KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 71
THE FOUR
LIVING CREATURES AND THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS
(continued)
“ And round about the throne were four and twenty
seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting,
clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns
of gold” (Rev. 4:4). “Twenty-four other thrones surrounded the
throne and seated on these thrones were twenty-four Elders,
arrayed in white clothing, with Crowns of Gold upon their heads”
(Amplified Bible).
The Greek word for elders is presbuteros. By the
way, the word “presbyterian” comes from that, and I am reminded of
the story about the little girl who came home from her Presbyterian
Sunday School, and her mother asked her what they had talked about.
“We talked about heaven,” the little girl replied. “Well, what did
they say about it?” her mother asked. “The teacher said that there
were only twenty-four Presbyterians there!” Seriously, elders were
representatives. We know that Israel had elders and that elders
were ordained in the early churches to rule and to represent the
entire church.
The twenty-four Elders in the book of Revelation bear a
special signification for they are represented as distinct from both
the four Living Creatures “in the midst” of the throne and the great
multitude “before” the throne. These Elders occupy a unique
position described as “round about” the throne — yet UPON THRONES!
In order to fully appreciate the scenery here drawn by the Spirit,
we need to go back and examine one particular of the order
established by God among the people of Israel after they came up out
of the land of Egypt. It is important that we get a clear idea, not
only of the structure of the tabernacle of Moses, but also of the
arrangement of both the people and the priesthood in relation to
it. On page two of this article I give you a diagram of that
arrangement.
What do we see then? In the second chapter of Numbers
we find the order given for the encampment of Israel as they
journeyed through the wilderness. The camp of Israel as it was
established in Sinai formed a hollow square. In the center of the
hollow was the tabernacle of Moses. Around the tabernacle Israel
was divided into four camps: one camp of three tribes on the east
side, another camp of three tribes on the south side, another camp
of three tribes on the west side, and the last camp of three tribes
on the north side. There was to be one ensign for each camp of
three tribes. Judah was to be the head tribe of the first
encampment, and they were to camp “on the east side toward the
rising of the sun” (Num. 2:3-9). The tribes of Issachar and Zebulon
were to camp with Judah around his standard or ensign, which ensign
was the lion. Therefore, the flag of the tribe of Judah with
a lion of gold on a background of scarlet was erected in front of
the camp of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon.
Next in order was the camp of Reuben on the south side
along with the tribes of Simeon and Gad. These three tribes were to
camp around the ensign of Reuben, which ensign was the man.
On this flag a man was represented against a background of gold.
The third camp was made up of the tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin,
with Ephraim as the head tribe to camp on the west side of the
tabernacle. The ensign of the tribe of Ephraim was the ox.
The flag of Ephraim had a black ox with a background of gold. The
final camp was the camp of Dan together with the tribes of Asher and
Naphtali. History shows that the ensign of the tribe of Dan was the
eagle. This flag had an eagle of gold on a background of
blue.
The tabernacle with its courts set “in the midst” of so
many thousands of saved and happy Israel, must have been an imposing
sight — an all-absorbing scene of wonder to the whole nation, as
well as to each one of the mighty host. In this arrangement we see
the same typical picture, under different symbols, as that presented
to us in chapters four and five of the Revelation. The Most Holy
Place was the abode of the God of Israel among His people. When the
tabernacle was set up as described in Exodus chapter forty, then the
Shekinah, the Cloud of God’s Glorious Presence, covered the whole
tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. It is
interesting to observe that while the Cloud of God’s Glory rested
upon the entire tabernacle complex, the glory of the Lord also
“filled the tabernacle,” thus designating the Most Holy Place as the
dwelling place or the tabernacle of God.
Later God said to Moses, “Speak unto Aaron thy brother,
that he come not at all times into the Most Holy Place within the
veil before the mercy seat…that he die not: for I WILL APPEAR IN THE
CLOUD UPON THE MERCY SEAT” (Lev. 16:2). Isaiah testified, “O Lord
of hosts, God of Israel, that DWELLEST BETWEEN THE CHERUBIM, Thou
art God” (Isa. 37:16). God was in the cloud, He appeared
in the cloud, He spoke out of the cloud, He led Israel
by the cloud, and in the cloud He dwelt in the Most Holy
Place, over the ark with its mercy-seat or throne of grace.
The tabernacle, and especially the throne upon the Ark, was in very
fact GOD’S THRONE among Israel from which, by His word
and His power, He ruled over them!
The “Mercy-Seat” was a slab of solid gold, in fact a
lid, with cherubim, one at each end facing each other, all made of
one piece. The tables of the law of Yahweh were to be put in the
Ark and the Mercy-Seat placed above it. The mercy-seat, or Throne,
was to be put upon the Ark of the Covenant within the veil, in the
Most Holy Place. That was the only piece of furniture in the Most
Holy Place. It was indeed the THRONE ROOM! It was there, upon the
mercy-seat, that the glory of the God of Israel dwelt, and from
there God communed with His people and set judgment and mercy in the
midst. “And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above the Ark…and there I
will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the
mercy-seat…” (Ex. 25:21-22). “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel…Thou
that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth” (Ps. 80:1).
