The Consecration of the Priesthood of the Believer

The Priesthood of the believer of the New Covenant is an overwhelming truth. There are few who call themselves Christians that grasp the uniqueness of this position before a holy God and the overwhelming responsibilities that accompany this vocational calling, which in every aspect is what really defines the meaning of the word Christian. Sadly, even those who profess to believe in the Priesthood of all believers have very little understanding of the doctrine and the depth to which these truths are intended to manifest the grace of God through believer’s lives.

All believers of the Church Age live under the scrutinizing gaze of our High Priest Jesus Christ, Who is carefully examining all that we do, the motives of our heart, and the desires of our wills for anything that defiles us. He wants to bless us and use us to His glory and to the glory of the Father if we are simply willing to offer our lives as a burnt offering to Him every moment of every day. This is what defines consecration (Rom. 12:1-2). To merely acknowledge that our new life in Christ belongs to Him is not enough. We must actually live every moment of that new life completely to His glory by becoming “doers of the Word” (James 1:22).

“³ For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. ⁵ And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. ⁶ Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: . . . ¹¹ Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. ¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³ Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. ¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ¹⁵ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:3-6 & 11-16).

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is unique to believers living after the Day of Pentecost. Another unique aspect of this indwelling is that these New Covenant believers are all priests before God. Under the Mosaic Covenant, only the priests could approach God. After Pentecost and the beginning of the New Covenant every believer became a priest with direct, intimate access to the “throne of grace.” The “throne of grace” is the state of existence from which flows God’s blessings, fellowship, and spiritual empowerment (anointing) for ministry. Merrill F. Unger[1] provides some insight into “three elements” of the Mosaic Covenant priesthood from Numbers 16:5, which is typical of the New Covenant Priesthood “in Christ.”

“And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him” (Numbers 16:5).

“Moses furnishes us with the key to the idea of OT priesthood in Num. 16:5, which consists of three elements – being chosen or set apart for Jehovah as His own, being holy, and being allowed to come or bring near. The first expresses the fundamental condition, the second the qualification, the third the function of the priesthood.”

God initially intended for all of the children of Israel to be a kingdom of priests and to be able to come near and communicate directly with Him. Initially, the children of Israel agreed to this new arrangement that God proposed to them at Sinai.

“¹ In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. ² For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. ³ And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; ⁴ Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: ⁶ And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. ⁷ And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. ⁸ And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD” (Exodus 19:1-8).

This acceptance of God’s offer to be a kingdom of priests before Him was then followed by God speaking directly to them out of “the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking” (Ex. 20:18) giving to these people God’s expectations of them in what has come to be known as the Ten Commandments. The context of the giving of the Law to the children of Israel is to this kingdom of priests and what would define the qualification of holiness before the LORD in their service before Him. After God spoke to the children of Israel, they understood the extreme holiness of God and the extreme responsibilities that would be theirs as priest before Him after which they had second thoughts about their original agreement.

“¹⁸ And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. ¹⁹ And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. ²⁰ And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. ²¹ And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. ²² And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. ²³ Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. ²⁴ An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. ²⁵ And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. ²⁶ Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon” (Exodus 20:18-26).

The children of Israel were not wrong in being fearful of God. In fact, according to Exodus 20:20, showing Himself to the children of Israel in the way He did was to accomplish the purpose of them fearing God because they saw awe inspiring things of God that promoted their fear. Only a fool would see these things and hear the extreme expectations regarding personal holiness that God expected from His priests and walk away from that without trembling in fear, especially if they were not willing to serve God under the conditions He defined in the Ten Commandments. Therefore, the Ten Commandments were given especially to define the conditions of holiness that God requires of His priests before they can come before Him in service or ministry, offer sacrifices, offerings, or have fellowship with Him.

As Exodus 20:19 tells us, the children of Israel rescinded their acceptance of the enormous responsibilities of the priesthood and the privilege of direct communication with God. They asked Moses to communicate with God and that God no longer speak with them directly. They were asking for a mediator between them and God. As priests, being a mediator between Him and the world is what God wanted them to be. They were ALL to be God’s believer-priests through whom God would communicate to the lost world. Therefore, they were intended to be a nation/kingdom of prophets, priests, and evangelists of the grace of God that flowed from God through an intimate fellowship with them into all the world.

