In the Old Testament a special class of Israelites was set aside for the priesthood, viz: Aaron and his sons. In the New Testament ALL believers are priests. The apostle Peter wrote, " 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 " (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)). Again the apostle John wrote, " Unto Him that loved us, [literally; loves, N. Tr.] and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us Kings and priests [literally; a Kingdom, priests to His God and Father, N. Tr.] unto God and His Father " (Rev. 1:5,65And 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, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6)).
PRIESTHOOD FOR ALL BELIEVERS
The gift, which is special to the few, involves a ministry to MEN; the priest's,: to GOD, And this is the privilege of every Christian,
It is the privilege of each saint to, minister to God, which ministry finds expression in praise, thanksgiving, adoration and worship. The Lord said, " The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him " (John 4:2323But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23)).
How high and holy then is this privilege of approaching God the Father in worship! What manner of life becomes such but holy separation from the world and holiness in walk and ways.
It is true that enlightened Christians acknowlege that all true believers are priests. But it is just here that great confusion has come in. Nearly everywhere in Christendom we have the spectacle of a certain class being set aside for the priestly office.
There are degrees of assumption, the ritualists going to great lengths, calling a special class priests, clothing them in peculiar robes of which the New Testament knows nothing, giving them a place railed off (where the laity must not enter.
There is a simpler class among the free churches, styled ministers or pastors, dressing in an attire peculiar to themselves, styling themselves Reverend, an adjective only once used in scripture and applied only to God: " Holy and reverend is His name " (Psa. 111:99He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. (Psalm 111:9)).
What is the use of paying lip homage to the truth that all believers are priests, if by the creation of a certain class, who monopolize the spiritual activities that belong to the people of God generally, believers are thus practically deprived of their priesthood?
No clergyman or minister is consistent in admitting the priesthood of all believers, and yet continuing in a position that robs them of it, and assuming the position for himself and his class exclusively.
A SERIOUS WARNING.
We would speak seriously in this matter, for we believe it is just this condition of things that is so largely responsible for the confusion of Christendom, and the weakness of Christians generally.
Believers go to a so-called place of worship where this class system obtains. They are not expected to take audible part in the spiritual exercises. They go to receive what the clergyman or minister has to give them. They go without priestly exercise, for their priesthood is denied them practically. No wonder such believers do not grow in the things of God.
We freely admit that earnest, sincere and gifted men are found in the ministerial ranks, and that they are there often with a good, but an unenlightened conscience, and that the Lord uses them greatly in the salvation of the unsaved, and the help of His people.
But these cases now-a-days are, alas! be-coining the rare exception. They are nevertheless part of a system that is dragging things downwards, however much they may seek to stem the tide and mourn over the state of things, and however much God may use them in their own service.
THE PARABLES OF Matt. 13:24-4324Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. 31Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 34All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: 35That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. 36Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:24‑43).
The Lord's parables of the Kingdom of Heaven as given in Matt. 13 are most helpful, as being prophetic of the course of things since the inception of Christianity.
First there is the parable of the tares among the wheat. This sets forth the great device of the enemy in introducing unsaved professors where God only would have true possessors, vital believers. This is Satan's master stroke, leading to very obvious consequences.
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED.
The next parable, that of the mustard seed, sets forth the further device of the enemy, viz.: to persuade the Christian professors to seek world-recognition, political power, for a. place of greatness in this world.
Is this not the aim of some of the great religious bodies in the world to-day, notably of one in particular? Is it any wonder that unconverted professors of Christianity, knowing nothing vitally of a rejected Christ, knowing nothing of the true meaning of the twice-repeated words of our Savior, " They are not of the world even as I am not of the world " (John 17:1717Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17)), knowing nothing of the genius and power of Christianity,, should introduce worldly methods, and seek to be great in this world? So we have gorgeous buildings, ornate ritualism, imposing ceremonialism, high sounding titles, the seeking after political power and earthly aggrandizement-in short-a worldly religion in which the real is only kept alive, and in spite of this state of things, by the Spirit of God.
THE PARABLE OF THE WOMAN AND THE LEAVEN.
This prepares us for the next parable, that of the woman hiding the leaven in the three measures of meal till the whole was 'leavened, fit symbol of Satan using these unconverted professors and worldly Christians for the gradual leavening of the pure Bible doctrines with evil teaching. We see it in the Judaizing teachers, who imperiled the very foundations of Christianity; in the assertion that the resurrection was past already in the Apostle Paul's day; in the gnostic heresies and the presence of many antichrists in the Apostle John's day. We see it to-day alarmingly developed in Higher Criticism and Modernism, in the crank religions of the day, mostly of American origin.
We live in a day when the inspiration of the Bible is being openly derided, when men believe in a bestial origin of man as taught by evolution, and refuse the opening chapters of Genesis as a narration of facts, denying the fall, the virgin birth of Christ, the need of redemption. Even the resurrection of Christ is called in question.
LIVING IN A FOOL'S PARADISE.
Along with this, religious leaders get intellectually intoxicated, and dream ethical dreams of man's progress towards a golden millennium. whilst all the while Christendom is hurrying on towards the abyss of the apostasy, foretold by Scripture as the only possible result of drifting from the Bible.
It only needs the coming of the Lord to call away all the true believers to glory, leaving only the shell of an empty profession on earth, for the consummation of the apostasy to be an accomplished fact.
With the withdrawal of the true believers from the earth, the drag will be off the wheel of Christendom, the restraining influence of the Spirit of God will be withdrawn, and all that is shaping to-day will come to its terrible and full fruition.
Thoughtful Christians cannot but trace, in the setting aside of, a special class for the exercise of priesthood, results a good deal similar to what we have been tracing in the parables of the kingdom of heaven. The assumption of the ministerial office is great. It sets aside the ordering of the Holy Spirit of God in the assembly. 1 Cor. 12:11,11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:11) speaks of "dividing to every man severally as He will," but man's ordering sets this aside ruthlessly. It is to confine the activity of the Holy Spirit practically to one person.
How hampered must the divine activities be 1 Ministers ordained of men and not ordained of God, and when ordained of God hampered by the ordination of men, is indeed a lamentable spectacle. For any Christian to put himself under such a system is to voluntarily ignore the highest privilege given to him, viz., the priesthood of all believers.