The Priesthood Part II: What Am I To Do As A Priest In The Order Of Melchizedek?
God established a priesthood in order for man to “draw near to God” by establishing His Son, Jesus Christ, as the High Priest who is in the heavens interceding for the saints, His believers, His priests. He who is without sin paid the price for sin, and has been elevated above the heavens, sitting at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest FOREVER.
So if we, the believers in Jesus Christ, are of the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, what are we to do? What is our responsibilities, our duties? Unlike the Levitical system of priesthood, we no longer have to sacrifice animals on the altar for our sins, for Jesus has fulfilled that, and the Levitical system of animal sacrifice is archaic, thus not even practiced among the Jewish faith even today. Sounds like the priest under the Levitical system has been stripped of most of his duties.
The purpose of the priesthood is to have people who are willing to “draw near to God” and recognize what their High Priest has done and is doing to practice their calling.
What does it mean to “draw near to God”?
Intimacy: God not only wants a relationship with his people but an intimate one. When you hug someone, you draw them near your body, bring them as close to your heart as possible, and often intimately hold them there for a while cherishing the closeness. God wants a people he can surround with his loving arms embracing them, drawing them close to his very heartbeat, so they will not only recognize His heartbeat, but “know” it.
Worship: When one draws near to God, an immediate response occurs: one wants to give back to God what he has been given by God, for one realizes that we are only stewards of what he has given us. That is true worship. Abram, now wealthy, immediately gives 1/10 of what he has to Melchizedek as his response to God’s blessing.
Service: The giving back, the act of putting the sacrifice back on the altar, is exemplified through acts of service. Serving and giving are the same. Jesus came to earth, not to be served, but to serve, and his life became the supreme example to us from the washing of feet to obediently dying on the Cross. Priests by the order or Melchizedek are called to perpetually serve forever.
So God has set up a priesthood of believers in Jesus Christ, lead by His Holy Spirit, to be intimate with Him, worship him by giving back what He has already given them, and to serve in obedience. That is a far different priesthood than the Levitical priesthood bound by the Law, but not released by grace. We, the Church, need to reestablish this priesthood by the Order of Melchizedek back into the Body of Christ as it is meant to be.