Priest: one authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God
1 Peter 2:4-5 (NLT2)4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
Wow God says that if you are "coming to Christ" that you are His priest.
I’m talking about the kind of person that God selected, under the Old Covenant (Old Testament), and gave the right, privilege, and responsibility to go directly to God, and to represent God to the people. The priest was the one responsible to worship and fellow directly with God. The people had to go to the priest in order to get to God. The priest was the one representing God and ministering to their needs. That’s exactly what Peter was said were the benefits available to everybody who is a believer.
When Jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple that separated the place where God’s spirit was, the Holy of Holies, from man. The High Priest was the only one who could go behind the veil and he could only go once a year.
Matthew 27:50-53 (NLT2)50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people. (emphasis mine)
When Jesus died on the cross, God tore the veil from top to bottom, symbolizing that there no longer was a barrier. You now have direct access to God.
Hebrews 9:1-8 (NLT2)1 That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place.3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place.4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant.5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties.7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
Hebrews 6:16-20 (NLT2)16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 10:20-22 (NLT2)20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. (emphasis mine)
If you are a believer you don’t have to pray, confess, or fellowship with God through anybody else.
God has given you gifts for ministry to serve other people, other priests.
1 Corinthians 14:10-12 (NLT2)10 There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning.11 But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me.12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT2)11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
God saved you to serve as a priest. As Rick Warren says, a non-serving, non-priest Christian is a contradiction. When you use the gifts, talents, and abilities to help others that's ministry, that’s what a priest does. Anytime you’re helping other people in God’s name, you’re ministering.
You’re a priest, do your duty!
1 Peter 2:4-5 (NLT2)4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
Wow God says that if you are "coming to Christ" that you are His priest.
I’m talking about the kind of person that God selected, under the Old Covenant (Old Testament), and gave the right, privilege, and responsibility to go directly to God, and to represent God to the people. The priest was the one responsible to worship and fellow directly with God. The people had to go to the priest in order to get to God. The priest was the one representing God and ministering to their needs. That’s exactly what Peter was said were the benefits available to everybody who is a believer.
When Jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple that separated the place where God’s spirit was, the Holy of Holies, from man. The High Priest was the only one who could go behind the veil and he could only go once a year.
Matthew 27:50-53 (NLT2)50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people. (emphasis mine)
When Jesus died on the cross, God tore the veil from top to bottom, symbolizing that there no longer was a barrier. You now have direct access to God.
Hebrews 9:1-8 (NLT2)1 That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place.3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place.4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant.5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties.7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
Hebrews 6:16-20 (NLT2)16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 10:20-22 (NLT2)20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. (emphasis mine)
If you are a believer you don’t have to pray, confess, or fellowship with God through anybody else.
God has given you gifts for ministry to serve other people, other priests.
1 Corinthians 14:10-12 (NLT2)10 There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning.11 But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me.12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.
Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT2)11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
God saved you to serve as a priest. As Rick Warren says, a non-serving, non-priest Christian is a contradiction. When you use the gifts, talents, and abilities to help others that's ministry, that’s what a priest does. Anytime you’re helping other people in God’s name, you’re ministering.
You’re a priest, do your duty!
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