Granted, other than the books of Jonah and Nahum, there is little historical evidence that God had much concern with the lost world outside of the Jewish people. However, the books of Jonah and Nahum regarding the city of Nineveh should be sufficient evidence for us that God was stilled burdened by, and with, the Gentiles and their sinful practices by the fact He communicates with them through these two prophets. We must remember that after the Tower of Babel incident and the confounding of languages, the world was divided into warring city-states that sought the destruction of one another in most part. Each city-state would conquer other city-states, progressively and barbarously acquiring real estate, wealth, larger armies, slaves, and a pantheon of pagan gods (Henotheism). The kings of these evolving nations, as their nations grew into empires, began to be considered descendents of the gods and the idea of royal blood came into existence. The idea of absolute sovereignty of the kings developed in that their thoughts and words were considered divine, not merely human. Every word from their mouths was recorded by a Scribe as inspired of the gods. This political dynamic made evangelism almost impossible, but that does not mean there were not varying degrees of belief in Jehovah integrated within the pagan idolatry of these nations. This integrationism was common even among the Jews throughout most of their history.

It is clear from Isaiah that part of God’s plan in choosing the nation of Israel to be a kingdom of priests was intent upon the redemption of sinners from every nation in the world. However, it is also clear that because of the failure of Israel at Sinai to accept God’s commissioning of the nation as a kingdom of priests, God could not commission them to do so. Therefore, the Great Commission was put on hold until the beginning of the Church Age and the establishment of a New Priesthood in all Church Age believers as the new kingdom of priests as the Church Age transitions into the Kingdom Age.

“¹ The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. ² And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. ³ And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ⁴ And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ⁵ O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD” (Isaiah 2:1-5).

“²⁰ Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. ²¹ Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. ²² Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. ²³ I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. ²⁴ Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. ²⁵ In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory” (Isaiah 45:20-25).

Obviously, as we apply an inductive methodology to interpret these Scriptures from the perspective of God’s ultimate purpose through dispensational transitions, we can readily see the already, not yet perspective of the fulfillment of these prophecies in the priesthood of all believers in the Church Age and the giving of the Great Commission by Jesus Christ to all Church Age believers to be fulfilled, in part, during the Church Age. This is clear from the introductory verses in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

“¹ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: ² Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. ³ Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. ⁴ John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; ⁵ And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, ⁶ And hath made {Aorist, Active, Indicative} us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. ⁷ Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. ⁸ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:1-8).

Revelation 1:6 could be translated “hath made us a sovereignty of priests unto God and His Father.” The intent is to reflect Christ as High Priest and Supreme Sovereign (“King of kings”) over an order of priests who will sovereignly rule directly under Him, but with His sovereign authority delegated to them and through them.

“²⁶ And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: ²⁷ And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father” (Revelation 2:26-27).

This was God’s intent in the Age of the Law and the Mosaic Covenant to establish the nation of Israel as a Theocracy that would conquer the world and then rule the world as a “kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:5-6). Because the children of Israel rejected their call to all be priests before God, then God chose (elected) the tribe of Levi to be His priests. Two primary characteristics of God’s priesthood are communicated to us in Exodus 19:6 in the words “peculiar treasure” and “holy nation.” All of these words are used of Church Age believers in I Peter chapter 2.

“⁴ To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. ⁶ Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. ⁷ Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, ⁸ And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. ⁹ But ye {Church Age believers} are a chosen {eklektos; elect} generation, a royal {basileios; kingly or sovereign} priesthood, an holy {hagios; morally pure, set apart distinctively to serve the LORD, and nothing else, and fully consecrated to that purpose} nation, a peculiar {peripoiesis; a purchased possession} people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: ¹⁰ Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (I Peter 2:4-10).

One of the transitional issues of the Church Age was that this new priesthood that would become a worldwide sovereignty under the Supreme Sovereignty of Jesus Christ during the Kingdom Age would also be a tested and proven priesthood. This is the substance of what God is doing in believer’s lives during the Church Age; i.e., to test and prove believers BEFORE they are installed as a sovereignty of priests during the Kingdom Age. The Levitical priesthood was tried and found guilty of failure in preserving peculiarity and holiness. Therefore, they were disapproved or cast away. The Greek word used to translate this concept is adokimos.

