Believe in His Priesthood

[RandyK]

Belief in the Son of Man.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus as the "Son of Man?" Well let's take a different way of looking at it, as opposed to the conventional evangelical approach. Let's look at it through the lens of the Tabernacle structure in the OT Law.

Let's say you, as a common Israelite, choose to accept the Covenant of God's Law, and accept His rituals of the priesthood and the Tabernacle. You believe in what the High Priest and the other priests are doing. They are dressed up in regalia to depict what Christ, our High Priest, will do under the New Covenant.

We believe that the priests, dressed in white linen, approach the burnt altar, and present our fallen carnal lives, destined to death, to a ritual of sacrifice designed to bring atonement for us. You and I died there and leave it in the priest's hands to further reach out to God for mercy on His Mercy Seat.

Following the Altar the priest washes away the blood at the Laver and becomes clean on our behalf, presenting himself as an object of faith for us in our uncleanness. Following this the priest enters into the Tabernacle and the Holy Place, where he enjoys the light of God's Presence and the food on the Table of Bread. Vicariously, the old man (us), being dead, enters into new life in the Holy Place and experience, along with the priest, the light and food of God's word and presence.

As the priest continues on to the Altar of Incense, our death is once again confirmed, and our new life, lived vicariously through the priest, offers the aroma of praise and prayer to God, pleasing God. The New Life we experience in this priesthood is here in the Holy Place after we left our old lives outside at the Burnt Altar and got cleaned up for entry at the Laver.

But it is the High Priest who alone enters into the Holy of Holies and the Ark of God's Covenant. It displays the fact that though there were these limitations under the Old Covenant, once the Veil is torn, a New Covenant takes effect through a different kind of High Priest, the Messiah Jesus.

And now we live vicariously through him, believing that he went through these various stages in the New Covenant sense, ultimately tearing the veil and introducing in himself the New Covenant of Eternal Salvation. Whereas the Old Covenant only brought a temporary reprieve, it was all intended to prepare the way for the means to Eternal Life.

This is sort of what Jesus meant when he called upon us to "believe in him." He wants us to believe in his priesthood under the New Covenant so that we may enjoy, through him, Eternal Life. We now live in a New Testament "Holy Place," and give the Light of our New life to others.

And we partake of the Bread of Life from Christ, our High Priest, to enjoy his spiritual life every day. We can emit this light ourselves, and also feed others, now that we've become priests, of a kind, having entered into Christ, our substitute High Priest. Then we can acknowledge that our Life comes from Christ, to whom alone belongs all of the Glory.

 

[Hidden In Him]

And we partake of the Bread of Life from Christ, our High Priest, to enjoy his spiritual life every day. We can emit this light ourselves, and also feed others, now that we've become priests, of a kind, having entered into Christ, our substitute High Priest. Then we can acknowledge that our Life comes from Christ, to whom alone belongs all of the Glory.

And in Him we live and move and have our being.

Let me qualify with one thing, Randy. Something triggered this in what you said, and let me find it...

As the priest continues on to the Altar of Incense, our death is once again confirmed, and our new life, lived vicariously through the priest, offers the aroma of praise and prayer to God, pleasing God. The New Life we experience in this priesthood is here in the Holy Place after we left our old lives outside at the Burnt Altar and got cleaned up for entry at the Laver.

This paragraph. I agree that ultimately we are called to die to self ever more completely, until it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us, and manifests Himself out through us completely. But Paul said in one place that we are in the process of "working out our salvation with fear and trembling." I believe all of us who belong to Christ are on a road that leads to perfect surrender, but not all have attained to it yet. We are all approaching it to various degrees.

I say that because one can get the false notion that he does not truly "abide in Christ" unless he has been completely perfected, and I don't see that as the qualification on 1st John. Rather we are told we can bring our sins which weigh upon us to the throne of God and receive grace in a time of need. I believe many are in the stage where the Lord can speak through them one minute, yet they can turn around and speak in the flesh the next, making thing harder to sort things out for all concerned.

What are your thoughts on that in relation to the OP?

Blessings,
- H

 

[RandyK]

And in Him we live and move and have our being.

Let me qualify with one thing, Randy. Something triggered this in what you said, and let me find it...


This paragraph. I agree that ultimately we are called to die to self ever more completely, until it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us, and manifests Himself out through us completely. But Paul said in one place that we are in the process of "working out our salvation with fear and trembling." I believe all of us who belong to Christ are on a road that leads to perfect surrender, but not all have attained to it yet. We are all approaching it to various degrees.

I agree. I feel like I'm virtually plagiarizing Maureen Gaglardi, although I take liberties and really are expressing some of her views as I prefer to read them.

I read her book on the Tabernacle, the "Path of the Just," as I recall, back in 1972. But I can talk about what I mean to say, and I'm completely in agreement with you--dying to ourselves doesn't mean we're already perfected.

It just means that we put our faith in Christ, who has given us grace to live in accordance with his life. We don't do this perfectly, because we still live in the flawed "flesh." But we can persevere and overcome Satan's attempts to disqualify us from access to this life.

Legally, our sins committed under our old carnal life is "dead," from the point we put our faith in Christ as our substitute and source. By that I mean that Satan's prosecutorial legal case is dead, in his attempt to disqualify our access to Christ's life. So we can persevere making access to Christ's life, through the grace Christ won for us at the Cross.

