Priesthood

What a terrible movie!

Know what I hate?

Rules!

They’re lame and even though I would consider myself more law-abiding than not, whenever someone tells me to do something there is a little spark of anger that rises up inside of me and rebels.

This, in conjunction with my lack of credentials would make me a terrible, terrible priest.

Old Testament priest, that is.

There are an awful lot of rules that you need to follow to be a priest!

These rules start before you’re even born!

I’d like you to meet stick man Dan. Now stick man Dan is an Israelite. He can trace his genealogy back to the tribe of Benjamin. He cannot be a priest.

Now meet stick man Mark. He is also an Israelite. He is from the tribe of Levi…things are looking good so far! Except stick man Mark is from the descendants of Moses. No priesthood for stick man Mark!

Last, but certainly not least I would like you to meet stick man Chaim. Stick man Chaim is also an Israelite, and like stick man Mark is from the tribe of Levi. There is one slight difference between stickmen Mark and Chaim, however, as stick man Chaim is from the line of Aaron so BOOM he’s a part of the priesthood!

Seems like a weird ruling right? Let’s go way back and see why this is the case!

By way back I mean the tale of the golden calf, which tells us about how the Levites were rewarded with the promise of service to God.   For doing what God told them they were promised a life of prestige and special rewards. A life that would be spent serving God and following his rules.

Now our friend Chaim was a good Jewish boy. He met all the requirements to be a priest. He was 32 years old, never trimmed his beard and all his body parts were shaped as they ought to be.

Reading through some of the requirements for priesthood in the Old Testament makes a person wonder how anyone could attain the level of perfection expected for this position. To serve as God’s holy elect was a huge responsibility! You were expected to live a life as close to God’s as possible! Perfection wasn’t just suggested, it was required! Unless you could live up to the specifications as they were laid out, your blood wasn’t enough to carry you through.

As Christians, this doesn’t come as a shock to us. We realize that we are completely reliant on the blood of someone more important to us to bring us to be part of this priesthood.

1 Peter 2:5-9 declares us to be part of the royal priesthood. It calls us a chosen people and gives a description of what we are expected to do in this position. But even as we go forth in this priesthood, we do so knowing that it’s not because of the perfection that we’ve obtained by our own works. We are able to serve God only because of the high priest who has already prepared the way for us. Unlike the priest of the Old Testament who spent every day in fear of their inability to maintain the perfection required to mediate between man and God, we can give thanks that our high priest has given us the perfection needed to stand before God and to proclaim the greatness of his name to all people.