Lesson 95: The Ministry of Intercession, part 2
Priesthood was seen in the clothing: the holy garments, made after God’s own order, marked them as His (Exodus 28). It was seen in the command as to their special purity and freedom from all contact from death and defilement (Leviticus 11:22). Much that was allowed for an ordinary Israelite was forbidden to them. It was seen in the command that the priest must have no bodily defect or blemish; bodily perfection was to be the type of wholeness and holiness in God’s service. And it was seen in the arrangement by which the priestly tribes were to have no inheritance with the other tribes; God was to be their inheritance. Their life was to be one of faith: set apart unto God, they were to live in Him as well as for Him.
All this is the emblem of what the character of the New Testament priest is to be. Our priestly power with God depends on our personal life and walk. We must be of them, of whose walk on earth Jesus says, “They have not defiled their garments.”
In the surrender of what may appear lawful to others in our separation from the world, we must prove that our consecration to be holy to the Lord is whole-hearted and entire. The bodily perfection of the priest must have its counterpart in our too being “without spot or blemish;” “the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” “perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (Leviticus 21:17-21; Ephesians 5:27; 2 Timothy 2:7; James 1:4). And above all, we consent to give up all inheritance on earth; to forsake all, and like Christ to have only God as our portion: to possess as not possessing, and hold all for God alone: it is this that marks the true priest, the man who only lives for God and his fellow-men.
And now the way to the priesthood. In Aaron, God had chosen all his sons to be priests: each of them was a priest by birth. And yet he could not enter upon his work without a special act of ordinance—his consecration. Every child of God is priest because of his birth, his blood relationship to the Great High Priest; but this is not enough: he will exercise his power only as he accepts and realizes his consecration.
With Aaron and his sons it took place thus (Exodus 29): After being washed and clothed, they were anointed with the holy oil. Sacrifices were then offered, and with the blood the right ear, the right hand, and the right foot were touched. And then they and their garments were once again sprinkled with the blood and the oil together. And therefore as the child of God enters more fully into what THE BLOOD and THE SPIRIT, of which he already is partaker, are to him, that the power of the Holy Priesthood will work in him. The blood will take away all sense of unworthiness; the Spirit, all sense of unfitness.
Prayer: Holy Lord Jesus, accept and seal my consecration. Yes, Lord, lay Your hands on me, and consecrate me to this Your holy work.