#484 – Consecration of the Priests – Part 2: Both the Inner Man and the Outer Man

We started this paper in the last study but the study was too long for one paper so this will be the second part of the Consecration Offering of the Priests, themselves. Since the Kingdom is a Kingdom of Priests it is clear that everybody who participates in the Kingdom Government of God will be Consecrated Priests. Since the Pure Gold Lampstand is in the Holy Place it is clear that just to be in the Church He is Building we must be Consecrated Priests. It is for that reason that every believer who is going on to fulfill God’s Purpose and who will live to complete what God purposed for Himself in the creation MUST be fully consecrated. Therefore, preaching verses or principles or facts and information to a lukewarm, casual people is a big waste of time.

In the Tabernacle of Moses study we combined all these different sacrifices and offerings in order to simplify the study so we could bring the study to an audience in about 1 hour and twenty minutes. In that study we focused upon the personal consecration of our body to do the whole will of God.

Heb 10:5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU HAST NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED FOR ME; 6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN THOU HAST TAKEN NO PLEASURE. 7 “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE ROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO THY WILL, O GOD.’” 8 After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN THOU HAST NOT DESIRED, NOR HAST THOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO THY WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

These four sacrifices combined speak of doing the whole will of God. Of course each sacrifice speaks of several other things dealing with the consecration as well. This focus was upon “but a body hast thou prepared me” to thy will, Oh God! The consecration of the body of the Outer Man is very important but involves MORE than our body and more than doing His will. It involves the removing of the dominion of the body to control the function of the Priesthood ministry, first to God and then, in His will, FOR God. Why? So the New Covenant Man, New Inner Man, the New Creation Man that is both Image and Likeness can perceive and do the will of God. How does the New Inner Man do the will of God? Through the consecration of the body, the Outer Man. The dominion of the body and the control of the natural attributes of the Adam man is the greatest hindrance to the new inner man completing the will of God.

We should repeat often that there is just ONE BIBLE but there are TWO COVENANTS involved in the Priesthood. The Old Covenant was designed for the old man, the outward man, the body man, the Adam man, the natural man, the carnal man, the dirt man. The New Covenant is designed for the new creation man, the new inner man, the man created in the Last Adam, the new man which once again becomes both image and likeness. This New Covenant demands a NEW SPECIES OF MAN that lives and moves on a completely different basis than the old Adam man. The New Covenant can only be effective when it is applied to the New Species of Man. However, the Consecration of the Priests under the Old Covenant are patterns for us of the Consecration of the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. Therefore, we will examine the consecration of the priests after the Order of Aaron. From this Conseration Offering we will see the pattern for our own Consecration and what that means in modern society. We should also see how this differs from the modern church system of assembling believers to hear a “message.”

Aaron and his sons brought their body to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting and consecrated it to do the will of God by fulfilling the demands of the earthly priesthood. We also bring our body to the doorway of the tent of Meeting to consecrate it to do the whole will of God by fulfilling the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. However, our consecration demands that we fulfill the Priesthood in the New Covenant way.

The New Covenant is designed for the New Creation Inner Man to do the ministry rather than the natural Adam man. Removing the dominion of the natural man is one of the purposes of the Consecration Offering. For that reason, because the outer man and the body have controlled our lives and ministry for so long, they become a stumbling block for the New Covenant Ministry of the New Inner Man. This is the reason the Consecration of the body is essential but for a much more profound purpose. This body of “flesh” must NOT control the ministry and is designed within the New Covenant provision to to be transformed by becoming a tent in which we live. The process of changing the body of flesh into a tent, in the New Covenant, is called the Consecration of the body. Paul called this tent an earthen vessel. That means a vessel that has no opinion, no argument, no agenda and no spiritual ministry. The “vessel” is just the means of transportation and a tent in which the New Man dwells.

2Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;

One “compartment” or “component” of the consecration offering is designed to remove the dominion of the body over the Inner Man so it will NOT restrict the New Covenant Ministry. Therefore, in the Consecration of the Priests we should see both aspects of the Consecration Offering which includes both the Outer Man, the body and the Consecration of the New Inner Man who is designed for the New Covenant Priesthood. How? Through the power and revelation of the Living and the Abiding Word of God!

