A priest is a person who becomes a part of God’s dwelling, God’s house. In the New Testament, in 1 Peter 2, we see that the house of God is the priesthood composed of all the priests (v. 5). Therefore, every priest is an item of the material for the building of the house. When a priest is mingled with God, spontaneously he becomes a part of the house of God. Eventually, Peter became a part of the New Jerusalem as one of its foundations (Rev. 21:14). Every redeemed and transformed one is a part of the New Jerusalem.
To be transformed by God is to be mingled with God. If I put some tea into a glass of plain water, the water will be mingled with the tea. Originally it was plain water, but now it is mingled with the tea. This mingling is transformation. The plain water is transformed into the nature, form, color, and flavor of the tea. We are the “plain water,” and God is the “tea” put into us to mingle with us. The more God mingles with us, the more we are transformed into His nature, “color,” “form,” and “flavor.” In this way we become a part of His dwelling place.
A priest also is a person who bears the testimony of God. To bear the testimony of God is not merely objective, as when the priests bore the ark in the Old Testament. Having passed through the six previous points, we can see that to bear the testimony means that we ourselves become a part of the testimony. To bear the real ark, the testimony of God, is not merely to carry it objectively; it is to be mingled with the ark subjectively as part of the ark.
A priest is one who ministers Christ to others. If we are a part of Christ, then whatever we minister is Christ. We are filled with Christ, covered with Christ, one with Christ, and mingled with Christ, so whatever we pass on, share, and minister to others is Christ—not knowledge, forms, or anything else. Water that is mingled with tea bears the testimony of the tea. This is a subjective testimony. Even one drop of this drink contains tea, because it is mingled with the tea. Likewise, if we are mingled with Christ, whatever we give to others has Christ in it.
In the service of the priests, whatever the priest shared with people signified an aspect of Christ. When a person of Israel brought an offering to the priest, the priest offered it to God. This was his priestly service. Then after making this offering, the priest passed on a portion to the offerer. This signifies passing on something of Christ to people. When the priest went into the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, he enjoyed Christ in a fuller way, even in the fullest way. Then he had something even more of Christ to share with others. Whatever he brought out from the presence of God was a portion of Christ. This is a shadow, a picture, of our experience today.
A priest is one who brings man into fellowship with God and God into fellowship with man. The more the priests serve—whether by offering the sacrifices, arranging the bread of the Presence, lighting the lamps, or burning the incense—the more they bring people into the presence and fellowship of God. Then they bring something of God to the people, either a message, an instruction, or some item of God to minister to the people.
It is through the priest that there is the fellowship between God and His people and the fellowship among God’s people. The fellowship depends absolutely upon the priesthood. Consider the picture in the Old Testament. If we were to take away the priesthood, then there would have been no fellowship between God and His people and no fellowship among His people. When we have the priesthood, we have this fellowship in two aspects: the fellowship of the people with God and the fellowship of the people among themselves. This one fellowship in two aspects is a matter of the priesthood. If we have the priesthood, we have the fellowship. If we do not have the priesthood, we do not have the fellowship.
Today it is the same in the church. The more priesthood we have, the more fellowship we have. If there is no priesthood, there is no spiritual fellowship. In today’s Christianity there is a certain amount of friendship, but there is not much genuine fellowship because there is very little priesthood. The fellowship depends upon the priesthood.