“¹ This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. ² I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare: ³ Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. ⁴ For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. ⁵ Examine {peirazo; test or scrutinize} yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove {dokimazo; to test for genuineness and approval} your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates {adokimos; disapproved and rejected due to disingenuousness or pretense}? ⁶ But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates {adokimos; disapproved and rejected due to disingenuousness or pretense}” (II Corinthians 13:1-6).

“²⁴ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. ²⁵ And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. ²⁶ I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: ²⁷ But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway {adokimos; disapproved and rejected due to disingenuousness or pretense}” (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

“¹⁵ Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. ¹⁶ They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate {adokimos; disapproved and rejected due to disingenuousness or pretense}” (Titus 1:15-16).

An unfaithful believer will be cast away vocationally, as a priest, during his lifetime on earth for failure to maintain his practical sanctification, failure to be fully consecrated to serve the LORD in the “work of the ministry, and/or failure to study to learn the Word of God (II Tim. 2:15) so as to know how to do the “work of the ministry” as approved by God’s instruction book. However, the outcome of being cast away during our lifetimes is that we have also been disapproved for the priesthood of the Kingdom Age and will NOT rule and reign with Christs as a sovereignty of priests. Those who are disapproved and cast away will be like the unfaithful priests of Levitical priesthood, who will spend the Kingdom Age in shame.

“¹⁰ And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. ¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them {in shame; see vs. 13}. ¹² Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. ¹³ And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴ But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. ¹⁵ But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok {sons of righteousness or the justified ones}, that kept {guarded, protected, or preserved} the charge {custodial watch} of my sanctuary {dedicated or consecrated place or things} when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: ¹⁶ They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge” (Ezekiel 44:10-16).

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[1] Merrill F. Unger, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, R.K. Harrison, Editor, Howard F. Vos & Cyril J. Barber, Contributing Editors, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, Revised and Updated Edition 1988

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Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.

God’s Ordinances of Remembrance

“¹⁰ When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. ¹¹ Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: ¹² Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; ¹³ And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; ¹⁴ Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; ¹⁵ Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; ¹⁶ Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; ¹⁷ And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. ¹⁸ But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. ²⁰ As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 8:10-20).

Perhaps the greatest spiritual danger any believer faces in this “under the Sun” existence we call life is the danger in prosperity. It is not that prosperity itself is dangerous. Therefore, the danger is not a danger of prosperity, but the danger that lies in prosperity. The danger in prosperity is the danger of forgetting God and the foolish notion that prosperity is merely the outcome of your own great personal resources. This foolish notion leads foolish people into idol worship where they put themselves upon the idol’s pedestal expecting others to give them respect (another word for worship) for their accomplishments in life. Only God deserves worship. Although man may receive praise from others, and praise from God Himself, the wise man ALWAYS remembers who and what he is apart from God’s gracious workings in his life.

As spiritually wise people grow in prosperity, they also are wise enough to increase their efforts at maintaining their purity of worship and their purity of doctrine. Spiritually wise people also understand the absolute essential to increase involvement in the mechanisms God ordains in His Word to cause believers to remember Him, what He has done, and what He is doing. These mechanisms of remembrance that God ordains are called ordinances.

In the Old Testament, under the Mosaic Covenant, God had five main offerings/sacrifices and three main feasts all intent upon calling the believer to remembrance. The feasts were in different times of the year to remind Israel of God’s past workings to bring them to become a nation and to cause them to remember that all they had and all that they were was inseparably connected to the grace of God. Sadly, even in all of these ordinances of remembrance, the vast majority of the children of Israel reduced these ordinances to rituals and forgot God. Reducing the ordinances of remembrance to mere rituals is the natural outcome of having forgotten God.

As we look at the five Mosaic Covenant sacrifices and the three feasts of Israel, it is important to point out that none of the sacrifices or feasts were salvific in nature. In other words, participation in any of the sacrifices or any of the feasts did not provide anything for the person’s salvation. All the sacrifices and all the feasts were relative to a believer’s relationship with God and were physical ways for a believer to show God that he was genuinely concerned about the reality of his spiritual relationship with God and his walk before God’s eyes. In other words, participation was a physical acknowledgment before God and others (accountability) that the believer knew that God knew. We might go as far as to say that the believer’s participation was a public proclamation of faith and call to remembrance that said, “I know God sees all that I am and all that I do.” The offerings were offered on an Altar to God to signify something done before God’s eyes and in His presence.