In this study we will be focusing upon the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek as the fulfillment of the priesthood after the order of Aaron. Since the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek is an eternal priesthood that is directly related to the Kingdom of Priests, we will break the study down into more compartments or components so we can see what is involved. First we will start with the Old Covenant priesthood of Aaron and his sons. This is a pattern for the New Covenant Priesthood of Christ Jesus and His mature sons. Of course the ONLY priesthood available today is after the Order of Melchizedek.

Lev 8:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread; 3 and assemble all the congregation at the doorway of the tent of meeting.” 4 So Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. When the congregation was assembled at the doorway of the tent of meeting, 5 Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded to do.”

Lev 8:6 Then Moses had Aaron and his sons come near, and washed them with water. 7 And he put the tunic on him and girded him with the sash, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him; and he girded him with the artistic band of the ephod, with which he tied it to him. 8 He then placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. 9 He also placed the turban on his head, and on the turban, at its front, he placed the golden plate, the holy crown, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 10 Moses then took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them.

Lev 8:11 And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. 12 Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to consecrate him.

Lev 8:13 Next Moses had Aaron’s sons come near and clothed them with tunics, and girded them with sashes, and bound caps on them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 14 Then he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. 15 Next Moses slaughtered it and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around on the horns of the altar, and purified the altar. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.

Lev 8:16 He also took all the fat that was on the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat; and Moses offered it up in smoke on the altar. 17 But the bull and its hide and its flesh and its refuse, he burned in the fire outside the camp, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Lev 8:18 Then he presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 19 And Moses slaughtered it and sprinkled the blood around on the altar. 20 When he had cut the ram into its pieces, Moses offered up the head and the pieces and the suet in smoke. 21 After he had washed the entrails and the legs with water, Moses offered up the whole ram in smoke on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma; it was an offering by fire to the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Lev 8:22 Then he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 23 And Moses slaughtered it and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

Lev 8:24 He also had Aaron’s sons come near; and Moses put some of the blood on the lobe of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot. Moses then sprinkled the rest of the blood around on the altar.

Lev 8:25 And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the entrails, and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and their fat and the right thigh. 26 And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer, and placed them on the portions of fat and on the right thigh. 27 He then put all these on the hands of Aaron and on the hands of his sons, and presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. 28 Then Moses took them from their hands and offered them up in smoke on the altar with the burnt offering. They were an ordination offering for a soothing aroma; it was an offering by fire to the LORD.

Lev 8:29 Moses also took the breast and presented it for a wave offering before the LORD; it was Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Lev 8:30 So Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he consecrated Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.

Lev 8:31 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, “Boil the flesh at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and eat it there together with the bread which is in the basket of the ordination offering, just as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’ 32 “And the remainder of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn in the fire.

Lev 8:33 “And you shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day that the period of your ordination is fulfilled; for he will ordain you through seven days.

Lev 8:34 “The LORD has commanded to do as has been done this day, to make atonement on your behalf. 35 “At the doorway of the tent of meeting, moreover, you shall remain day and night for seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that you may not die, for so I have been commanded.” 36 Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the LORD had commanded through Moses.

It should be easy to see there are several compartments or components to the Consecration Offering. We loosely divided them by paragraph. We also bolded the terms “Aaron and his sons” to show the Consecration Offering is NOT just for the high priest but for his sons with him. There are various offerings and sacrifices connected to the Consecration of the Priests so when we speak of the Consecration Offering we are speaking of all the sacrifices and offerings as one complete offering. The corporate Consecration is for a singular Priesthood. That “they” may minister as a Priest to Me! In other words, just completing one sacrifice does not qualify as Consecration. Of course in the New Covenant this applies to our High Priest, Christ Jesus, AND His mature sonsn as the corporate Priesthood.

Also in Exodus 28 we see the garments that were required BEFORE the Consecration could be offered. Exodus 29 then shows us the details of the sacrifices and how some parts of the sacrifice are related to the Garments. We don’t want to complicate this study by all the multiple details in those other chapters. Nevertheless, these chapters cannot be ignored because they add many important details to our total surrender to God of BOTH the New Inner Man and the outward man in order for each of us to enter into the New Covenant Priesthood, experientially, and fulfill the demands of the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. Why? Because this is one of the things that God purposed for HIMSELF, both before and in the creation.

To become part of the Eternal Kingdom / Priesthood realm of the Government of God is NOT a small matter that can be taken lightly. Those redeemed persons who approach these things out of a casual attitude will certainly be rejected from the Priesthood by our High Priest. Why? Because, our part of this Priesthood is as mature sons of the High Priest. Most of the things in Leviticus 8 that apply to the High Priest also applies to His Sons.