The covering of the Ark of the Covenant was the place of
the judgment-of-mercy for Israel’s sins. It was the Judgment Throne
of the Invisible One, Israel’s King. It was the Throne of Mercy!
Everything in the law of Moses centered in that Mercy-Throne. All
the sacrifices had to do with that Mercy-Throne within the veil.
All the shedding of blood of offerings had to do with that one chief
sprinkling of blood upon the Mercy-Throne. The Mercy-Throne was, in
the arrangement of things, the center of all! The tabernacle was in
the center of the camp. The Most Holy Place was in the center of
the white linen curtains or outer wall which marked off the
tabernacle territory. The Mercy-Throne was in the center of the
Most Holy Place. So the Mercy-Throne was in the center — or
midst — of everything! The Mercy-Throne was what the Most Holy
Place was made for! The mercy-seat, as the King James Bible calls
it, was not a “seat” as we know a seat; the old English word means
the “origin” or “center,” just as when you speak of the “seat of
pain” or the “seat of government” as the point of origin of it. The
mercy-seat was the place where MERCY ORIGINATED! This is the
description of something supreme — M-E-R-C-Y! The writer to the
Hebrews calls it “the throne of grace.”
The mercy-seat is an absolute picture of Jesus Christ.
There was no wood in it at all. It was made of pure gold. It
speaks of God and all that is the nature of God as revealed in
Christ. The word for mercy-seat in the Greek language is
hilasterion. In the New Testament there are only four verses
that use this word, as follows: “And over it the cherubim of glory
shadowing the mercy seat” (Heb. 9:5). “Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past”
(Rom. 3:25). “God…sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins” (I Jn. 4:10). “And He is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world” (I Jn. 2:2).
From these four verses you will see that the Greek word
hilasterion has been translated both as mercy seat and
propitiation. Christ, we are told, is the propitiation for
our sins. But the word is MERCY SEAT! It simply means that Jesus
Christ BECAME OUR MERCY SEAT, He became the origin or center of
God’s mercy and goodness toward us, and it is He from whom that
mercy originates! So now, blessed be God! we have a
faithful and merciful high priest who is also the seat, the
center, the origin, and the powerful throne of
EVERLASTING AND INFINITE MERCY! I do not hesitate to tell you that
God is not dismantling His Mercy Throne, He is not evacuating His
body off of this planet, He is not taking His Holy Spirit out of the
earth, the day of grace is not, as the preachers so ridiculously
proclaim, about to end; indeed, it is barely beginning! God is even
now forming a body, a son company, kings and priests after the order
of Melchizedek, to display and reveal His mercy and power unto
creation throughout the age and the ages to come, making all things
new. Therefore, though we have but tasted of His mercies, through
vast ages yet unborn He will continue to unfold the riches of His
grace, manifesting it through His vessels of mercy, until the
fullness thereof is revealed, and God becomes, finally, ALL-IN-ALL!
The Most Holy Place is, then, an earthly picture of the
throne of God — the realm of God’s manifestation in power and
dominion. The Most Holy Place prefigured Christ the King together
with all those holy sons of God who reign with Him in the authority
of the Spirit. It is the glory of KINGSHIP! Armed with the
understanding that the tabernacle constituted God’s throne among His
people, let us remember that there is “before” that throne a “great
multitude” of people receiving the blessings and benefits of His
kingdom ministered through the typical sacrifices and ministrations
of the temple service and the priesthood. As you will note in the
diagram, the arrangement of the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the
camp of Israel in three distinct divisions (tabernacle, priesthood,
camp of Israel), sets forth the three-fold economy of God in His
redemptive and restorative processes.
The tabernacle is the dwelling place of God — His
throne, His sphere of activity, the center of His power, glory, and
goodness. The camp of Israel, the great multitude “before” the
throne, is the whole world of mankind outside of God, estranged from
His life, yet redeemed, blessed, and brought nigh. But there is a
third company — the CAMP OF THE PRIESTS — situated, as it were,
“round about the throne,” directly between the “throne” and
the “great multitude”! The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “The
Israelites shall encamp each by his own tribal standard or banner,
with the ensign of their fathers’ houses, opposite the tent of
meeting (tabernacle) and facing it on every side. Then the tent of
meeting (tabernacle) shall set out, with the CAMP OF THE LEVITES
IN THE MIDST OF THE CAMPS” (Num. 2:2,17). The tribe of Levi was
not counted among the tribes of Israel, therefore they were not
camped with the other tribes, for they were the Lord’s priests,
ordained to be camped in the center of the encampment near the
tabernacle. Divine infinite purpose lies behind this whole
arrangement and the moment the wonderful significance of this dawns
upon our spiritual understanding, we see that God has placed a
PRIESTHOOD COMPANY between Himself and the world of mankind!
