Priest

Ezekiel 44:

15 But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to present to Me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord Jehovah,

16 It is they who will enter My sanctuary, and it is they who will come near to My table to minister to Me, and they will keep My charge.

17 And when they enter the gates of the inner court they shall be clothed with linen garments, and no wool will come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court and inside it.

18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and have linen trousers over their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.

All the believers in the New Testament are priests. This is our spiritual birthright. Though the reality remains the fact, the practicality of being a priest is not without conditions. As my Bible reading portion was on these verses, the Lord shown upon me to see something deeper and higher. Certain necessary conditions to be priest in practicality are:

1. Come near to Me to minister to Me : To live in the presence of God daily. There needs to be an exercise of coming to the Lord everyday through the exercise of the spirit through the word and through prayer. Many dear Christians have neglected this simple, basic yet crucial exercise, thereby, forfeiting the enjoyment of the spiritual birthright inherited of God. Time and again, my burden whenever I fellowship with the saints is this matter only, and ever it will be. How can a person be healthy without normal and proper eating and drinking of a healthy diet? None can break this natural law, so much the more, the spiritual law; of eating and drinking the Lord everyday. Our exercise to experience the Lord by eating and drinking Him is a ministering to Him. We can minister to God only what God has ministered to us. God minister to us when we eat and drink Him to enjoy Him.
2. Stand before Me to present to Me : Only after condition number one is fulfilled, can one be able to stand before God. Standing is a matter of readiness for service. Every spiritual service is the overflow of the enjoyment of the Lord's presence and His ministering into us as our life and life supply. Without being ministered we cannot minister, without being served by God by eating and drinking Him we cannot stand before Him to serve Him. The presents to be presented to God are "the fat and the blood". The fat signifies the preciousness of the person of Christ, our daily subjective experience and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. And the blood signifies the redemptive work of Christ through which we are saved, being saved and will be saved.
3. Enter the gates of the inner court : The inner court is the place of our priestly service. For this a proper attire is needed, "They shall have linen turbans on their heads and have linen trousers over their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat." Linen signifies a daily living and walk in the life-giving Spirit by the life of Christ which is pure, clean and fine. As a functioning priest, our living must be proper before God and before man. However, this is possible only by the Lord's life supply, therefore condition 1 and 2 must be fulfilled to be able to actually serve as priest. Moreover, one must be warned: No human effort is required to utilise. This is signified by the prohibition of the use of woolen garment that causes sweat. Our service to the Lord must be by the Spirit in the spirit by eating Him and drinking Him, not trying to do something for God and laboring and struggling in our soulish-natural man.
4. Prohibitions : Verse 20  They shall neither shave their heads, nor let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. This signifies the need for genuine humility before God and submitting to His authority, honoring His headship, giving no ground for pride, self-glory, self-dignity, ambition, position and leadership. Verse 21 And no priest shall drink wine when they enter the inner court.  This signifies, a functioning priest must be absolute for God and be separated and sanctified from all kinds of earthly enjoyment and pleasure. His sole enjoyment must be God Himself.  Verse 22 And they shall not take as their wives a widow or a divorced woman, but rather they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. This signifies a normal and proper humanity having a good relationship with others, being pure and of good testimony.
5. Inheritance : Verses 28-30 And they shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance. And you shall not give them a possession in Israel - I am their possession.  They shall eat the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every heave offering of everything, of all your heave offerings, shall be the priests'. You shall also give the priests the first of your dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house. God is the only sole inheritance of the serving priest. All the food supply and place for their living and service is God Himself. As a serving priest our true inheritance is the all-inclusive Christ with all He is.

What a blessing we have today as New Testament believers! Our spiritual birthright is to be priest and to function as priest we have all the life supply and inheritance of God in Christ as the Spirit! What a blessing! 

Lord, grace us ever to be functioning priest serving You in the inner court all the days of our lives.