Even though this study may be more involved in different issues from just the Consecration Offering itself, it is extremely important to fully understand the real problems that exist in Christian service. This term Christian service is used universally to mean working for or in the church. It may just be picking up paper in the parking lot but that is counted as Christian service. It is not that this service is not needed but that we need to redefine Christian Service when it is applied to the Priesthood ministry.

When we apply the abstract term “Christian Service” to the Holy Place Life and Ministry we suddenly realize there are “two kinds of service” that are acceptable to man but one of them is rejected by God. Those who are in the flesh can never please God. However, too much Christian Service is NOT about pleasing God but is all about pleasing man or to meet a need that man has. What I want to share in this study is related to the many years I wasted trying to meet the desperate needs of people but in my own cleverness, faithfulness and dedication to serving others. Already I can hear readers say “But that is NOT wasted time because we are all called to serve our breathern.”

I am not saying we should not serve our brethren but I want to focus upon how we can serve God and out of that Priesthood Ministry to discover how God has designed for us to serve the brethren. It is this aspect of the Consecration Offering that I want to emphasize in this study and what we have seen and experienced over the last 41 years of “Christian service.” The real reason we fell into this trap of outward service is that this “Inward” aspect of the Consecration Offering was not understood. Why? Because we only related it to doing the will of God without being able to define what the total will of God was. I want to say before I begin to explain this failure that I am not bitter or discouraged with the people I have tried to serve. However, I am now ashamed of not really understanding Christian Service from the viewpoint of the Kingdom of God.

My wife and I began “serving” 41 years ago but without any understanding of our hidden motives, secret personal ambitions, self-will or undisciplined lives! We started “our work” by responding to human needs, out of human compassion, but without a direct call or spiritual preparation and without any vision of how God equips His ministers. Of course everybody who is saved is also called according to His purpose in the general sense. We responded to a “human call” to meet “human needs” in a dying world!

After about 30 years of “doing” it became more and more clear that our concept of “Christian Service” was built upon not just a wrong foundation but upon an unstable foundation of sand. My Wife and I made “the consecration offering” over 40 years ago on December 27 to 29, 1970. However, we had no one to personaly help us know God’s method of consecration and from His viewpoint. For that reason we consecrated ourselves from a human viewpoint. That is from “A BODY THAT HAS PREPARED FOR ME TO DO YOUR WILL, OH, GOD.” Now, at last, it has become clear that “consecration” is not primarily about “doing” but about “being.” In other words “consecration” is a process in which our total person must be transformed into a Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. How did I discover this?

Lev 8:33 “And you shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day that the period of your ordination is fulfilled; for he will ordain you through seven days.

The ordination that is the result of Consecration is a process that is continuous over our lifetime in this earth dimension. In the early years of the Charismatic Movement we saw young people leaving good jobs to “go into all the world” and we saw the disaster that followed. Why? Simply because they “went” but were not “sent.” They “went out”from a basic Outer Court zeal to serve people! Many went out to an people who were not interested in changing or fulfilling what God purposed FOR HIMSELF in the creation. Some “went out” to a training center to be equipped to serve people. Many “went out” but they were unequipped to survive in a hostile world. Why did they do that? They were moved by an obvious compassion and by seeing the human need but with a human vision and the challenge of a “gospel” message that had not yet become Spirit and Life in their new inner man.

They went out to fill a human need! Some even enlisted others to join them in this pursuit of serving God by serving people. Of course it required a certain dedication to “forsake all” and go out. It was soon obvious that they were seeking a personal satisfaction in their dedication. Their purpose seemed to be to “achieve success” in ministry. Then what is the difference between that and God’s plan? I am taking this partly from Acts the 13^th chapter.

God’s plan begins with a divine revelation and calling. The sending out is for a real spiritual need but we “go out” in the full understanding of our human inadequacy. Therefore, we will wait for His enablement and preparation and the certainty that this is the time to go. The purpose of “going” is for the Father’s satisfaction. Certainly God sends out but this is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit and He is absolutely sovereign over the reason, the place and the people He has selected. This is NOT about human need but about being led by the Holy Spirit and by the Kingdom method of serving God.

