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Ministering Unto The Lord
The Privilege Of Our Priesthood - Part 2
by Rev. Wayne Monbleau
Come Near To Me To Minister To Me.”
Ezekiel 44:15
On this side of life, there are many wonderful privileges and blessings given to us as born again children of God. For me, nothing is greater than the day of my salvation and the presence of Jesus Christ within. But, right next to that has to be the day when I saw, for the first time, the awesome privilege God has given us of being made a kingdom of priests unto Him.
Throughout Scripture - from walking with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8) up to and through Revelation, where all of God's children wonderfully see Him face to face (Rev. 22:4), God's Own often expressed heart's desire has always been to have a people who would willingly draw near to Him to minister unto Him.
In our last article (Ministering Unto The Lord Part 1 - The Privilege of Our Priesthood), I shared about "Ministering unto the Lord" from three important New Testament passages. We beheld the glorious declarations in Revelation 1:6 and in Revelation 5:10 regarding our identity as a kingdom of priests actually being part of (arguably the crowning achievement of) our salvation. We saw in 1st Peter that we, as living stones, are to be built up together into a spiritual house to contain God's holy priesthood, so we might "proclaim the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (2:9). From the thirteenth chapter of Acts, we saw how Paul became a changed man, in tune with the Holy Spirit and divinely called into service, as he was "ministering to the Lord" (13:2).
In this installment, I would like to share with you from the Old Testament a portion of Scripture which highlights how important God thinks ministering unto the Lord is. I believe we will clearly see that God considers ministering unto the Lord to be the single greatest blessing or reward He could give to a faithful follower. Ministering unto the Lord is the finest, purest ministry in that it is the one ministry closest to the presence and heart of God.
A true believer believes as God believes and if this is what God believes and says about ministering unto the Lord, then may we experience this blessing in our lifetime, of a renewed and fully awakened priesthood unto the Lord. "A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him" (1st Peter 2:9). If this were to truly happen on a Spirit led and as unto the Lord global scale, this would only perfect the church in the presence of Christ while bringing the shining light of Christ to this world through a special people, nearest to the heart of God, bearing His excellencies to this darkened world while we stand prepared and praising for His return.
Ministering unto the Lord began for me one day while reading a portion from a book which spoke about the priesthood in Ezekiel chapter 44. This is the Scripture which initially turned on the lights for me, even before the New Testament passages. Actually, to back up just a little, it was a Sunday in the summer of 1972 and I, newly saved for about 3 or 4 months, had felt led of the Lord to find a quiet place to study and pray. I drove a short distance, to a local state park, grabbed my books and hiked to a nice spot in the woods. It was there that I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit not to study or pray right then, but to just sit and enter into a time of thanksgiving to God.
I felt inwardly that this would please my Lord, to put Him first in praise, before my prayers or my study. After this wonderful, refreshing and centering time in Jesus Christ, I opened a book I had been reading on different Biblical topics and began reading about the difference between serving the house and serving the Lord. In this study there were multiple references made to the 44th chapter of Ezekiel. This was what first opened up to me the Scriptural truth of the priesthood and, also, of God's heart's desire for a people who would minister to Him.
What occurs in this section of Ezekiel highlights the awesome privilege, which God has given us in Jesus Christ, of ministering to the Lord. At this time in the Old Testament, there had been a falling away of the people of Israel from the Living God, and then had come a time of return. This unfaithfulness had even affected the Levitical families, the priesthood who ministered in the Temple. As a matter of fact, amazingly, it seems to have affected every family of the Levites, save one - the family of Zadok.
The clan of Zadok was not moved by people's passions or the reasoning of the moment. They knew where loyalty began and ended, and they were loyal. This is not surprising to me, for in studying the history of the family of Zadok, from the time of King David onward, faithfulness to God's anointed has been the hallmark, time and again, of this remarkable and loyal family to the Lord. In this case, they had kept their faithfulness to the Lord and did not let the "latest, greatest ideas" distract them from their devotion to the anointing.
Well, of course God did have His day of reckoning and reward with the families of the tribe of Levi. In this portion of Scripture God reveals that, in His sight, it is a most supreme privilege to be a minister to the Lord. We will see how special this is to the Lord, and how special this became to the family of Zadok. As I share this with you, please keep in mind that, as a born again child of God in Jesus' name, you have been made a priest unto God. If you are just now hearing of this, don't be sad that you did not know this before. Rather be glad and lit up by this truth, for this is our eternal identity. Just as we have been born again and have become children of God, we also were made priests unto God in that same awesome moment of our new birth.
Here is now the account from Ezekiel chapter 44, beginning in verse 10. First God addressed the families of Levi who had gone away from Him. He said, "'The Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn against them,' declares the Lord God, ‘that they shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. And they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.'"