It is at the point we choose to believe in Christ as the High Priest of our New Covenant with God that we end Satan's legal case against us, and we then have access to the spiritual life that Christ died to buy for us. What can prohibit our access to Christ and to His Salvation? Nothing.

I say that because one can get the false notion that he does not truly "abide in Christ" unless he has been completely perfected, and I don't see that as the qualification on 1st John. Rather we are told we can bring our sins which weigh upon us to the throne of God and receive grace in a time of need. I believe many are in the stage where the Lord can speak through them one minute, yet they can turn around and speak in the flesh the next, making thing harder to sort things out for all concerned.

Preach it! I'm 100% on board with this!

What are your thoughts on that in relation to the OP?

Blessings,
- H

I agree with Gaglardi that the Tabernacle represented to Israel their hope in God. They were cut off from God by the Tabernacle fence, curtains, and veil, just as Adam and Eve were cut off from the Garden by the angels. But God gave Moses this Tabernacle to show that the priesthood could enter in, though only in a temporary way. Eternal Life was not yet available, although spiritual life was indeed available at that time.

When Christ came as the fulfillment to this priestly pattern, he came to accomplish what God had given Israel to hope in--the promise of Eternal Life. And the Tabernacle showed, in its pattern, the path of our own priesthood under the New Covenant, in which we enter into Christ by faith in his priesthood, and then pass through these various steps in our walk with God.

We leave our old life at the burnt altar. We cleanse ourselves from daily work that is flawed at the laver. We enter into the Holy Place, showing that we have entered into the life of Christ, which is Eternal Life, because they veil separating the Holy Place from the ark in the Holy of Holies has been ripped.

In our Salvation experience, we are a light to the world, to invite them to enjoy the life of Christ with us. And we offer bread to the world in the form of God's word, just as Christ gave his word of life to us.

Finally, we please God in our good works, done through Christ, at the altar of incense. Our words and our new life works are pleasing to God, and carry into the Holy of Holies, where our "deeds follow us."

 

[Hidden In Him]

Legally, our sins committed under our old carnal life is "dead," from the point we put our faith in Christ as our substitute and source. By that I mean that Satan's prosecutorial legal case is dead, in his attempt to disqualify our access to Christ's life. So we can persevere making access to Christ's life, through the grace Christ won for us at the Cross.

Exceptionally well put!

agree with Gaglardi that the Tabernacle represented to Israel their hope in God. They were cut off from God by the Tabernacle fence, curtains, and veil, just as Adam and Eve were cut off from the Garden by the angels. But God gave Moses this Tabernacle to show that the priesthood could enter in, though only in a temporary way. Eternal Life was not yet available, although spiritual life was indeed available at that time.

When Christ came as the fulfillment to this priestly pattern, he came to accomplish what God had given Israel to hope in--the promise of Eternal Life. And the Tabernacle showed, in its pattern, the path of our own priesthood under the New Covenant, in which we enter into Christ by faith in his priesthood, and then pass through these various steps in our walk with God.

We leave our old life at the burnt altar. We cleanse ourselves from daily work that is flawed at the laver. We enter into the Holy Place, showing that we have entered into the life of Christ, which is Eternal Life, because they veil separating the Holy Place from the ark in the Holy of Holies has been ripped.

In our Salvation experience, we are a light to the world, to invite them to enjoy the life of Christ with us. And we offer bread to the world in the form of God's word, just as Christ gave his word of life to us.

Finally, we please God in our good works, done through Christ, at the altar of incense. Our words and our new life works are pleasing to God, and carry into the Holy of Holies, where our "deeds follow us."

It's a very powerful teaching, and humbling in a way, isn't it? It calls the reader to enter fully into Christ, and shows you how far you truly have to go still.

I've experienced a type of dying to self lately, but I'm not there yet. Still seeking to "fill out" in Christ completely, through ever greater service to Him especially. But still working it out with fear and trembling. I know fully well based on several visions given to the church that He requires the full sacrifice of ourselves, and I certainly don't want to fall short.

So thanks for this word. It's exceptionally strong.

Would you consider moving this thread out of Pentecostalism into Theology perhaps? It's not strictly a Pentecostal revelation. It's a revelation the whole church should be meditating on, and I think you might get ore views and possibly more responses if we were to move it. Just a suggestion.
- H

 

[RandyK]

Exceptionally well put!


It's a very powerful teaching, and humbling in a way, isn't it? It calls the reader to enter fully into Christ, and shows you how far you truly have to go still.

I've experienced a type of dying to self lately, but I'm not there yet. Still seeking to "fill out" in Christ completely, through ever greater service to Him especially. But still working it out with fear and trembling. I know fully well based on several visions given to the church that He requires the full sacrifice of ourselves, and I certainly don't want to fall short.

So thanks for this word. It's exceptionally strong.

Would you consider moving this thread out of Pentecostalism into Theology perhaps? It's not strictly a Pentecostal revelation. It's a revelation the whole church should be meditating on, and I think you might get ore views and possibly more responses if we were to move it. Just a suggestion.
- H

That's so kind of you brother. I feel sure I've shared this kind of thing in a number of places, but I'm so dependant on the Lord to give me clarity. I'm so glad I came across okay this time!