A priest or priesthood infers that there
is a reason why such has been raised up by God. It denotes that
there has been in the minds of men an estrangement between God and
His creatures and the priest ministers to bridge that gulf and bring
about peace and at-one-ment. Deep in the heart of every man there
is a strong and instinctive demand for a priest, to be a mediator,
to lay one hand on man, and the other on God, and standing between
both to bring the two together into unification. Webster’s
dictionary defines priest as: A mediatory agent between God
and man. In the Old Testament the word priest is translated from
the Hebrew word cohen, the root meaning of which is “one who
stands up and draws nigh for another.” The Greek word, in its root,
means “to minister.” Thus, a priest is one who draws nigh and
ministers in two directions — drawing nigh to God on behalf
of the people and drawing nigh to the people on behalf of God! The
priest stands between. The ministry of the priest is
an intermediate or go-between ministry. He reaches forth with one
hand and takes hold of God; he reaches out with the other hand and
takes hold of humanity; and brings the two together by the power of
his priestly ministration. Can we not see that this is the very
reason God placed the priesthood of Israel in an encampment directly
between the tabernacle throne and the great multitude of the
people. That is the picture! Most people miss this great truth,
and I don’t remember ever seeing a drawing of the tabernacle and the
camp of Israel in the wilderness with the tribe of Levi correctly
positioned in the open area of the hollow square between the
tabernacle and the camps of the tribes. It is abundantly evident
that they correspond precisely to the twenty-four Elders that John
beheld “round about the throne.” Isn’t it wonderful!
THE ORIGINAL TRUTH
In
the book of Hebrews we read that our great High Priest, even Jesus,
is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens where He is
minister of the sanctuary, the true tabernacle, which the
Lord pitched, and not man (Heb. 8:1-2). In ancient times there was
in every temple a god, an unseen god, among the pagans an idol god,
concealed in the Holy of holies, to whom the temple was devoted.
Religion is as old as the human race and religious systems and
observances pre-date the oldest empires of antiquity such as the
empires of Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon. As these religions spread
over the world they developed into an expression in all lands and
kingdoms with only a slight change in the names of the gods and
slight variations in the rituals. The almost identical knowledge,
stories, myths, gods, temples, priesthoods, sacrifices, and belief
systems and observances of all kinds had their origins very early
in human history. The question is, of course, where did all
this come from? Was religion merely an “invention” of superstitious
savages, or did it originate somehow as an integral part of man’s
constitution, revelation, and experience from his very beginning?
The evidence certainly suggests that religion had its origin from
the dawn of history. Every religion shared similar characteristics
— even among the indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Mayan
temples of Central America and the Aztec temples of South America
were constructed, even to their “holy of holies,” along lines
similar to those in Egypt and elsewhere. The evidence points to
the fact that behind them all there was some ancient historical
reality. There are no traces of evolution from simple to
sophisticated. All theological systems stemmed from some common but
exceedingly ancient source. This raises the question — what was
that common but exceedingly ancient source? The evidence
unquestionably points to some meaningful design right from the
earliest time of man’s appearance upon earth. This type of
uniformity suggests a guiding hand at work. Oh, yes! There is the
same supernatural design throughout practically all the
ancient religious systems — God, temple worship, sacrifice,
priesthood, after-life, redemption, eternal life, resurrection,
judgment, etc. Design from the beginning!
The Bible affirms that the worship of God originated
with an original truth revealed to man by His
Creator. Adam and Eve stepped forth from the garden with this
original truth implanted firmly in their hearts. They knew of the
tree of life, which was Christ as life. “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In
Him was life; and the life was the light
(illumination, inspiration, revelation) of men” (Jn. 1:1,4).
They experienced the presence of God and the glory of God, for the
Lord God Himself walked with them in the Garden in the cool
(Hebrew: spirit) of the day. They knew what it was to
walk in the Spirit! They conversed with God and understood His
will, His word, and His ways. The only government they knew
was the life, spirit, and word of God! But then they came to know
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which indicates a living
after human reasoning and law, instead of life. They knew about sin
and death, for they both sinned and died. They understood
conscience, for after partaking of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil they perceived that they were naked and were ashamed,
hiding from God because of their shame. They tried the impotent
route of religion by works, symbolized by them sewing their
own flimsy aprons of fig leaves in a futile effort to cover their
shame. They received the divine revelation of redemption by
sacrifice, for God Himself slew a lamb (the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world!) and with it covered their nakedness. To
be naked means to have your flesh exposed, that is
your own carnal mind, will, and nature revealed for what it is, and
this was covered by the life of the Lamb! They thus received the
revelation of being clothed in the righteousness of Christ! They
had the promise of a redeemer, and a restoration to life and glory.