(The following outline and general substance of content is from Leon J. Wood.[1] )

1. The Burnt Offering or the Offering of Consecration

(Lev. 1:5-17)

The Burnt Offering was made by the Priests for Israel as a nation (national consecration) and at the request of individuals (individual consecration). This was the primary offering for the consecration of Israel as a nation where a lamb was offering every morning and every evening during the days of the week and two lambs morning and evening on Sabbath Days. The numbers of Burnt Offerings increased on feast days. It portrayed complete consecration of the believer’s life in that the offering was completely consumed on the Altar.

Individuals could bring a Burnt Offering to signify their own individual consecration to God. Consecration always portrayed giving one’s life completely to the LORD. No one would have considered, or been allowed to, bringing a part of the animal as a Burnt Offering or requesting part of the animal to be returned after the offering. Secondly, only animals that were without blemished, or were not maimed in some way, were acceptable (Rom. 12:1-2).

In most cases, when individuals brought a Burnt Offering, it was for the purpose of restoration due to ceremonial uncleanness, breaking of a vow and rededication to faithfulness, or when a priest was consecrated to his service before the LORD. An individual could bring a lamb, goat, bullock, or ram as a Burnt Offering.

2. The Meal Offering or the Dedication of Material Possessions

(Lev. 2:1-16 & 6:14-23)

This was a bloodless offering and no animal was involved. This was a grain offering usually accompanied with oil, frankincense, and salt. The Meal Offering portrayed the complete dedication of a person’s material possessions to be used to the glory of God (I Cor. 10:31). The Meal Offering accompanied the Burnt Offering and was also completely consumed upon the Altar. The intent of this offering was to acknowledge before God that all a person’s possessions were from God and that to use those possessions for selfish purposes defiled those possessions and manifested that God had been forgotten.

3. The Sin Offering

(Lev. 4:1-35 & 6:24-30)

The Sin Offering was to acknowledge sins of ignorance that were not premeditated or deliberate (sins of deliberation resulted in being cast out of the Camp). Although Sin Offerings were regularly offered by the priests for the nation of Israel collectively during various feasts, these offerings were usually intent upon restoration of individuals to fellowship with God due to an individual’s momentary lapse of memory regarding God seeing and knowing all things. Spontaneous sins are often emotional responses to people or temptations.

The Sin Offering was intended to be sacrificial on the sinner’s part according to a person’s economic status. The idea was to reflect the fact that sin always cost more than we can afford and the impact of sin effects a very wide, perhaps immeasurable, realm of influence and even judgment/withdrawal of blessing upon the nation as a whole (compare I Cor. 11:29; “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation {judgment} to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body”). Even in this reality, the Sin Offering could be as insignificant as an ephah of flour for those in extreme poverty. In other words, restoration to fellowship and forgiveness of sin was never outside of the reach of anyone.

4. The Trespass Offering or the Offering of Restitution

(Lev. 5:1-6:7 & 7:1-7)

This offering was never made for the nation of Israel collectively. It was always an individual offering. This offering was required for various failures involving deceit or abuse of that which was sanctified (“holy”) to God. In most cases, the sinner had to restore what he had abused, plus a 20% monetary compensation, and offer a ram for a sacrifice (see Lev. 5:15, 17; 6:1-2; 14:12; 19:20-22; Num. 6:12). Again, this offering was for sins of ignorance that were not premeditated or deliberate (sins of deliberation resulted in being cast out of the Camp).

5. The Peace Offering

(Lev. 3:1-17; 7:11-34; 19:5-8; 22:21-25)

There were three types of Thank Offerings:

A. Thank Offering; given when a person received a special blessing from God

B. Votive Offering; given in payment of a vow

C. Freewill Offering; given to express one’s love and appreciation to God

A primary aspect of Peace Offerings is that the person giving the sacrificial animal would share in eating portions of the sacrifice to symbolize fellowship with God. To share a meal with someone was the most sincere and highest level of friendship and hospitality.

Obviously, all of these offerings were either about the restoration of fellowship with God that was broken due to failure or about deepening one’s fellowship with God through offerings reflexing one’s dedication to the Lord or one’s desire for deeper fellowship with the Lord. None of them had ANYTHING to do with the sinner’s salvation. In fact, only believers were allowed to participate. Those who habitually manifested a life of unbelief were either killed or cast out of the Congregation (Camp).