God had forgiven the Levites who went astray from Him in that they were allowed to minister, but only in the Outer Court, ministering to the people through the burnt offerings. "They shall stand before them to minister to them." However, they were also to, "bear the punishment for their iniquity" in that they were not allowed to come into the inner court, "and they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me." These Levites could now only minister in the Outer Court, ministering to the people. And God wanted it that way. They had led the people astray so now let them minister in humility before the people in the burnt offerings and sacrifices for forgiveness and cleansing.
But God also wanted, through this example, to let the people also know that this falling away had resulted in these priestly Levitical families no longer being able to come into the inner court, the court closest to the Holy of Holies, right next to where the presence of God dwelt. They could still minister to the people, and that is a great ministry. But, what was their punishment? They weren't allowed to minister to The Lord! "They shall not come near to Me," the Lord said.
In the Old Testament there were three main features of the Temple: the Outer Court, the Inner Court and the Holy of Holies. The Outer Court was where the bronze altar was and also where the laver was. This was where ministry to people took place; where the sacrifices and the offerings for the people were made. This would be like ministering the Gospel today, going into the Outer Court and ministering Christ, our Perfect Sacrifice; our Perfect Cleansing. The priests who strayed from the Lord and returned were still allowed to minister in the Temple, but only in the Outer Court. They were still priests, but that's where they had to be. And the punishment they had to bear was they were no longer allowed to attend to the Inner Court.
The Holy of Holies was that perfect cube where the Presence of God dwelt. In this day, most true believers understand, with good clarity, and heartfelt love for the Lord, about "Outer Court ministry" - ministering the Gospel to people- and about the "Holy of Holies," the presence of God within us as well. But there was this third room called the Inner Court. This is the room we are going to look at now. This is a most special room for God and His people, between the presence of God in the Holy of Holies and the people being ministered to in the Outer Court. This is the room which must now be brought forward in these last days so we may function as Christ's body fully, completely and purely.
Ministering the Gospel to humanity, cherishing and being led by the presence of God within us, and putting it all together under the Lordship of Christ by meaningfully ministering unto the Lord. Outer Court, Inner Court and Holy of Holies, according to the heavenly pattern which God gave Moses, each room perfectly fulfilled in Jesus' name!
In verse 15 of Ezekiel chapter 44, the Lord spoke, "But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep My charge." Do you see that this is a great reward? This was a special blessing given to this most faithful family - the access and keep of the Inner Court. God rewarded the family of Zadok publicly in front of all Israel. They alone would "come near to Me to minister to Me." This is the single greatest reward or blessing that God could ever give to a faithful follower, free access into the Inner Court. Even more relevant for us in the body of Christ in this day, I believe, is this: all of us in Jesus' name have been given this same great blessing and privilege, to be this kingdom of priests unto the Lord.
We praise God for His presence within us - and rightly so. This is the fulfillment of the Holy of Holies within us. The apostle Paul wrote, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19) and "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). We praise God for His call to, "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15) - and rightly so. This is the fulfillment of the Outer Court within us. So let us also, with great reverence, joy, gratitude and clarity - let us also praise God for the privilege of our priesthood, that special, meaningful, connecting place where it is just you and the Lord, and you minister to Him - and rightly so.
This is the fulfillment of the Inner Court within us. There was an entire specific temple in the Old Testament, based upon a heavenly pattern of these three unique rooms. We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name and this same pattern, these same three rooms, are fulfilled in us through Jesus Christ. Let us highly value all three. This reawakening of our priesthood has the potential to heal, strengthen and empower the body of Christ in a way that has not yet been seen in this world. Truly this will please our Lord the most - to be prepared for His return - honoring Him in His fullness by living fully in Him - Outer Court, Inner Court and Holy of Holies.
And there is still more. Moving on, the Lord continued, "It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the Inner Court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the Inner Court and in the house. Linen turbans shall be on their heads and linen undergarments shall be on their loins." Now here's the reason why. "They shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat." You might say, "Why is that?" Remember, sweat is one of the signs of sin. In the book of Genesis God responded to Adam's sin by declaring "by the sweat of your brow, you shall eat bread" (3:17-19). The simple point here is that being in the Inner Court is not about us, about our sweat, or our service. The inner court is all about God as our Resurrection Light and Bread, and our blessed invitation to "come near to Me to minister to Me."
Sweat represents our efforts, and in the Inner Court, it's not about us. It's about God. This is the best part of our Christian life - to have that place where it's not about us, but about Him. This is represented by Jesus when He said of Mary, to her sister Martha, "Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10: 41-42).
What was this "good part," this "one thing" which Jesus spoke of? Verse 39 says, "Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word." Ministering unto the Lord is the "good part." It's that acquired place where you can be in His presence, "seated at the Lord's feet," and learn progressively concerning the magnitude of your priesthood to God, how it truly does serve as an awesome, meaningful and practical "connecting and purifying bridge" between your understanding of service in the outer court and God's own intrinsic nature of the Holy of Holies. The more you learn of the great privilege of your priesthood, and enter in, the more balanced and whole your life will be.
To be continued, in the next installment of Ministering Unto The Lord - The Privilege Of Our Priesthood.
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enjoy
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