The priesthood is of both the human and divine natures. It is basically something of incarnation, which is the divine nature mingled with the human nature. A priest must be a person fully mingled with God. This is the Branch, which we have seen in the previous chapter. The human nature, to be mingled with the divine, must be holy. Originally, it was common and worldly, but since it must be mingled with the divine nature for the priesthood, it has to be holy. The word “holy” in Greek means to be separated (unto God). To be in the priesthood, we must be separated from the world and from all common things. Otherwise, we can never be a priest.
A priest is one who serves the Lord. If we are not priests, we can never serve Him. We must never think that we are ready to serve the Lord after going to a seminary, Bible institute, or Bible college. That will only make us “professional” priests, not real ones. To be real priests, we must be holy, that is, we must be separated from all the things of this world and from all things common.
First of all, our words must be separated. We should not talk as the people of the world do. Our conversation must be separated from all common things. Even our thoughts, concepts, and ideas must be separated. Our thinking must not be so common; it has to be separated. If we are not separated from everything common and worldly, we are bankrupt in the priesthood. Not only our way of talking, thinking, and doing, but even our way of spending money must be holy. Many of the brothers and sisters say that they would like to be priests serving the Lord, but according to the way they spend their money, they are out of the priesthood. A priest must be separated in the way he spends his money.
Many times when I visited a brother’s or sister’s home, I was grieved because his home was so common, so worldly. It was not separated. In the last century, there were two Gordons: A. J. Gordon and S. D. Gordon. I do not remember which Gordon it was, but one of them, as a young man serving the Lord, bought a new house. He moved in and completely furnished it with everything. Then he asked his father to come and look at his new home. After his father had seen the home, young Gordon asked him what he thought about it. The father said that everything was very nice, but he had one question: if a stranger came into this new home, would he be able to tell whether it was the home of a son of the Devil or a son of God? Gordon’s father simply meant that this home was not separated. It was too common and worldly; it was just like so many homes of the people of the world. There was no separation and no holiness.
Sometimes the way different brothers and sisters dress simply causes others to question, “Are these Christians or are they people of the world?” There must be a separation from the style of this age or we will never have the priesthood. The priesthood must have the holy separation.
As men in the priesthood, we must go to the Lord continually with all our needs and the needs of others. According to Hebrews 5, even the high priest himself has needs, and because he is encompassed with the same infirmities, he can sympathize with others. Since we are all human, we can sympathize with all the human needs and infirmities. As those who are in the priesthood, we must go to the Lord continually with all these needs.
However, to contact the Lord in His presence requires our separation. Anything common will hinder our fellowship with the Lord. It will be like a veil covering us, separating us from the presence of the Lord. Before we can stay in the Lord’s presence with all man’s needs, we must be separated. If there is anything common covering us and separating us from the presence of the Lord, we are veiled. I like the hymn, “Nothing Between, Lord, Nothing Between.” If we are going to contact the Lord, there must be nothing between. Anything between us and the Lord is the veil that must be rent. We must be separated from that particular thing. We think the Lord is so big, but sometimes He is very small. Sometimes the Lord will struggle with a person just about a pair of shoes. We may like them, but the Lord does not.
When I was young, I was dealt with by the Lord in so many small things. There were even times when I would buy a spiritual book and would have to return it. The Lord would tell me within that I should not buy this book because I needed the money for some other purpose, but I would go ahead and buy it. After coming home I could not eat or sleep well. I would say: “Lord, You are not so small; You are so big. Why do You care for such a small thing?” There was a real struggle. I could not even pray or minister. Eventually, I would be forced to return the book. I believe that many of us have had this kind of experience. To contact the Lord, we must be separated. We must ask the Lord to show us that from which we must be separated. We will know within. In fact, we already know.
Thus, the first aspect of the priesthood is to go to the Lord with all the needs of man. As the Aaronic priesthood, we must bear man and his needs upon our shoulders and breast. This means that we must bear them with strength and love. Whenever the high priest went into the presence of the Lord, he was clothed with the priestly garment with the names of the twelve tribes inscribed in stones upon his two shoulders. Twelve precious stones bearing the names of the twelve tribes were set in the breastplate. This signified that the high priest bore the people of God into His presence. We must spend time to bring all our own needs, the needs of the brothers, and the needs of the whole church into the presence of the Lord and remain there for some time. This is the holy priesthood.