There were also three main remembrance feasts incorporated into Israel’s annual calendar. Every male of Israel was required to be present either at Shiloh when the Tent of Meeting was set up there, or at Jerusalem after the Temple was built.

1. The Passover along with the Feast of Unleavened Bread

(Ex. 12:1-13:10; Deut. 16:1-8)

This feast began the Jewish religious year, represented a new beginning, and was the most significant of all the memorial feasts. On Passover Day, that was followed by the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread, a memorial meal was eaten commemorating the original Passover Day in God’s deliverance (redemption) from Egyptian bondage. On the Day of Passover a perfect, unblemished lamb was killed and eaten together by each family. The Passover Day preceded the Sabbath day so that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the last day were both Sabbath Days. Numerous sacrifices were offered collectively by the priests for Israel during each day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is intricately and intimately connected to the Passover. For the seven days of this feast believers were not allowed to eat anything but unleavened bread. Leaven in the Bible is a picture of sin or corruption. These seven days were preoccupied with a complete examination for any leaven in one’s household and the removal of that leaven. The emphasis of the Feast of Unleavened Bread at the beginning of a new Jewish religious year was the careful and extensive examination for any sin within a household or individual’s life.

The Passover is replaced by the Lord’s Supper and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is replaced by careful, deliberate self-examination for any form of worldliness or defilement by the world in one’s life. The difference is that eating the Passover preceded the seven days of self-examination. In the Lord’s Supper, self-examination precedes eating and drinking. Paul refers to this self-examination in I Corinthians 11:27-33. Failure to self-examine and the failure to repent and remove any defilement is what constitutes “eating and drink unworthily.”

“²⁶ For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. ²⁷ Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. ²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. ³⁰ For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. ³¹ For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. ³² But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. ³³ Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another”(I Corinthians 11:26-33).

We cannot separate the Passover from its original emphasis in its type in the securing of the first-born by grace through faith. The promise of God in protecting the firstborn by the application of the blood of the Lamb to the lintel and doorposts of the household was not merely a promise to the Jewish household. The Egyptian household that applied the blood and ate the Lamb would also have been protected from the Death Angel as he passed over Egypt. The applied blood signified a household at rest and secured by faith in God’s promise.

2. The Feast of Weeks or Feast of Firstfruits culminating with the Day of Pentecost

(Ex. 23:16; Lev. 23:15-22; Num. 28:26-31; Deut. 16:9-12)

This was sometimes called the Feast of Pentecost in that the Day of Pentecost was the culmination of the Feast of Weeks and the emphasis of the feast. The Day of Pentecost typified this promised new, everlasting, eternal Day initially existing only in the Plan and Purpose of God through promise of the birth, holy life, death, burial, and resurrection/glorification of the Promised God/Man (the “last Adam”) extending from eternity past into eternity future. The original Day of Pentecost fell on the 50^th day after a seven week period (there are seven Dispensations or Days of New Beginnings revealed throughout Scripture), with each week ending on a Sabbath Day. This was the Day God gave Israel the Law through Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Day of Pentecost as part of the feast of Weeks (also called the Feast of Firstfruits) then always fell on the first day of a new week after this seven week cycle. It typified the New Eternal/Everlasting Day of “the regeneration.” Although all believers of all Ages (Dispensations) have been positionally integrated into this New Genesis, Christ Jesus was the first human being Who ACTUALLY became part of this Eternal Genesis through His resurrection/glorification (the “Firstborn”).

On the first day of the seven weeks of the Feast of Weeks, the ceremony began by waving a sheaf of grain before the LORD. This typified the first-fruit of the New Genesis, which was the resurrected/glorified Messiah (Jesus Christ) and the beginning of “the regeneration.” The following seven weeks (see the seven churches of Revelation) typified the harvest of the Church Age of the “church of the firstborn.”

The 50^th day was the Day of Pentecost typifying the culmination of the harvest of souls to God’s glory. On the Day of Pentecost two loaves were presented to the LORD made from the new harvest. These two loaves were baked with leaven representing the fact that the Church Age believers still possess a sin nature and throughout the Church Age would still live in corrupt bodies until their glorification. Therefore, a sin offering of a kid of a goat (Lev. 23:19) was commanded to be offered with the offering of the two loaves. In this sin offering there was a humbling of God’s people before Him regarding their own sinfulness and an acknowledgement before God of the need to daily enter into the spiritual struggle against outward temptations and the inward lusts of our own fallen natures.

