Prayer: Lord, may this meeting afford You another chance to take a further step among us. May You open up the heavens to us and reveal to us Yourself and Your mysteries. Lord, we are gathered together before You. We are fully open to You and are willing to be delivered. We do not want to stay in the same condition as before nor do we want to be satisfied with what we have. Lord, take us on and open up the light in Your word to us once again. May You stir us up and kindle us from within that we would not stay the same. Lord, we also pray for every brother who is taking the responsibility of the eldership here. May all of their spirits be burning and on fire. May they desire to have more and more experience in the new way, to taste more of Your riches, and to behold more of Your glory. Lord, give us the clear leading of what You want to speak and what You want to fellowship. Cleanse us again with Your precious blood, and anoint every one of us with Your rich anointing. Amen!
When we came into the Lord’s recovery, from the beginning we saw clearly that God’s intention is for all His people to fulfill the duty of the priesthood. In the Old Testament, God saved the children of Israel out of Egypt, saying, “I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself....and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exo. 19:4, 6). God’s desire was for the nation of Israel to be a kingdom of priests in which every individual was a priest. Unfortunately, due to their rebellion and failure, most of the Israelites lost the priesthood. Originally, God ordained that the whole nation of Israel were to be priests. Later, only the house of Aaron became the priests. Those of the tribe of Levi were made only helpers to the priests in miscellaneous affairs. Because of this, in the Old Testament there was a separation between the clergy, which were the priests, and the ordinary people.
In the New Testament, we see in 1 Peter 2 that “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession” (v. 9). Revelation chapter one also says clearly that “[He] loves us and has loosed us from our sins by His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father” (vv. 5-6). We who are saved and are cleansed by the precious blood of the Lord are separated by God specifically to be His priests. For this reason, in the New Testament, God reiterated His intention to make every one of His children a member of the priesthood. Unfortunately, the failure of God’s people in the Old Testament was repeated by His people in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel lost the priesthood due to their failure. As a result, God had to change His way of making the whole nation the priests to one of making the house of Aaron the priests. In the New Testament age, the separation between the clergy and the laity has gradually become a custom and a tradition. This is something man-made and is not pleasing to God. In Christianity today, the terms clergy and laity are very frequently used and are subjects which are often talked about by people.
We have inherited from the British Brethren the light concerning the practice of the universal priesthood. Fifty or sixty years ago when we began meeting, the universal priesthood was not too common among us. Gradually, there was a little improvement. But during the past years, the practice has declined again. Using the church in Taipei as an example, those who actually function in the priesthood are less than one third in number. Most of what we call church services are just works of the Levites. These works include cleaning, serving the bread and the wine at the Lord’s table, ushering, and other practical affairs. They are not the work of the priesthood, in which one contacts God directly and offers up sinners. Of course, the Levitical service is necessary also, but it is not the focal point of the New Testament.
The service in the New Testament is almost entirely on the spiritual side and is of life. There is not much said about practical affairs. From the beginning we have seen this clearly, and the co-workers have been faithful in holding fast to this. They try their best to encourage the brothers and sisters in order to stir up the gifts within them that everyone would fulfill the function of the priesthood. In the Old Testament, the most important duty of the priests was the offering of the sacrifices. The sacrifices were offered in the outer court. After the priests completed the work of offering the sacrifices, they entered into the Holy Place to take care of the showbread, to light the lamps, and to burn the incense. In addition to this, the high priest had to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year. All these types are very clearly seen in the Old Testament.
I have studied the Bible for many years and have expounded the types many times. It has always been unclear to me how the Old Testament priesthood is to be applied to the New Testament and what the New Testament spiritual sacrifices actually are. It was not until recently that I was enlightened by two passages in the Bible concerning these matters.