One of these passages concerns John the Baptist. John was born into a priestly family. His father, Zachariah, was a chief priest, one who took the lead in the priestly order. John was born a priest, yet he did not fulfill his function in the temple. Instead, he went to the wilderness. He did not wear the priestly garment nor did he eat the priestly food. Rather, he had camel’s hair for dress and ate locusts and wild honey. He went to the wilderness and told people, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). This is how a New Testament priest begins. The duty of a New Testament priest is to offer up sinners. John was a priest, being born into a priestly family. Yet the age had changed. He would no longer be a priest of the Old Testament; he came to be a priest of the New Testament.
In the New Testament, the first one to fulfill his ministry was John. The second One was the Lord Jesus. In John chapter three it says, “After these things, Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea; and there He stayed with them and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and they came and were baptized....John’s disciples...came to John and said to him, Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, of whom you testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves testify of me that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease” (vv. 22-30). My point is to show you that John came out to be a priest of the New Testament age. What he offered was sinners. He was not the High Priest. The High Priest was the One who came after him. He was only a priest helping the High Priest offer up the sinners.
The other passage is in Romans chapter one where Paul said, “I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son” (v. 9). The word “serve” in the original language has the sense of a service in worship. Paul considered his preaching of the gospel not only a work but a service and a worship to God. After he preached the gospel and saved the sinners, he offered up these sinners. Hence, in Romans 15:16 he said, “That I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that the offering of the nations might be acceptable.”
What then do the priests of the New Testament do? How can all the brothers and sisters be priests? We know that the most important work of the New Testament priests is to offer the sinners to God at the altar of the cross. Our preaching of the gospel is to bring the sinners in and to offer them up. This offering up is mentioned in a simple way in the book of Romans. There Paul said, “I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that the offering of the nations might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit” (15:16). The offering in Colossians, however, is not that simple. “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ” (1:27-28). The offering here is presented by making the nations know that with God’s mystery there is a glory. This glory is Christ in them as the hope of glory. They must be this kind of people. Only then can they be offered up as offerings to God.
The type in the Old Testament is very clear. In the outer court, there was the offering of the sacrifices. In the Holy Place, there was the arranging of the showbread, the lighting of the lamps, and the burning of the incense. The showbread is for the supply of life, the lamps are for the releasing of light, and the burning of the incense is for the intercession for men. The presenting of every man full-grown in Christ is the perfecting in Ephesians 4. The perfecting will qualify one to be presented full-grown. Hence, the offering at the altar in the outer court in Romans 15 is the initial offering. The offering in the Holy Place through the showbread, the golden lampstand, and the golden altar in Colossians 1 is the progressive offering.
In building up the small groups, we are warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ. This presenting is the work of the priests. In order that all the brothers and sisters may function in the priesthood, there is the need of bringing every brother and sister into the service of the gospel so that everyone would have a share in the gospel. Only then will the service among us be a universal priesthood with everyone serving.
The first step of the new way is for everyone to preach the gospel. The work of the evangelists in Ephesians 4 is not mainly a work of preaching but a work of perfecting the saints. This is like a teacher teaching his students. When the saints are perfected, every one of them will become priests of the New Testament. The work of the New Testament priest is to build up the Body of Christ. One item in this work is to gain the sinners and to minister Christ into them so that Christ within them would become their eternal hope. These ones will then become the offerings for God in the hands of the evangelists. Paul was such a priest of the gospel. He brought in the Gentiles, offering them up as sacrifices, and was an example to these saved believers in everything. He was not kneeling down every day in prayer. Rather, he was bringing in the sinners one by one so that every one of them would have Christ in them as glory and would become acceptable sacrifices in the eyes of God.
After we bring people in, we need to nourish them. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2 that he was “gentle in your midst, as a nurse would cherish her own children” (v. 7). When you look at a nursing mother, you can realize how one should cherish her own child. A nursing mother is not a hired nurse but a child’s own mother. When a mother nurses her baby, she puts the baby in her bosom. Hence, she is both the bed and the cradle to the baby. She is even everything to the baby. When the baby is not happy, she would rock the child back and forth. This is what is meant by cherishing. While she is cherishing, she is also nourishing at the same time. After we baptize people, we have to set up home meetings to nourish and cherish them. This kind of nourishing work also should be done by everyone. Only then will the priesthood be universal.
After a person is nourished for a month, he will be somewhat established. By then, he should immediately be brought to the small group meetings to be in touch with other brothers and sisters. This will bring him into a communal life and will usher him into the church life. In the small group meetings, there must not only be the teaching, but there must be the nourishing as well. Moreover, the small groups must be organic. Everyone has to teach, and everyone has to learn. In this way, the Body of Christ will be built. First Corinthians 14 is a chapter specifically on the building up of the church. How can the church be built up? It is built up by prophesying. Paul said, “For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all be encouraged” (v. 31). “But if all prophesy and some unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all” (v. 24). We see here that everyone should prophesy. Therefore, the prophesying should also be universal.