapter 1. Revelation 1, verse 4. One and four, John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from Him which is and which was and which is to come.

And from the seven spirits which are before His throne. And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.

To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And so we've come to the last Bible reading where we're going to consider Christ and His people, the Christian priesthood, our responsibility until He comes.

It's not just our responsibility until He comes. I think we would all agree it's a great privilege to be priests until He comes. This subject of Christian priesthood is one that we appreciate. We have to understand that it wasn't always so largely within Christian history.

There were periods of time when the Lord's people, many of them, knew nothing of real Christian priesthood. In fact, it lay at the very foundation of the Reformation itself. And there were even pre-reformers that men like Jan Hus and some of these other men that were beginning to speak out against papal authority and against the indulgences and against the teaching that somehow forgiveness of sins could be paid for with indulgences.

And these men, as light began to be shined upon the Scriptures and what the Scriptures had to say, they paid a very heavy price to believe what they believed and to teach what they taught. It was Hus that was brought before the council and like many of them, refused to recant.

He was labeled a heretic. They defrocked him from the priesthood, right? He belonged to another priesthood that no one could take that away from him. They asked him to recant. More than one occasion, he began to do something that I'm sure irritated them.

He began to speak to the Lord, directly to the Lord. He would say, and maybe you wouldn't say this today, he would say, Lord Jesus, as he would come before God in prayer. But he would say, Lord Jesus.

And he did right when they were about to light the hay and the wood on fire to light the body of Jan Hus. They heard him say, Lord Jesus. And he pleaded for mercy for his enemies. These men paid a very heavy price to believe what they believed.

And what a great privilege it is that we have discovered. There's maybe you could say rediscovered what it really means to be a kingdom of priests, that we can actually, any Christian can enter the presence of God.

We're going to look at that in one of the discussion questions in a few moments. But we can not only say something about the discovery of priesthood or the rediscovery of what real priesthood means, but say something about the declaration of priesthood.

No one made himself a priest under the old covenant. No one made himself a priest. Now, those that sought to make themselves priests, things didn't turn out too well for them, did it? God's judgment fell upon those who did.

And they were certainly under the disfavor of God. But no one made himself a priest. God would declare them to be priests. Being priest is a divine declaration. Now, there are people in the world today that might carry the title of priest, but no one can make themselves a priest.

No amount of schooling, no amount of religious training, no one on earth has the authority to make anyone else a priest. But the Bible has declared us, the Word of God declares that we're priests. That was our last reading.

What a wonderful thing. Revelation 1, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us priests, kings and priests to our God and His Father. There's the declaration of priesthood and it's a divine declaration.

The Desire for Priesthood from Genesis to Revelation

You could say something about the desire for priesthood. Why was there a desire for priesthood at all? And of course, we go back to Genesis chapter 3, don't we? And we see God and man, they were once together dwelling in the garden, enjoying fellowship.

And then there was sin. Sin entered into the picture. God and man were separated. The very next chapter of our Bible has a man at an altar. His name is Abel. He's offering sacrifices. God's desire was for mediation.

God's desire was for priesthood to bring God and man together in some way. And of course, all the pictures that we've been looking at, they were in themselves inadequate. But God had in mind a priesthood and has always had a priesthood on earth.

Since that time until now, I would say that probably throughout every age, there will be those functioning in priestly capacity since Genesis chapter 3. Not only men like Abel, but then, of course, the patriarchs who were building altars and offering sacrifices.

Certainly, Job was one that fit that time period as one that offered sacrifices for his own children. And then we read about Melchizedek in that patriarchal period that was a priest. He was declared to be a priest of the Most High God.

And then that brings us up to now something a little more official with the Aaronic priesthood. God works with Abraham, works in his life. And eventually, he will institute the priesthood that we spent a lot of time looking at yesterday.

Then we have the church age. We come into a different dispensation. We have one that we considered yesterday who was our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And yet, we are in this dispensation made to be a kingdom of priests.

But then when this dispensation is over and the rapture occurs and all the priests will be gone, right? We won't have a priesthood here. Will we have a priesthood here during the tribulation period? Will there be those mediating?