They were instructed that this redeemer would be known as “the seed
of the woman” a manchild, Christ, Head and body, and that He
would bruise the serpent’s head. They had been introduced to the
“god of this world,” the serpent, who cunningly allured them
into the living out of the natural intellect, reason, human
conscience, and man’s own perverted sense of man-made law, instead
of out of the living Spirit of Christ as Life. Let us now
acquaint ourselves with the following important fact: All the
so-called wisdom of this present world, yes, all the
vaunted wisdom of the worlds of science, philosophy, education,
politics, government, psychology, astrology, economics, religion,
and a thousand more things that shape our world systems are one and
all brought forth out of the illumination of the serpent-mind.
For this reason we are admonished, “Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away,
and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth
for ever” (I Jn. 2:15-17). In that long ago beginning our first
parents were given the promise of redemption, reconciliation, and
restoration of all things to God! They saw afar off their regained
dominion by the wisdom, spirit, and power of God. Their first
offspring knew about worship, sacrifice, offering,
redemption, and living in the presence of God, and by the revelation
of God, for Cain and Able brought their sacrifices out of a
knowledge of the plan and purpose of God. But what happened was
that as man moved farther and farther from Eden and the presence,
life, and glory of God, that original truth was passed
through the polluted corridors of time and human nature, becoming
distorted, contorted, embellished, misconstrued, disfigured, and
mutilated. This is what the scriptures call apostasy!
We see examples of what apostasy does to an original
truth in our own age, the church age. Jesus and His apostles came
and brought an original truth — redemption and transformation of
mankind through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the power of His kingdom in and by the Spirit. Now
consider what happened to that original truth as it was filtered
through time and human imagination! Look at the Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox, and other ancient disciplines with their
cathedrals, priests, vestments, traditions, holy water, candles,
incense, altars, statues, icons, shrines, holy relics, ceremonies,
confessionals, rituals, masses, rules, celibacy, monastic orders,
and on and on. Do any of these even faintly resemble the
original truth and the power and glory and experience of the early
church? Not at all! The church world today is but a grotesque
caricature of the gospel of Jesus! Yet — the essence of that
original truth is still present on some level in all of them!
They all acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God who came and
died for the salvation of mankind! And all their carnal-minded
procedures seek in some way to illustrate that truth.
What I am saying is that the similarities in all ancient
religions reveal an original truth from which they stemmed —
God, worship, temples, priesthoods, altars, sacrifices, forgiveness,
prayers, salvation, resurrection, eternal life, judgment, future
life, paradise — all of this and more, though convoluted, twisted,
distorted, misfigured, embellished, and even demonized — still
reflected something of that original truth! What becomes evident is
that the Sumerians did one thing with that original truth, the
Babylonians did another, the Egyptians another, and so on through
all the pagan systems. All had temples, priests, altars, incense,
sacrifices, gods, saviours, worship, prayers, etc. In the most
powerful and enduring myths that man inherited from his beginning,
the human race had retained a confused and perverted memory of
the original truth.
Some years ago Lorain and I were privileged to take a
tour of Egypt. At the many temples of Egypt I stood in several
“Holy of holies” including the one in the temple of Luxor. There is
no denying that Moses’ tabernacle in the wilderness was fashioned
somewhat after the model of the temples in Egypt. The Egyptian
temples each had their “Holy of holies” in which the only item
present was the idol god. Superficial thinking might reason and
conclude that since Moses was from Egypt, and learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians, he simply modeled his tabernacle after the
order of the Egyptian temples. But such reasoning misses the
point altogether! All the ancient temples reflected the
original truth of God tabernacling among men. Therefore, that
Moses’ tabernacle would be similar should be self-evident! It would
have been a blunder and an absurdity of momentous proportions if his
tabernacle would have been completely different. Here is what
happened. Religion, from the time Adam and Eve left the garden, had
been on a steady decline, apostatizing into wretched forms and gross
misrepresentations of the original truth. False and hideous
portrayals of God sat in their temples — grotesque idols of
imaginary beings and animal gods. In the land of Egypt this pagan
stupidity had sunk as low as man’s serpent-inspired imagination
could carry it.
Oh that the darkening veils of ignorance might be torn
from our minds that we might see that just at that point in history
GOD GLORIOUSLY INTERVENED! The great difference between Moses’
tabernacle and the Egyptian temples was just this — the Holy of
holies of Moses’ tabernacle, for the first time since its type in
Eden and its archetype in the heavenlies of God’s Spirit, now held
THE LIVING PRESENCE, GLORY, AND POWER OF THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD
— not an idol! The bottom had been reached, religion had
sunk as low as it could go, the point of return had arrived, and the
ascendancy of the original truth back to its purity, fulfillment,
and consummation had begun! The Exodus and Moses’ tabernacle
was the turning point for God’s purpose among men in the
history of the human race! That, precious friend of mine, is
historical fact. God manifested Himself as a living reality in
the midst of His called and chosen people there in the wilderness
and eventually in the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. And now —
isn’t it interesting that temple worship survived only until
Jesus came!
