#261 Kingdom: The New Order of Priests

One of the things we recognize about the Kingdom is that it is God’s ultimate authority. It is the absolute of everything, that is past, present and future. It does not need the endorsement of anyone and is beyond human control or adjustment. It is not able to be compromised and is not negotiated. The Kingdom stands by God’s own sovereignty and is fixed in its attributes. It stands by itself and is its own authority to govern. There is no higher law in the universe.

Dictionary; absolute >adjective (1) not qualified or diminished in any way; total. (2) having unlimited power: an absolute ruler. (3) not relative or comparative: absolute moral principles. (4) Law ;final. >noun Philosophy a value or principle which is universally valid or able to be viewed without relation to other things.

Since the Kingdom is of another realm and is from that spiritual dimension of “heaven” it may not relate well to the natural man who will look for compromise or a plea bargain or an escape clause. In the Kingdom we are either for Him or we are against Him. We either gather with Him or we are scattering. There is no “gray area” where the lukewarm can function. For that reason they must be vomited out of the Kingdom. In the Kingdom, that which is classified as “wheat” can be gathered into His barns but the angels are sent to remove all the “tares” and cast them into the fire. There is no gray area between wheat and the tares. We are either one or the other.

The Kingdom Laws and God’s demands will supercede all opinions, concepts, traditions, cultures and religious programs and will always stand in its inflexible position as God’s Absolute. In His Kingdom His slightest desires WILL be done on earth in the same way it is being done in heaven without any compromise. But ,Brother, isn’t that too hard? Is there no room for God’s mercy and grace? There may be but it is not in His absolute Kingdom government. In His government God demands “perfection.”

Well, Brother, no one is perfect! That may be true but God has extended His grace and mercy today and given us the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit and put His laws in our mind and written them upon our heart. He is willing to cause us to walk in His ways so we are careful to keep His statutes and ordinances and do them. God is now at work in us, both to will and to do His good pleasure and it is Christ in us our hope of Glory. Therefore, is there a valid excuse for not being perfect, mature and complete?

In other words seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. [2 Pet 1:3]

Since God has provided everything for us by His grace and mercy what possible excuse can we use to justify our lukewarmness and casual response? The best excuse is “But I didn’t know.” Of course now that we do know that won’t work! In addition to that He has given us the scriptures so we wouldn’t be ignorant. The scriptures have not hidden the demands of the Kingdom! This has been the work of the church to confuse the message of the Kingdom and insist the Kingdom is not for us.

Heb 7:11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? [12] For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

The temporary priesthood after the order of Aaron was changed and the eternal and permanent priesthood was established along with the New Covenant. The former priesthood was objective or external and was carried on by men that were not perfect. Therefore, they couldn’t bring anyone to perfection.

Under the Old Covenant, the law was objective or external and required the best human effort to keep its laws. The law was worthless to change man from what he is to what he must become to participate in the Kingdom.

Heb 10:1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

HEB 7:18 For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment [the Old Covenant] because of its weakness and uselessness [19] (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

Heb 7: 15] And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, [16] who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. [17] For it is witnessed of Him, “THOU ART A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”

Without adding all the scriptures concerning the provision in the New Covenant to bring us to perfection, we want to focus in upon this “‘new’ priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.”

It is this original priesthood of Melchizedek [because He predated the priesthood of Aaron and is eternal] can now bring us to perfection! The interesting thing is that this eternal priesthood is the same priesthood to which we have all been called. How do we know that? Because that is the only priesthood that exists today and it is the ONLY priesthood that are also Kings. The New Covenant priesthood is made up of kings and priests or a Kingdom of priests. The former priesthood [after the order of Aaron] has been done away with because it couldn’t perfect anyone.

Since we all have been assigned to this eternal priesthood, one of our duties will be to bring the [Lampstand] church to perfection. Since the Outer Court ministries of Apostles, Prophets etc. couldn’t bring the church to the perfection of Ephesians 4:11 it must surely be replaced with the Priesthood ministries after the order of Melchizedek. According to these scriptures in Hebrews 7- 8 & 9 all New Covenant ministry should have always been functioning as a Kingdom of priests. That means that the fivefold ministries should have first become kings and priests before they attempted to bring the church to perfection. It could be for that reason that they failed and turned to carnal hype and fake impartation.

[My theory is that it is time for the real and eternal priesthood ministry to begin to function.]

While the Outer Court ministries may still be identified as the “five-fold ministries” their source of ministry must be from the Holy Place priesthood Life and ministry to God. That should solve the carnal hype problem along with the fake impartation. The illumination of the Spirit of the Knowledge and fear of the Lord will do wonders for pretend ministry.

Isa 11: 2] And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. [3] And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; [4] But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. [5] Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

This is the description of the ones that function under the Illumination of the seven Spirits of God.

When the seven Spirits of God fully illuminate the ministry AND the Life in the Holy Place that will certainly have a profound effect upon the Outer Court ministry. Trying to heal the rebellious by the use of a gift will be replaced with TRUTH for the purpose of correction, perfection and maturity and not just healing for the body or a new doctrine. For that reason we must fully understand the next dimension of priesthood ministry. Most of us have lost confidence in the Outer Court ministries to bring us to the perfection of the one Perfect Man.

