Apostle George created a doc. 6 hrs 3 Priesthood types - 2.2 Levitical Order as a temporary Priesthood for a holding Covenant Let us take note of the reality that while the Nimrod Priesthood was ordained by humans for subduing and controlling others away from the purpose of the Most High, Yahweh Himself instituted the Levitical Order in and through Aaron for the purpose of ministry to Himself and the people. As we saw yesterday, the Levitical Priesthood was exclusive to males who descended from Aaron that needed to be adorned with special vestments for beauty and glory. The priesthood did not function in a vacuum but was executed alongside a number of features including a physical Tabernacle where the Presence of Yahweh dwelt among the people and sacrifices regularly were made for atonement of sins of the people who could not approach the divine Presence. It was a priesthood of honor which elevated the High Priest in the nation and set apart the priests from the people for acclaim. As the whole counsel of the Holy Scriptures reveal, the Levitical Priesthood was to be a temporary one of sinful mortal men standing in the gap for other sinful mortals of Hebrew stock in a Covenant that at best can be described as a holding or temporary one! To sum up this insight, let us receive this essential revelation granted the writer of the Book of Hebrews: Hebrews 5 (KJV)1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. For purposes of clarity, this temporary priesthood of a holding covenant manifested a number of structural defects. These include: A. The Defective priesthood of sinful men failed Yahweh at critical times The Levical Priesthood was severely defective, evidenced in the sinful nature of mortals who were called to it. Here is what happened with the Chief operators in its early days: 1. Nadab and Abihu in presumptuousness arising from familiarity with Yahweh, offered strange fire in making sacrifices. They were summarily dispatched to the world beyond! 2. Aaron the High Priest, in a fit of moral apoplexy, became a men pleaser when Yahweh needed him most when Moses was on the Mount. He acceded to the request of Israel to make them another god and the Golden Calf was created (Exodus 32). Three thousand people lost their lives to that act of folly. Aaron himself was found unfit to continue in office and had to be called out of this world. B. It had a defective Tabernacle of carnal structures that was subject to destruction The Tabernacle of witness, though beautiful to behold, was severely defective because it was made of perishable substances such as wood, animal skins, cloth. Even the decorations like gold and silverware could be and were routinely looted. The Tabernacle itself had to give way when Israel settled in the Promised Land. From Solomon to Herod: Building and rebuilding of Temples In the days of David, he felt scandalized that Yahweh had no good house while the King had a Palace. His desire to build a befitting edifice for the Most High was declined because of the many wars he fought. The onus fell on Solomon to build a magnificent edifice about 957 BC to house the Presence of Yahweh where He would meet with the people for ablution of their sins and worship. That edifice was destroyed by the Babylonians about 586 BC. It took Cyrus the Great to authorize building of the second temple about 538 BC which was completed by Governor Zerubabel during the reign of Darius the Great of the Medo-Persian empire on March 12 515 BC. (Dates are courtesy of Wikipedia) Various personalities from the Grecian-Macedonian and Roman empires defiled the Temple most especially Antiochus IV Epiphannes who committed the first abomination that made desolate when a statute of the Greek idol Zeus was erected in the temple and a pig was sacrificed to defile the altar. About 20 BC, Herod the Great, who was a Gentile imposed as ruler of the Jews, seeking to appease his subjects, commissioned a massive renovation of the Second Temple. The beautiful edifice was completed in 63 AD. C. Religion trumped Relationship Throughout history of the walk of Jews with Yahweh, one thing stood out: their hardness of heart and tendency to cling to rituals rather than relationship with Yahweh had turned their assumed worship in the temple into a ritual. If we recollect, the basis of the Old Covenant was that the people would honor Yahweh in sincere, genuine life of holiness unto Him so that He would make them His own peculiar people Exodus 19:5-6. As they lived in breach of this, the very symbols of their devotions namely the Temple which replaced the Tabernacle and the Aaronic Priesthood along with its clerical robes had become hollow. Yahweh allowed various things to happen to show that the Old Covenant had outlived its usefulness. The Priesthood of Melchizedeck was to usher in and mediate the New Covenant Though Israel got it wrong with Religion, Yahweh’s purpose did not change: He desired a Kingdom of Priests and kings on earth in intimate relationship with Him. The poor spiritual climate of Israel persisted until John the Baptist appeared on the scene, making a rather strange announcement. It was not a call for people to go to the Temple to offer sacrifices, but rather an invitation to encounter Yahweh afresh in the temple of their own hearts through repentance! Rather than lead them to the physical Temple, the people – small and great, including public servants and religious leaders – were drawn to John at River Jordan where he baptized the penitent in an act of humility, telling them to turn from their religious ways and rather bring forth fruits to show the inward work. Matthew 3:2 John was to ultimately introduce Yeshua as the Lamb of Yahweh who would take away the sins of the whole world, not just Israel. Yeshua was to make the way for a better covenant where they did not need animal sacrifices again but rather faith in the Blood that He would shed. Under this covenant, mankind was to re-capture the Kingdom lost in Adam and Eve! John 1:29. Yeshua was to pay the full price for the Sin of Adam and indeed of all humanity on the Cross of Calvary so that eternal life in Him would be freely bestowed on all who believed John 3:16; John 1:12. But He was not of the tribe of Levi but rather of Judah. He was introducing a paradigm shift that would mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new and better one. Born into the Kingly tribe of Judah, His Priesthood was after that of a unique personality called Melchizedeck as prophesied in Psalm 110:4. Hebrews 5:5-10 (KJV) 5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedeck. A New Covenant was birthed based on a New Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedeck which operated in a new type of Tabernacle: the heart of men. Hebrews 10:1-22 Hebrews 10:15-16 (KJV)15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; Superiority and precedence of the Melchizedeck Priesthood over the Levitical Order It is important that we understand clearly that the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedeck was clearly superior to and actually preceded that of Levi. If we take account that Abraham the great-great-grand father of Levi had encountered and received priestly ministry from Melchizedeck, a Priest and King centuries before, this point is a clear as crystal. If we proceed to understand that Melchizedeck was a Theophany of the Most High Himself, the picture becomes clearer that Elohim was re-introducing through Yeshua, His eternal, perfect priesthood into the earth realm! Hebrews 7:1-10 (KJV) 7 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. 4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. 5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: 6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. 7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. 8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. 9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. 10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. It is this eternal priesthood of the redeemed that Satan is fighting all the way to obsfucate! Last Word: Four significant events that sealed the lid on the Levitical Priesthood Let us take note that nothing happens without a divine purpose. These four things were allowed by Yahweh to signify that with the making of a new and living way, the old Levithical Priesthood which mediated the Old Covenant was perfectly fulfilled in Yeshua and ceased to have His approval: 1. Renting of veil in the Temple on day Yeshua died – Matthew 28:50-51; Hebrews 10:19-20 2. Destruction and desecration of the Temple in AD 70 by the invading Roman Army led by General Titus as Yeshua prophesied in Matthew 24 3. Ark of the Testament disappeared without trace till this day 4. Islam’s third holiest Mosque, the Dome on The Rock was built at site of Temple
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 17:46:06 +0000
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