The ascendancy of the original truth came about this
way. God manifested His presence and power in the midst of His
people in Moses’ tabernacle. He established His throne there in the
midst of Israel. Later His presence, power, and rule in the midst
of His people was intensified when Israel possessed their
land, through the prophets, judges, kings, and the temple of
Solomon. Then the presence, power, and rule of God was
intensified again even more as out of that nation God came in
Jesus Christ and tabernacled among men! The ascendancy of the
original truth reached a higher level yet when on the day of
Pentecost the Holy Spirit was outpoured from on high and God came
and dwelt and walked and talked in men. Is it not
significant that within that very same generation when the
true tabernacle, the body of Christ, was raised up in the earth,
the Jewish temple was violently and completely destroyed, never
to rise again! And within a few generations all the temples of
the ancient gods would stand empty and silent. The turning point
came with the tabernacle of Moses! There is no idol god in the
temple of Luxor today — only because Moses came on the scene by the
intervention of God to change the course of human history, beginning
the ascendance of the original truth revealed in Eden, and the
eventual consummation of God’s purpose in man. THIS IS THE TRUE
MEANING OF HISTORY.
All God’s holy prophets since the world began
prophesied that the coming One, the redeemer of the
world, would banish all the gods of the nations, that He was the
hope of all creation, that all nations would come and worship before
Him, that all things and all men would be reconciled unto Him, and
that all principalities and powers would be made subject to Him.
Oh, yes! And history clearly records that in relation to all the
mystery religions and the ancient gods of all the great empires of
antiquity, THESE PROPHECIES WERE EXPLICITLY FULFILLED IN JESUS
CHRIST! Of all the religions of earth only Jesus triumphed
over the ancient gods! There are no temples or altars to Zeus
today, nor to Athena, nor to Baal, nor to Diana, nor to any other of
the ancient gods and goddesses. And He triumphed not only because
those gods, by man’s imagination and manipulation, had become false
gods, perverted representations of the original truth, but
truly because HE BECAME AT LAST THE VERY EMBODIMENT AND FULFILLMENT
OF THAT ORIGINAL TRUTH SO FAINTLY SHADOWED IN THEM! Jesus appeared
right on schedule, by divine destiny, and accomplished all that the
prophets had foretold and that the myths of all religions pointed
to! Thus He is the fulfillment not only of all the types and
shadows of the Old Testament, but even of the figures still set
forth in all the pagan religions of antiquity! Oh, the wonder of
it!
THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
Let us return now to the encampment of Israel in the wilderness. In
every temple there was a priest, the priest of that temple, who was
to receive the petitions and the sacrifices of the worshipper and to
get the answer back from God. So it was with Aaron in the Old
Testament. It was said of him and of the priesthood of Israel,
“They shall stand in my presence to minister,” and “they shall go
out and bless in my name.” This great truth reveals why God placed
the camp of the priests directly between Himself and
the people of Israel. It should be clear to any thinking mind that
the priesthood camped “round about” the tabernacle-throne
corresponds precisely to the twenty-four Elders seated “round about”
the throne in Revelation chapter four!
I would remind the reader of the account in I Chronicles
chapter twenty-four of how, under king David, the Levitical
priesthood was divided into TWENTY-FOUR COURSES under the headship
of TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS! The twenty-four courses or orders of the
priesthood were chosen by families — according to the twenty-four
grandsons of Aaron the high priest. Each course was named for one
of these twenty-four grandsons and the male descendants of each
grandson constituted one of the twenty-four courses throughout their
generations. We are inclined to lightly pass over many profound
statements of holy scripture. The priesthood was divided into
twenty-four orders for this stated purpose: “This was their order
for coming on duty to serve in the house of the Lord, according to
the procedure ordered for them by their grandfather Aaron, as the
Lord God of Israel had commanded him” (I Chron. 24:19, Amplified).
The priesthood numbered, in the time of David, some
18,000 who lived in the countryside of Galilee and Judea. Of
course, all those priests could not go into the temple at one time,
so they were divided into courses and assigned to work shifts, each
“course” of priests and Levites came on duty for a week, from one
Sabbath to another. When a “course” was on duty, all its members
were bound to appear in the temple, and the service of the week was
subdivided among the various families which constituted a “course.”