3. The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)

(Ex. 23:16; Lev. 23:34-43; Deut. 16:13-15)

This commemorated Israel’s manner of living in tents or temporary tabernacles during their 40 year journey through the wilderness under both God’s chastisement and God’s blessed provisions. The Feast of Tabernacles was one weeklong in duration. By the end of the week a total of 71 bullocks, 15 rams, 105 lambs, and 8 goats were offered collectively for the children of Israel as sacrifices to the LORD.

The one all encompassing truth of all the sacrifices is that God knows and sees all sin. If a sinner understands that, he will also understand that, since God is holy and righteous, sin must be judged. There are two sides to the judgment of sin.

1. There is the judgment of sin, which is a death sentence upon all sinners that cannot be satisfied by anything or anyone but a perfect, righteous substitute. This is provided in the death, burial, and resurrection/glorification of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ and is offered to the sinner as a gift of grace received through faith (repent, believe, confess, call, and receive).

2. There is the self-judgment of sin by believers after they have been saved in order to avoid the chastisement of God upon their lives. This involves confession of sin, repentance from that sin, and seeking forgiveness from God. This, like all the Mosaic Covenant sacrifices, has nothing to do with being saved. This self-examination, self-judgment, repentance, and seeking God’s forgiveness through confession is about the believer’s fellowship with God.

A true New Covenant believer, like the true Old Covenant believer, understood that all the sacrifices were about self-examination and self-judgment in order to avoid God’s chastisement. True faith took these issues very serious.

[1]Leon J. Wood; A Survey of Israel’s History Revised & Enlarged Edition, Academie Books, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan Publishing House

Anonymous comments will not be allowed.
Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at:
http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/

Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.

The Outcomes of Pretentious Externalism

In the book of Revelation, in the seven epistles of Christ to the seven local churches, Christ uses the phrase “I know thy works” on seven different occasions (Rev. 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, & 15). In each case the word “know” is from the Greek word eido (i'-do), which literally means to see with the end result of eyewitness knowledge and in-depth understanding that comes with the knowledge of both the motives and the actions that comes from those motives. On three of the seven occasions where Christ says “I know thy works,” He is speaking of a good testimony (Rev. 2:2, 9, & 3:8). On the other four occasions He is speaking of actions and motives that are a bad testimony (Rev. 2:13, 19; 3:1, & 15). The point is that God knows!

Your testimony before people may be good because it is good. It may be good because they do not know everything there is to know about you (which is true of almost all of us). Your testimony may be good before men because you have manufactured one and your Christianity is really a façade, a pretense, and a stench before God. Your testimony before people may be bad because you live badly. If you live like a devil, do not expect people to treat you like a saint.

However, your testimony before God is what it is without anything hidden from Him including the motives of why you do what you do. Your motives are just as important to God as what you do. The point is that God knows! God sees into all your secret places. He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart. If you believe in that God, you would be wise to remind yourself that all facades, pretenses, and all forms of self-manufactured spirituality are immediately reduced to dust and ashes before the fire of His eyes.

The manifestation of pseudo-faith is nowhere more evident than it is in the history of the nation of Israel. The history of the nation of Israel, like the history of the Church Age, is a history of declension (deterioration or process of changing to an inferior state). The prophecies of Isaiah come to Israel at the end of this declension along with the end of God’s longsuffering with national Israel. Church Age believers should read Isaiah and Jeremiah with extreme carefulness, for we of the Church Age have fallen into the same declension. The primary characteristic of this history of declension is threefold:

1. The children of Israel forgot that God sees all and knows all.

2. The children of Israel took God’s blessings for granted and became ungrateful.

3. The children of Israel failed to maintain doctrinal purity, practical holiness, and began to sacrifice their distinctiveness for varying degrees of worldliness.

“¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. ² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. ³ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. ⁴ Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. ⁵ Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ⁶ From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. ⁷ Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. ⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. ⁹ Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. ¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. ¹¹ To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. ¹² When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? ¹³ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. ¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; ¹⁷ Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: ²⁰ But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:1-20).

The miraculous Exodus of Israel from Egypt took place in about 1491 B.C. (Ussher). During the 40 years in the Wilderness of Sin God revealed Himself in many miraculous ways while He purged out unbelief from the nation. Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua began in 1451 B.C.