The confusing thing about this “system” is that we discovered that IF it is really God’s call He will develop and equip us many times AS WE GO. If we go by revelation this system works well. Failure is certain when we attempt to meet a human need in our own physical strength and by our human by abilities and oput of our human resources. It may seem like a small difference when we see a need and accept the challenge to meet that need and from waiting for a revelation and God’s equipping to respond to a genuine need by the inspiration of God. Some who sent themselves out because of human compassion and then were met by a total indifference or even persecution conclude that they are suffering with Christ. Most never recognized the mistake was their own human zeal!

When I go out to minister it is very easy to encounter other needs in other places and there is generally an invitation to go there. The temptation is to think these people really need this word that I have so let me go. When we follow this path it is so easy to get involved in a whirlwind of activity that may meet a human need but had nothing to do with serving God. This was just more activity directed toward serving people. People always ask “But is that wrong because the people had a great need?” It is so easy to confuse the “work” with the “fruit that remains.” Too much “work” that we involve ourselves in will bear NO “eternal fruit that will remain” but because someone is helped we measure that as “fruit.”

Another trap is to get inticed away from serving God by following a good cause. Maybe even a good “religious cause” like abortion or drugs or alcohol addiction. We wasted so many hours trying to cast demons out of people when the demons were their friends and not enemies. It was clear there was a great human need for deliverance but at least some preferred to keep the perversion than surrender to God and do His will.

I also got caught up in a “work” and lost my spiritual life. I spent so many hours rebuilding a old building for a church that I just had to share old studies that had no life or spirit. Soon the believers began to sense the difference.

Another deception is spending so much time “in the ministry” but just trying to build a little kingdom of man’s own design and for himself. We may find a scripture about the Kingdom and assume it is my responsibility to build it. That personal kingdom is built around ourselves and we create a position in ministry where we become indispensable to the endurance of that little dirt kingdom. People get attached to the “ministry” but NOT attached to the Lord.

Our concept of “Ministry” was based upon a human faithfulness and endurance and always being available to meet human needs. The people we fellowshipped with had this same understanding of “ministry.” We assumed this was the path to overcoming and an eternal position in the world yet to come. We never realized that none of this is within the main stream of how God has designed the Kingdom to function. What is the real difference? God has to be absolutely Sovereign over His Kingdom and how and with what it is built. We may assume that somewhere in this great and infinite Kingdom of God He will have a specific place to receive our work in wood, hay and straw. However, He has limited His acceptable building material to just Silver, Gold and Precious Stones and will certainly reject anything else. If you think you can pray and fast until God accepts your work you will find you wasted your time.

It is for these few reasons and many others that the Consecration of the Priests must be more that a consecration of the body to do the will of God. When we read Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we realize that Jesus is demanding a higher repentance of the members of the Lampstand Churches. This is not related to repentance from dead works or a repentance from sin or a repentance because of our rebellion against God. What He is calling for is a higher degree of repentance that is related to the Holy Place life and ministry. Repentance for ignoring the Kingdom of God as an internal Government that establishes the Laws by which we live. Repentance because we have surrendered to man’s laws within a church system that is functioning in oppositition to the Laws of the Kingdom of God. Repentance because we permit people to usurp the authority of Christ Jesus in our lives. Repentance because we seek out human prophets rather than hearing what God is saying to us personally. Repentance because our work today is just to meet human need but by our own human methods!

We seem to have forgotten how we previously recognized our inability to do anything out

from ourselves and how we did the works at the beginning with fear and trembling. Before we had experience, we were totally dependent upon God to teach us but when we had experience in ministry and a reputation to be able to share the Word of God, we discovered we could do the ministry by ourself because of our experience. We thought because we had an anointing that this meant we were doing the will of God and had His approval. Maybe we were “ministering” but not according to God’s ways or according to the pattern ministry by the Prototype Son.

However, after many years we learned that most of that “work” was not acceptable to God and His Kingdomm Government. This was work done outside the Kingdom Government of God and by our own design and to fulfill a need we had for recognition and success. Therefore, our plan is to share the Consecration Offering of the Priests from a totally different perspective. We will share not as another objective offering of a sacrifice but as a subjective transformation through the total Consecration of the New Inner Man. Why? Because we believe that God’s design for the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek is compatible only with the New Covenant Provision and within the New Creation Man who has been restored to both Image and Likeness. Why? Because this Priesthood MUST operate within the Divine Authority inherent within the Kingdom Government of God. This eliminates the “ministry” of the natural outer man who wants to function within his own abilities and methods. Since this eliminates most all Outer Court ministry that we are aware of, this “message” will be rejected.