This order continued until Jesus came. We read about Zacharias, the
father of John the Baptist, in these words, “There was in the days
of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of
the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth” (Lk. 1:5). The point I wish to
emphasize here is this: It took all twenty-four courses
to MAKE UP THE ENTIRE PRIESTHOOD OF GOD! As the
Father unfolds these truths to the inner man, we become convinced
that as the four Living Creatures “in the midst of the throne”
reveal the glory of KINGSHIP, so the twenty-four Elders “round about
the throne” reveal the glory of PRIESTHOOD. KINGS AND PRIESTS! A
KINGDOM OF PRIESTS! PRIESTS THAT SIT UPON THRONES! REIGNING
PRIESTS!
This is the great truth revealed in the four Living
Creatures and the twenty-four Elders. John the Revelator summed up
in three short verses the wonderful truth of which I now write: “And
when He had taken the book, the four Living Creatures and the
four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, every one
of them having harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are
the prayers of the saints. And they (the four Living
Creatures and the twenty-four Elders) sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou
wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made
us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on
the earth” (Rev. 5:8-9). That is the mystery!
The twenty-four Elders represent the whole priesthood of
God, of which Jesus is the Head, our great High Priest. The
priesthood of God ministers from the Holiest of all, from the
Mercy-Throne in the heart of the Father. It is written of our Lord
Jesus Christ, “Forasmuch then as the children (of God) are partakers
of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.
For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on
Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to
be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a MERCIFUL AND
FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14-18). When
the Word of God consented to be made flesh, to strip Himself of the
glory He had before the world was, and become a man, a human being,
to live among the vileness of the sinful, rebellious, and dying, to
be touched by the same infirmities, weaknesses, and feelings that
touch us, to suffer being tempted in all points like as we are, to
be rejected and suffer the agony of false accusation and the
humiliation of ridicule, the pain of the stripes received from the
Roman lashes, and the trauma of the cross itself — why did He submit
to all this? The stock answer is that He had to become a man and
suffer and die in order to purchase our redemption. That is true!
That is certainly part of the reason He became a man, but only
part of it; there is much more to the reason He became a man,
much more!
In the passage quoted above we see that Jesus became a
man and suffered all that mankind suffers, not merely to die on the
cross for our sins, for He could have died without all the lifetime
of suffering, pain, temptation, sorrow, weakness, rejection, and
infirmity. He suffered so that after having redeemed us to God He
might become a High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, a
faithful High Priest and a MERCIFUL HIGH PRIEST. Ah, Jesus could be
the eternal King without having been so completely compassed
about with infirmity. But He could never be a Merciful High
Priest without it! He might have been perfect in character and
desirous to help us; but, if He had never tasted death, how could He
allay our fears as we walk through the dreadful quagmire of this
death realm? If He had never been sorely tempted, if He had
never encountered the allurement of the flesh and the almost
irresistible drawing power of sin and the world, how could He succor
those who are tempted? If He had never wept, how could He soothe
and dry our tears? If He had never suffered, hungered, wearied on
the hill of difficulty, or threaded His way through the swamplands
of grief, how could He be a merciful and faithful High
Priest, full of understanding, compassion, and kindness?
My purpose in writing of these mysteries is that all who
read might see that the nature of the firstborn Son of God, the High
Priest of our Profession, must be the nature of every member of the
house of sons who are also the body of the High Priest
— the Priests and the Priesthood of the most high God! This
company of priests, reigning priests, are the twenty-four Elders
“round about” the throne! “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we
shall reign on the earth.” “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon
them, and…they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4,6).
The wonderful book of Hebrews is literally packed full
of mysteries, types, shadows, and allegories, all pointing to the
ministry of the sons of God who are God’s Royal (Kingly)
Priesthood. These are only unfolded by the Spirit as we are
able to bear it. Hebrews chapter five sets forth the qualifications
of that typical High Priest under the law, and therefore the
qualifications that Christ Jesus, the anti-typical High Priest of
the new order of the Kingdom, must possess. All the members of the
Royal Priesthood, the Kings and Priests of the Kingdom who are, with
Him, “partakers of the heavenly calling,” must also have the same
qualifications, for they are the body of the High Priest.
“For every High Priest taken from among men is ordained
for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the
ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, for that he
himself is compassed about with infirmity” (Heb. 5:1-2). Here
we have defined the intrinsic nature of the priestly office! First,
he must be “taken from among men,” that is, he must partake of both
the nature and circumstances of those on whose behalf he acts.
Second, he acts not as a private individual, but as a public
official: “is ordained for men.” Third, he came not empty-handed
before God, but furnished with “gifts and sacrifices for sins
(errors, missing the mark).” Finally, he himself must not be exempt
from infirmity, so that he might the more readily succor the
distressed and distraught.
All this is important for it points to Jesus’
qualifications to be our great High Priest, the Head of the
priesthood company. A High Priest must know and experientially
understand the problems and limitations of those he represents.