Will there be God's representatives? Well, we read about these two witnesses. And what will they do? They will prophesy. They will speak for God. They will speak His Word. I don't doubt that the 144 ,000 will do much of the same.

Pointing people to Christ. The one that they need. The one that will make them right with God. I don't doubt that during that tribulation period, there'll be many that function as priests. In fact, I think it's in Revelation 8, there's the prayers of the saints are arising from the golden altar of incense.

And God hears the prayers. God accepts the prayers. There'll be those functioning as priests during the tribulation. I think there'll be those functioning as priests even when the Lord Jesus Himself is here during the millennial reign of Christ.

We read in Revelation 20, right? That those that were slain for their testimony and for the Word of God that served the Lord in the tribulation, that were cut down during the tribulation at the first resurrection, they're mentioned.

And it says that they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. That takes us all the way through from Genesis 3 to Revelation 21 and 22. We come into the eternal state.

I don't know that we'll need mediation then, will we? God comes to dwell with man. But in between that period of Genesis 3 and the eternal state, God's desire has always been for priestly work to bring God and man together.

And so there's the declaration of priesthood, the desire for priesthood. I won't say anything much about the design for priesthood. In each of these periods of time, in each of these dispensations, there was a particular design that God had in mind for those who would be His representatives.

And there are things that we could say, but we'll leave it at that because this Bible reading is all about the duties, the duties of priesthood. What are we supposed to do? If God has made us a kingdom of priests and He has, what is it that we ought to be doing in this work of priesthood?

Preparing a Kingdom of Priests

And so we'll look at the outline just now. I know that was a rather lengthy opening, but the three main points that are on the outline here, priesthood preparation, priesthood in practice, and priesthood parents.

First of all, the preparation for priesthood. We definitely have some crossover with our brother John's Bible reading from yesterday. And I know we have some different people here today, and it wouldn't hurt to just go over them again and at least a short amount of detail how God has prepared us to be a kingdom of priests.

What exactly He has done for us that enables us to function in this way? And then we'll look at priesthood in practice. What does it look like? The two ideas of going in. And we're going to take the example of Aaron's sons and the many things that they did in that old economy and try to make the parallel with what God has in mind for His people to do today.

But there was the going in, whether it was going to the labor and then going into the holy place and functioning there and having the bread and the lampstand and the golden altar of incense. These are the things that we're going to focus on as we go in.

And then there was the coming out, the going out to the people, going in before God, going out toward the people and the many functions that the priesthood was involved with. There's going to be a little bit of crossover on those two things.

And I hope you can forgive that as we go through them. But that's priesthood in practice. Finally, we'll look at the priesthood peril, some of the dangers that we may face in this work that the Lord has given us to do.

I hope that we don't just consider it as a privilege, but it is a weighty, serious responsibility to be a kingdom of priests. And we'll look at some of those dangers that are inherent in our calling to this.

Now, we also have some discussion questions. I'm not exactly sure when we'll get to each one of them. If it's a fitting time, we'll bring it up at certain times within the Bible reading. And if we don't get to them, we'll try to make sure that we attempt and answer at them at the end of the reading.

So I look forward to your contribution and help. And if there's any general comments about Christian priesthood, feel free to contribute just now. Thank you.

The Collective Meaning of the Priesthood of All Believers

Can I ask you, brother, about this? If you don't mind me jumping straight to a discussion question. You've talked, you refer on the handout to the priesthood of all believers. And that's, of course, not an expression that we find in scripture, but it's one that we've used and you've helpfully reminded us of the way in which this truth was recovered in the Reformation.

One thing that I wanted to ask you, we often think of the priesthood of all believers in a very individualistic sense. So we've moved from a situation where it's God and the priest and the people, and now it's the priesthood, everyone is a priest, it's me and God.

Luther writing about the priesthood of all believers, he doesn't see it quite like that. He says, you know, all believers are priests. I'm a priest for my neighbor, my neighbor is a priest for me. So do you see a kind of a collective function in which we think our way down through these duties of the priest, of Christian priests, do you see a collective function as well as that individual function?

