In this chapter we want to see three crucial matters concerning the priesthood of the gospel in the New Testament. First, we need to see what it means to carry out the priesthood in the reality of the New Testament. Second, we need to see how the Apostle Paul functioned as the unique pattern of the priests of the gospel in the New Testament. Third, we want to see the defects of the big gospel preaching meeting.
The Old Testament priesthood is a shadow of the New Testament priesthood, and the New Testament priesthood is the reality of the Old Testament priesthood. Just as a photograph of a person is a picture of that person, so the Old Testament priesthood is a picture of the New Testament priesthood.
According to the picture of the Old Testament priesthood, the priests’ work is mainly to offer the sacrifices. Day by day, morning and evening, the priests were always offering sacrifices of bulls and goats. We have seen that our priestly duty in the New Testament is to offer saved sinners to God as spiritual sacrifices for His acceptance (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5). The sacrifices in the Old Testament were offered outside of the tabernacle in the outer court, but the priests’ work did not stop with the offering of these sacrifices. The priests had another category of work in the Holy Place. They had to enter into the Holy Place to arrange the showbread, to tend the lampstand so that it could shine continually, and to burn the incense. These duties were the work within the tabernacle, not in the open air of the outer court.
In the New Testament priesthood, we take care of these duties in the Holy Place in their reality. The showbread in typology typifies Christ as the food of God’s people. He is our life supply. In the Gospel of John, Jesus the Son of God told us in chapter six that He is the bread of life (v. 35). As the bread of life, He said, “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me” (John 6:57b). Christ is our food, and He is eatable. We can eat Him and live by Him. To arrange the showbread is to show forth Christ as the life supply to God’s people.
We can see the arranging of the showbread in every book of the New Testament. We can use the book of Romans to illustrate this. In Romans 5—8 Paul was showing forth Christ. In chapter five Paul shows us that Christ is the sphere and the element in which we can have the divine life and escape death. We were born in Adam, who was the sphere and element of death, but through regeneration we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. In Romans 5 we are told that we are now in Christ, and in this Christ, who is our sphere and element, we have life. In chapter six Paul shows us that Christ is the One who was crucified and resurrected and that He included us in His crucifixion and resurrection. He is the very Christ in death and in resurrection to be our share, our portion, that we may partake of Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him. This is surely Christ as the showbread. In chapter eight Paul shows us Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwelling us and interceding for us. He shows us a wonderful Christ who is in the heavens and at the same time within us. Even in Romans, Paul was arranging the showbread.
Peter also arranged the showbread in his Epistles. First Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word, that by it you may grow unto salvation.” This verse shows us Christ as the milk of the word which we can drink in order to be nourished and grow in life. In 2:5 and 9, Peter shows us that we are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. He also shows us that Christ is the living stone and that by coming to Him, He makes us living stones. When we contact Him, He imparts His life into us to make us living as He is living. He is the living stone, and we are the living stones. Is not Peter’s fellowship here the showing of Christ to us? By these illustrations from the writings of Paul and Peter, we can see that nearly every chapter of the New Testament is the arranging of the showbread.
The lampstand in the tabernacle and the temple typifies Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, as the light of the world. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Our enjoyment of Christ as life at the showbread table issues in our enjoying Him as the light of the lampstand. The life and the light are one. Furthermore, in Revelation 1 the seven local churches are the seven golden lampstands, and the Lord Jesus as the High Priest is trimming all the local churches to make them shine better. Nearly every chapter of the New Testament is the trimming of the lampstand. When I am ministering the word, I am trimming the lampstand. When the saints are giving testimonies, I have the consciousness many times that they are trimming me. By listening to the saints’ experiences of Christ, I am enlightened. These testimonies are like a sharp two-edged sword to divide my soul from my spirit (Heb. 4:12). Because I experience this trimming in the meetings, I shine better.
The New Testament also shows us the reality of the priestly burning of the incense. In many of his Epistles, Paul told the saints that he prayed for them, and he asked them to pray for him. This is the reality of burning the incense to God.
Displaying the showbread, trimming the lamp, and burning the incense are all done in the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God. In the New Testament, Christ is the dwelling place of God (John 1:14; Col. 2:9), the church is the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 3:16), and our spirit is the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:22; 2 Tim. 4:22). Our God as the Spirit dwells in our spirit. We display Christ as the showbread to feed people, we trim the lampstand, and we burn the incense in Christ, in the church, and in our spirit. Paul wrote all of his Epistles in his spirit. He was performing his priestly service in the tabernacle.
To carry out the New Testament priesthood is to preach the gospel. We have seen that the New Testament ministry to carry out God’s economy is the preaching of the all-inclusive gospel of God. Included in this gospel are the three small, practical points of arranging Christ as the showbread, trimming the saints in the churches to make Christ shine through them with the sevenfold Spirit of God, and burning the incense in prayer to God. To preach the gospel is to carry out God’s New Testament economy, which is His all-inclusive gospel, and to carry out God’s New Testament economy is to fulfill the New Testament priesthood, the priestly service.