“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out
of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with
infirmity.” On three different occasions Matthew tells us that
our Lord was “moved with compassion” on the multitudes. Frankly,
when you read the Gospels you read of Jesus doing miracles,
healings, mighty signs and wonders; but Jesus never went around
looking for a miracle to perform! HE WENT ABOUT DOING THE FATHER’S
WILL. The Father brought Him to a place where His heart could be
moved with compassion. It was not a gift of compassion that that
came to Him by a spiritual experience; it was the compassion wrought
out in His life by His many sorrows, sufferings, and testings. He
had suffered loss, He had suffered pain, He had suffered reproach.
Coming to a town He sees a funeral procession and as a Son, having
suffered the loss of Joseph and friends and family members, and
shared in the sorrow of His mother at the loss, thereby developing
the nature of a priest, He is filled with compassion when he sees
the widow and her dead son. There was no Social Security in those
days, and the boy was the only person to look after the widow, so He
stops the procession, raises the boy, hands him over to the mother,
and goes about the Father’s business. I find that the basis of
Jesus’ sonship ministry was not power — IT WAS COMPASSION!
When He saw the multitude He was moved with compassion.
They were hungry, and He had known knawing hunger, so He said, “Let
us feed them.” When He met the leper He was moved with compassion,
for He had experienced pain and shame, and He laid His hands upon
him and healed him. He could have spoken a word to heal him, but
the man needed the touch of somebody’s hand on him, he had been
separated from people so long, he needed more than to be healed from
his leprosy, he needed the sense of the hand of God upon him. When
Jesus looked upon the careworn faces of the toiling, tax-ridden
multitudes — taxed by cruel priests; taxed by Herod; taxed by
Pilate; taxed by their own sins and sorrows; wearily burdened,
wounded at heart, and heavy laden — He was not looking for a chance
to show off His power — He was moved with compassion.
“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them
that are out of the way; FOR THAT HE HIMSELF ALSO IS COMPASSED ABOUT
WITH INFIRMITY.” Ah, the condition which develops compassion in us,
is that we ourselves get compassed — surrounded, hedged in —
by the problems, the difficulties, the needs that are going to be
represented in the people to whom we minister. So many of us are
intolerant in certain areas of our lives because we have not gone
through the pressure, we have not been drawn by that insidious
temptation, we have not been compassed by that particular infirmity,
weakness, sorrow, or need. Priesthood demands suffering, trial,
testing, tribulation, and pressure. Sonship demands
relationship with God. He sends the spirit of the Son into our
hearts and we cry, “Abba, Father!” Now God intends that all of us
who have been called should be sons of God, and that all of us
should be a Kingdom of Priests, a Royal Priesthood unto God. But
you may be a son and still not be a priest!
John the Revelator said, “And I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them…and they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a
thousand years.” Here you see that it is not the sons who are
reigning — it is the PRIESTS! What about the sons? “He that
overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son.” The sons inherit, for they are
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Who, then, is
destined to reign? THE SONS WHO ARE PRIESTS! Christ was a
Son before He was a Priest. He was not a Priest during His years in
the flesh, although He was qualifying to be one, but He was a Son.
Christ in His ministry from the heavens today is not merely the Son
of God. As a Son He is “heir of all things.” But to become the
great High Priest and provide the priestly ministry on our behalf
the Son had, as a Son, to go through the experience that was
necessary to perfect Him for the understanding heart of the
Priesthood. “We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities; BUT WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED
LIKE AS WE ARE…” (Heb. 4:15). “Though He were a Son, yet learned He
obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect
(for the Priesthood), He became…AN HIGH PRIEST AFTER THE
ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK” (Heb. 5:8-10). Ah, Jesus could have been a
son without being so totally compassed with infirmity, BUT HE
COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A PRIEST WITHOUT IT!
There have been those precious folk who have said to me,
“Brother Eby, I don’t understand. Since I came into this kingdom
message things have gotten worse — all hell has broken loose.” That
is just what you need — IF YOU WOULD BE A PRIEST! Have you not
known some beautiful saints to whom you naturally betake yourself in
time of trial and sorrow? They always seem to speak the right word,
to give the very counsel you are longing for; you do not realize,
however, the cost they have had to pay ere they became so skillful
in binding up gaping wounds and drying tears. But if you were to
investigate their past you would find that they have suffered more
than most. They have watched the slow untwisting of some silver
cord on which the lamp of life hung. They have seen the golden bowl
of joy dashed at their feet, and its contents spilt. They have
stood by ebbing tides, and drooping flowers, and darkened skies; but
all this has been necessary to make them comforters and healers,
the priests of men. The reason our blessed Lord is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities is that He knoweth our
frame. He remembereth that we are dust. He knows this not by
revelation or by divine omniscience, but He Himself was a “man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Aren’t you glad!
Merciful priests! The priestly heart is above all
things a caring, sympathetic, compassionate, merciful heart in which
the love of Christ constrains us to express His goodness unto men.