Well, it's hard to separate the two, isn't it? I mean, and I think it's good to start the Bible reading with that first question because it's so critical to everything I'm gonna say after. So what does the priesthood of all believers mean?

I thought that it would mean that we all have the same status before God as priests, first of all, and so that there's no one with a special kind of status because of how long they've been saved. No disrespect to anybody that has been saved, but we all have the same equal status before God.

We all have equal access to God and each one of us can serve God. That is the part of the privilege of Christian priesthood and what we would call the priesthood of all believers. I don't know.

Yeah, I'm very happy with that. But I think it is worth emphasizing that there is, for example, when we pray, that's a priestly activity. You'll be talking about that. But we do that not just on behalf of ourselves.

We do it on behalf of others. When we give thanks, that's not just on behalf of ourselves. It's on behalf of others. It's a kingdom of priests. So there is still that collective sense and we still are priests for others.

But I think your point was So you would even pray that way when you're on your own? Pray which way? You would thank God, or you would say, our Father.

Not necessarily, but

But you're talking about when we're gathered together as the Lord's people.

Well, I mean, we still thank God for the blessings that he gives to others. So it's not just an individualistic thing. It's an individual thing, yes.

When we gather together, we don't come together to form a priesthood, right? We come together because we are a priesthood already. Where you find priest in the singular in the New Testament is from relation to Christ.

But when it's Christians, it's always in the plural. Now, so far as the identity as who is a priest, your last reading here in Revelation chapter one, of course, covers it, there's been several references to this already, but just to set it out, John is writing to the seven churches.

And he says in verse five, as he gives a doxology to the Lord Jesus, onto him that loves us, and I take it he's including the seven churches along with himself. He's writing to them. So by extension, every Christian.

And washed us or loosed us from our sins in his own blood. So all who are loosed from their sins are in this group and hath made us a kingdom of priests. Darby gives that rendering, the ESV and so on.

A kingdom of priests unto God and his father, to him be glory and dominion. The doxology follows forever and ever. So the identity of the priest, it's all who are loosed from their sins. Every Christian.

Every Christian. True believer. So David, that gives us then a comparison and a contrast with the Aaronic priesthood. The comparison is that every priest of the Aaronic priesthood was born a priest. So by new birth.

We become a priest. We become priests. But in the Aaronic priesthood, it was only the males who could function and move into the presence of God. Now, for prayer life, it's both males and females who have access before God as priests.

Now we know when it comes to the assembly, that function is different. There are different roles for males. There are different roles for females in the assembly. But it is one of the privileges of this era that both male and female have access as priests into the presence of God.

Amen. So then, dispensationally then, the concept of ordaining a priest today, you've already covered in your opening remarks, or the idea of an altar in a church or an altar rail, that is plainly dispensationally out of place since we have direct access to God.

There's no rail, there's no barrier, there's no special class that we have to go through to get to God.

We have direct access to God. And no special order of, no group of 24, like every believer with that same privilege and access.

It was God's original intention for Israel, wasn't it, that there should be a kingdom of priests. But then through failure, it devolved right down to one family, Aaron and his sons.

Which brings up, did you have something you wanted to say? Go ahead. I was gonna launch right into note number one, but go ahead if you have something.

Just one small point, I suppose. Sometimes, I have certainly heard, it may not be something that you would be so silly as to do here, but sometimes I have heard the term the priesthood of all believers used when people are really talking about the freedom that we have in assembly fellowship.

It's not one man doing all the preaching and it's not one man doing all the praying. But that's really, the fact that we can have the exercise of gift is an implication or as an outcome, a consequence of the priesthood of all believers.

But that is not in itself the priesthood of all believers because as Brother John has been emphasizing, the sisters who do not take part publicly, well, they are priests every bit as much as the brother.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you for bringing that out.

Because it is true, it's still true. So if we get into the preparation for priesthood in the first point here, it began with the calling. It began with us being called, right? Be called. And you would have to say, when you think about Aaron's call, so God says in, the Lord said in Exodus 28 and 29, these are the garments you're to make for him.