Therefore, to understand the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek we must first understand Melchizedek and then understand how Jesus demonstrated that priesthood. Jesus was the first priest of the New Covenant that took up His priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. Therefore, He became the High Priest! We may also understand something of the king/priest from the “type” that was revealed prophetically in David. Of course this is still a type and shadow and not the real thing.

John 18:33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” [34] Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” [35] Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You done?” [36] Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” [37] Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.

The fact that Jesus is God’s Messiah / king is a well accepted fact. Many will also acknowledge that Jesus was appointed a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Not so many see Jesus in His eternal role as King / Priest who is the Head of a whole priesthood of manifested sons of God. { the priesthood is made up of the High Priest and His sons} These all being overcomers and those who qualify for the Kingdom and have developed to the perfection of priests who will rule as kings in the same character as Jesus.

Let us see what we can learn about this original King / Priest whose name is Melchizedek.

First let us understand that God swore and will not change His mind that our Lord would fulfill this oath and promise.

Heb 6: 16] For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. [17] In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, [18] in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. [19] This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, [20] where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Psalms 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet.” [2] The LORD will stretch forth Thy strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Thine enemies.” [3] Thy people will volunteer freely in the day of Thy power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Thy youth are to Thee as the dew.

Psalms 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,”Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” [5] The Lord is at Thy right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. [6] He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. [7] He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.

There is so much revelation in Psalms 110 that we can’t cover very much in this short paper. We see that Jesus is sitting at the Father’s right hand and will until every enemy is conquered. We see a volunteer army rising up in the day of His power. His judgement will cover the nations. Those who resist will become corpses. The Lord Jesus Christ has been now appointed as High Priest over a whole priesthood of young overcomers. This is a warring priesthood that will at last be effective against the enemies of God.

This next realm within the Holy Place will be “a state of being” and not just “a state of doing.” This state will be a manifestation of His Life. Every one of us was born into the wrong “tribe” to become priests. We were born into the tribe of the first Adam. For that reason we must die, be buried and be resurrected into the “tribe of the Last Adam” and take our place as the sons of God. {sons of the High Priest}! [ not just in the general tribe of the Levites but into the tribe of the High Priest] This is the reason that we link the manifested sons with the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek and tie that into the Consecration Offering.

It is my opinion that this “restored priesthood” is at the very heart of God’s eternal purpose as He moves the church into this next restoration of the Lampstand My theory is that the Kingdom on earth will require this Kingdom of priests for the manifestation of the Kingdom of heaven. on earth. No priest within the Kingdom can be rebellious against the government and laws of the Kingdom. Any priest that is “lawless” will be cut off from the Kingdom.

Lev 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. [2] And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. [3] Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’”

Sensitivity to the plan, the purpose and the laws of God will be very important in the Holy Place ministry. Just to be numbered among the priests and be sons of the High Priest is no protection if we are sloppy about the ministry to the Lord.

Heb 7: 1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, [2] to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. [3] Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he abides a priest perpetually.

The attributes of King Melchizedek are the attributes of this “priesthood ministry” that is being restored on a large scale [a corporate priesthood] in our lifetime. It will establish “righteousness and peace” first within the Lampstand church and then to the nations.

Luke 14:25 Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said

to them, [26] “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and

wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. [27] “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be disciple.

This priesthood is totally given to God, originates in God and has no spiritual genealogy on earth. This priesthood was established before the foundation of the earth and has no beginning of days or end of Life. This priesthood is willing to forsake its own life to participate in the power of this indestructible Life of Christ, our High Priest. Full consecration then is a requirement.

This issue of priesthood and “His indestructible Life” is a little confusing so we should clear up the objections. In Roman 5:10 we see For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Salvation is by His Life in us! Rom 5: 9] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Forgiveness of sins is through faith in His blood. The question is if there are “degrees of His Life” that we may experience?

Rom 6: 20] For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. [21] Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. [22] But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

We see there is another dimension of His Life that we experience in the Consecration Offering when we surrender ourselves to Him as bondservants. This order of the eternal priesthood, that will be the rulers with Christ, will function out of the power of an indestructible Life. It is in the quality and permanency of this Life that establishes this priesthood in “perfection.” We might say that it is this LIFE that identifies the eternal priesthood. But doesn’t every child of God have His life? Yes! Still, this king / priest ministry has entered into the power, the experience and permanency of His degree of Life.

Adam had “the breath of life” that came from God but he still must “eat from the tree of life” to obtain eternal life. For Adam to complete the purpose for which he was created he must possess this higher life from the Tree of Life. It was out of this higher life that he could rule over the earth.

Jesus breathed into His disciples in John 20:22 and they received Holy Breath. They received “His life.” Still, unless they ate His flesh and drank His blood they couldn’t complete their calling to rule with Christ by this higher, endless, indestructible, indissoluble Life. It is this Life that identifies and qualifies the eternal priesthood. This Life has no source on earth, no genealogy, no beginning of days and no end of life but made like the Son of God ,holds the priesthood permanently!

Because of the essential nature of this ONLY priesthood ministry that exists today and because this seems to be the next restoration, we should continue to search out this truth. Knowing about the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek is not the same thing as entering behind the veil and ministering to God through this higher priesthood.

David is a type but we must search out and experience the reality. David ate the Showbread and gave to his men and they ate. David sat before the Ark of His Presence and became the Altar of Incense that we see in Hebrews 9: 3-4. This Altar is behind the Second Veil that was only accessible to the High Priest. Yet David sat there to minister to the Lord!