The Necessary Continuation Of The Priesthood During The Day Of The Lord

The Necessary Continuation of the Priesthood During the Day of the Lord

From the days of Melchizidek in Genesis 14 who is the first priest unto God mentioned in Scripture who received tithes of the patriarch of the Jews, Abram, unto the the last Millennial priest of the Levitical priesthood which is recorded in Ezekiel 44, the Lord has and always will require human mediators as indicated throughout the Biblical record:

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he [Abram] gave him [Melchizedek] tithes of all.” (Genesis 14:18-20)

During the pre-Levitical priesthood days of Melchizedek, God utilized this Gentile king of Jerusalem to be His mediator. However, it appears that He also raised up certain priests among those who came out of Egypt during the early pre-Levitical priesthood days of the Exodus before He gave the Law to the Jews:

“And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them…but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest He break forth upon them.” (Exodus 19:22, 24)

But, when the Lord Jesus Christ offered up Himself as God’s Sacrifice for the sin of mankind on the Cross, He became the One and only Great High Priest after the eternal order of the priest Melchizidek.(Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 4:14, 5:6, 10, 6:20, 7:11, 7:26-28)

The Lord Jesus Christ is presently “set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1) where he intercedes continually for His own:

“He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

However, not only did He become this one and only Great High Priest unto God, but, He in fact has, through His great sacrifice for sins, raised up a holy nation and royal kingdom of priests (I Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 1:6, 5:10; 20:6) which is at the very heart of His redemptive purpose.

His work on the Cross has resulted in making every believer a priest unto God fulfilling the original desire of God the Father for each individual Israelite:

“And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou [Moses] shall speak unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus 19:6)

God the Father has sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to atone for the sin of mankind and in the process He, the Lord Jesus Christ, has raised up this holy nation and kingdom of priests in order to bring the pass the very purposes of God on earth as this great company of believers in direct communication with Him pray down His grace and mercy upon those whom God wills!

In order to continue this most necessary kingdom of priests after the saints are raptured God will seal 144 Thousand sons of Israel (Revelation 7:1-8) who will continue to be His “kingdom of priests” and “holy nation” during the Day of the Lord when He judges the earth and purifies those Israelites (Zechariah 13:8, 9) who will be saved at the end of the 70th Week of Daniel (Isaiah 59:20; Romans 11:25, 26).

Even though the 70th Week of Daniel will be the time when the Lord once again deals with Israel as a nation (Daniel 9:24) under the restored (Matthew 17:11) Old Covenant (Daniel 11:28-32), the Levitical priesthood will not be active during the Day of the Lord for the tribe of Levi is mentioned in the list of the twelve tribes that are sealed as part of the 144 Thousand which indicates they will not be performing the duties as priests but will instead be believer-priests along with the other tribes.

The Levites were not listed with the other tribes in the book of Numbers:

“But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying: Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.” (Numbers 1:47-50)

They were selected by the Lord instead of the firstborn of Israel:

“And thou shalt take the Levites for Me (I am the Lord) instead of all the first born among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel. (Numbers 3:41)