This is the consecration ceremony that is to be performed for them, for Aaron and his sons. And then that's carried out in the other reading that we had, Leviticus eight and nine, the actual consecration ceremony takes place.

There's something very important that happened in between those two things, isn't it? Genesis, or Exodus 32, Aaron fails. It's a call in grace, isn't it? And God has called us in grace to be a kingdom of priests.

We have our failures. God doesn't wait for people to become perfect to enter into priesthood. He wouldn't have any priests, would he?

Living Stones and the Spiritual House

So in relation to this calling, Peter describes them as living stones here. Used to be, Mr. Bentley used to give a comparison of that. He used to speak about the people in Egypt and what their occupation was in Egypt.

They were used to making bricks. As soon as God brings them out of Egypt, they start to make a tabernacle for God. And he used to say, he used to say, there wasn't one brick that was put into that tabernacle.

This is a spiritual thing now. Carnal things and fleshly things are not building for God. And yet here is something, and there's maybe even a slight, maybe just a slight reflection back to the breastplate.

On the breastplate, there were stones that Aaron had upon his heart as he moved into the presence of God. And Peter refers to these believers as living stones. But of course, he wouldn't have built a house out of the stones on the breastplate.

And I wonder, David, if you could give us some help on what this house is here, because that's going to be quite critical just getting that sorted out, isn't it?

Well, I don't see it as the assembly in 1 Peter 2 as the house. You see it as more universal, right?

Because this, he's obviously speaking about people. That have built up a spiritual house and that equates with unholy priesthood. So we've identified the priesthood already. It's everyone who's been loosed from their sins.

It's every genuine believer. So every genuine believer is in this spiritual house.

So that supports the background of 1 Peter, because 1 Peter is not an assembly writing. It's not like 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians or 1 Timothy. What we're doing is Peter, he's writing to strangers who have been scattered abroad.

And we know this as a general epistle. And so it supports this, that this house is a spiritual building. And I take it that it's composed of every believer from the day of Pentecost until the rapture of the church in Peter.

Washing as Fitness for Priestly Service

We'll get into the washing then, point B here. The washing would indicate, as was brought out in John's reading, a fitness to serve. And it's the washing, what we would call, and how come, right? The washing of regeneration.

You're happy with that?

Most definitely. Titus 3 is very clear. He makes it clear that that washing of regeneration took place at conversion. And with the washing of regeneration came the renewing of the Holy Spirit. That term's only used twice in the New Testament.

The other occasion, you'll find it in where David read, Romans chapter 12, is the only, that's the second time it's used in the New Testament, happens at conversion.

Okay, let me ask the question, just to clear the air. What is regeneration? It's a big word. What does it mean?

Does the other occasion on which it's used help us a little bit with that? Or is there a term used to describe the millennium?

To answer the question. Which is a new state of things for planet Earth, right? The millennium. So that helps us because when we were born again, we were brought into a new state of things. So we're happy to think of the new birth.

When we think about regeneration. That's where it's, yes. From genesis, the word means genesis again, right? And it's a paleogenesis. So back to a new start.

So God is using some of these terms to show that at one moment, there were different things happened. Exactly. For example, new birth gave me new life. New birth was the impartation of new life from God.

The second reference to regeneration that Mark has referred to is Matthew 19. And that the new birth, having received a new life, at that moment, I was brought into a new state that I'd never been in before.

And when we were washed, we were washed from all sin, right? Fully cleansed. On the outline, 1 Corinthians 6 .11, we think of some of the things that the Corinthians were involved with. And he gives that lengthy list of pretty serious sins and kinds of people.

He says, such were some of you. Such were some of you that you've been washed. You've been sanctified. You've been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Another scripture that factors into 2 Corinthians 5. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold, all things are passed away. All things are passed away. All things have become new. That's the work of regeneration has done that.

Brought us into a new state of things in Christ.

And we frequently use that text wrong, William, as you know. Frequently, we use that text for our life now. And we say, ah, all things have become new. But that's not what it's saying, as I live it out.

That's telling us there was a new state when I trusted the Lord Jesus. Positionally, I am in Christ and I never had that position before. Yes, amen. So what we're saying practically is that it's possible that there might be somebody in the Bible reading this afternoon who is not in the state of priesthood.