Although Moses brought Israel out of bondage, Joshua led them into the Promised Land. Both Moses and Joshua are types of Christ; “And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers” (Deut 6:23). Obviously this physical redemption is typical of the spiritual redemption of Church Age believers. Salvation delivers us out from the bondage of a death sentence upon our souls and glorification delivers us into the end of our salvation in the eternal state of the New Genesis “in Christ.” The life that we now live in the flesh is to be lived in the power of the indwelling Christ just as Israel was to live separated from worldliness and unto God. Therefore, the book of Joshua parallels the epistle to the Ephesians and the warfare of the believer with the world and his own carnality.

After Moses death, for the next 26 years God would miraculously lead the children of Israel in victory over hundreds of city-states ending with Joshua’s death and the record of the nation of Israel confirming their faith covenant with God in Joshua chapter 24. Yet, in the very first chapter of the book of Judges, we find the record of the failure of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Manasseh to completely drive out the inhabitants of the Land as God commanded. On two occasions in the book of Judges we find that Israel’s problems were directly connected to their failure to maintain doctrinal purity and continuity in their lives. “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6 & 21:25). This began many years of compromise that would lead the nation of Israel into almost complete apostasy. This compromise led to two progressive outcomes:

1. God began to chastise the nation of Israel progressively (by withdrawing His presence) in individual tribes according to their compromise. Whatever their compromise was would also become their judgment.

“¹ And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. ² And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? ³ Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you” (Judges 2:1-3).

2. As individual tribes compromised, they became progressively more apostate. After the death of Joshua and the passing of one generation (about 20 years), the vast majority of Israel moved in a four phase sin cycle that was repeated over and over again in the various tribes throughout the nation of Israel.

“¹⁰ And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. ¹¹ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: ¹² And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. ¹³ And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵ Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed” (Judges 2:10-15).

Phase One of the Sin Cycle: Judges 2:11-13

This phase begins with apathy and complacency toward the things of God and His expectations of holiness and purity ending with the intermixing of pagan worship and heathen/worldly practices with the things of God. Eventually this progression would end with “forsaking” the Lord (vs. 12) and accepting total paganism and worldliness as each generation allowed a little more of God’s absolutes to slip through their fingers.

From where does such obvious and manifest unbelief come? According to what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1, it begins with failing to glorify God as God and with thanklessness. If you are ungrateful for what you have as a Christian, you have forgotten from whence you have come.

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified {esteemed/honored/magnified} him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain {morally wicked} in their imaginations {thought life}, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).

Phase Two of the Sin Cycle: Judges 2:14

Once they began to move away from purity and holiness (separation), God’s chastisement would come upon them to the degree necessary to turn them back to Him and His truths (repentance). In this second phase, God’s hand of protection and blessing is withdrawn. It was God’s intention to prove to His people that they could not survive without His help.

Phase Three of the Sin Cycle: Judges 2:18

Once the people were under the chastisement of God, oppressed, and put into slavery, they would begin to remember the God they professed to know and worship. They would begin to cry out to Him in prayerful repentance. God would hear their cries and groanings and have mercy on them. I always find it amazing to see what God has to do in peoples’ lives to get them to remember Him and cry out to Him in prayer for deliverance. When you decline into a life of sin, remember God, and then remember the only prayer from you He is interested in answering is a prayer of repentance that begins with asking for forgiveness for forgetting Him.

Phase Four of the Sin Cycle: Judges 2:16

In this phase, God would raise up Judges to deliver them out of bondage and lead them back to righteousness, holiness, and purity. According to Judges 2:19, we find the repetition of this cycle throughout the book of Judges and throughout the Old Testament. (This cycle is also true of Church Age believers as well.)

“And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way” (Judges 2:19).

The prophecies of Isaiah began around 760 B.C. (about 645 years after Joshua and the end of the book of Judges about 1406 B.C.). From the end of the book of Judges, Israel’s history is one of increasing compromise and God’s longsuffering grace. Although there were occasional flickers of revival under a few of Israel’s kings, the vast majority of Israel’s history is that of a corrupt priesthood, false prophets, and selfish monarchies. It is an amazing testimony to God’s loving grace that He suffered them as long as He did.

Anonymous comments will not be allowed.
Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at:
http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/

Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.