And by putting faith in Christ, a whole raft of things would happen. They would be built in in the language of 1 Peter. They would be washed. They would be cleansed. And in a moment, would not only be fitted to be priests, but would actually be made a priest to God.

You just brought in 1 Corinthians 6. I think that's a fascinating scripture. When you think of the background of those Corinthians and all that they were, they were thieves and covetous and drunkards and revilers and so on.

He gives a whole list. But now he says, such were some of you, but ye are washed. Now our minds go back to yesterday and we thought about the one-time washing of those priests. Ye are sanctified. Now we're thinking of the sanctuary and those that are in the sanctuary.

So we're moving forward. And ye are justified. You're given a right standing right in the presence of God. This is bringing us right into the holiest holies. And that's our place in Christ. Washed, sanctified, justified.

It doesn't just say, it doesn't just name the sins. It wasn't just what they had done. It was what they were, but not anymore. Not anymore. That's what the washing accomplishes and the washing of regeneration accomplishes.

Priestly Clothing and Righteous Standing

That brings us to the clothing. It's not just fitness to serve with the washing, but worthiness to serve because of the clothing. What kind of a clothing, what kind of clothing does God have in mind for his priests today, his kingdom of priests?

I think Wayne is going to speak. Clothed in righteousness. I had to give him a warning, Wayne. Did you? Did you have something else in mind? And I think it bears repeating what was said yesterday about the idea of a righteous standing.

And I know we have to be careful with some of the words that we use and I wouldn't be too hard on brethren sometimes and what they say and maybe in some of the songs that we sing, but we do have to make a distinction between receiving the righteousness of Christ, which the word of God doesn't speak about, or even receiving God's righteous personal, his own righteousness.

The word of God doesn't teach that as well, but we are made the righteousness of God through him. And I think it's the standing that's being emphasized there in 2 Corinthians 5.

So it was linen garments yesterday, wasn't it? Yeah. Isn't that correct? When we looked in Mark's Bible reading and it came into mind a little bit, those white linen garments. Each time you have that, you tend to find it always speaks of righteousness.

It always speaks of the practical outworking of righteousness in the life of a believer. Until you go over to the book of the Revelation, those that are clothed in the linen garments. You have it sometimes, you remember there was a man called, was it Joseph of Arimathea?

It's often been pointed out, when he goes to take down the body of the Lord Jesus, he bought fine linen. And so you can move through scripture and it always links itself to that practical side of living for God.

I wondered if we could make just a little distinction there along those lines. You know, when Aaron and the sons of Aaron were consecrated, the garments were provided for them. They didn't have to make them.

And of course, the righteousness that we have is not one of our own production. But when we get over into Revelation and we have the linen garments there, they're the righteous acts of saints. So that in that context, it's not something that was made for us, but something rather that we have produced.

As the bride preparing herself for it. Yes.

The words in Isaiah 61 that you've noted down there, in relation to Israel in a coming day, when they reach their destiny and they should be for God what they are, but we can appreciate it now. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.

He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. That's a very fitting description for our standing before God.

When will that happen for them? Does that go back to where John was preaching last night?

In the regeneration, I take it.

So washing is fitness to serve. Clothing is worthiness to serve. Anointing then is being equipped to serve, right? They're receiving something that's going to fit them to be able to actually serve as priests.

Both Aaron and his sons are anointed with the oil and the blood. Not just Aaron, but both his sons were anointed with the oil and the blood, which was actually the concluding act of the consecration ceremony, so that now they're ready to serve and they're totally set apart for God.

What is the parallel then for us today with that act?

So one thing that maybe we didn't develop yesterday in my reading was how many times was Aaron anointed with the oil? And how many times was Aaron's sons anointed with, in the sense of having that oil poured upon Aaron's head?

You're putting that as a question, John. Normally it's, you know the number of times. I learned the lesson.

From your own Bible reading. He had a little word of correction for me at the break, so I'll scoot for now.

So much for being nice at the beginning of the Bible reading.