The Bible-waving preacher on the street corner, screaming at the
passersby that they must repent or burn in hell, knows nothing at
all about being a priest of God. If a vicious serial killer is
caught and put to death, or some homosexual activist is murdered or
dies of aids, there is that deceitful self-righteous spirit within
us which silently judges, saying, “Good…there is one less murderer
and one less pervert in the world.” As righteously moral as that
appears, I tell you earnestly that it is not the Spirit of God, and
it is not the judgment of a Priest of God! A priestly heart!
Oh, Spirit of God, write upon my heart with indelible letters the
merciful heart of my High Priest!
It is my deep conviction that it is more important to express the
tender, forgiving, compassionate nature of Christ in meeting a
person’s need, than in witnessing to people about the “plan of
salvation.” Christians have become so conditioned to the idea that
they aren’t “doing anything for God” unless they go out and witness,
skillfully using the sword of the word of God. But, my precious
brother, my dear sister, when you are unconditionally loving and
merciful and encourage and speak life to people in their desperate
need, you become a living word to them that says, “I care and
God cares for you!” Jesus said that He did not come into the world
to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved. Priests are not condemners; priests are saviours!
Jesus speaks His word through us in actions, we become a word
that is alive to men, not a dead doctrinal word, or religious word,
but a Living Word. This is a life to be lived, as Jesus did, and it
is more important than quoting scripture, witnessing, teaching or
preaching. Instead of witnessing, we BECOME THE WITNESS of what our
Father is really like.
Those who are called to the high calling of sonship to God are the
kings and priests who shall reign on the earth and restore all
things back into God again. There is both a Godward and a manward
work in redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. As I mentioned
earlier, there was this Godward and manward ministry expressed
through the priesthood of Aaron in the tabernacle in the
wilderness. It is written of him and the priests of Israel, “They
shall stand in my presence to minister,” and “they shall go out and
bless in my name.” And so our great High Priest, Jesus, stands in
the heavens of God’s Spirit as the “minister of the sanctuary,” as
the priest of the tabernacle which the Lord has pitched, and not
man, and He ministers in this dual way. He both carries us to the
Father and brings the Father into us. In and by His blood He
Himself brings us nigh to God. But He does more! Without
interruption there flows back from the Father to the Son, in whom He
delights, a stream of blessing to impart to His people on earth.
And in Him, the entire priesthood, the body of the High Priest, so
ministers both unto God and unto men. Anything short of this is
not priesthood!
The High Priest was thus the mediator between God and the people.
He carried into the presence of God the sins and needs of the
people, and carried the people in him. The people drew nigh to God
in the person of the High Priest, identified in him as he entered
into the Holiest of all by the blood. He obtained from God the
power to declare remission of sin and the right of blessing the
people. Then when the High Priest came out of the Most Holy Place,
God drew nigh unto the people in the person of the High Priest. Oh,
we see it so clearly in these instructive words, “And Moses and
Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out,
and BLESSED THE PEOPLE: and THE GLORY OF THE LORD APPEARED UNTO ALL
THE PEOPLE” (Lev. 9:23). The service of the priesthood is thus
clear, FIRST TO MINISTER TO THE LORD, then to stand between the
Creator and His creation, to minister the life of Christ to those
who sit in darkness, in the region of the shadow of death, until all
are fully reconciled to God again, and behold the glory of the
Lord! The body of Christ, like its glorious Head, is a kingdom
of priests, a people for a purpose.
I cannot emphasize too strongly the important truth that
all priesthood has a double outreach — ministry to both God
and man. Notice how Jesus often spent the whole night in prayer
communing with the Father; then He came down from the mountain, from
the high place in the Spirit, to touch and bless and deliver the
multitudes of the helpless and needy. It could not be otherwise,
for a priest is one who “stands between” the throne and the great
multitude, and the moment a priest ceases to touch both God and man,
unifying the two, he simply ceases to be a priest. He may be a
worshipper who speaks to God, or a king who rules for God,
or a prophet who speaks on behalf of God, but no man can have
a one-sided ministry and be a priest! The priest ministers unto God
on behalf of men and unto men on behalf of God. The priest touches
God with one hand and mankind with the other hand, bringing the two
together by his priestly ministration. That is priesthood!
Anything less or different than this is not priesthood at all.
Let us then stand assured of this marvelous truth: the
four Living Creatures represent kingship, for they dwell
in the midst of the throne. The twenty-four Elders reveal
within themselves the ministry of priesthood, for they are
round about the throne, standing between the God of the throne
and the vast multitude “before” the throne. These are not two
separate companies; these are rather two aspects of
ministry that have their source and power in the throne.
This is the KING-PRIEST MINISTRY OF THE MANIFEST SONS OF GOD! These
are all sons of God in the power and outflow of life and glory from
the throne. God is raising up within each of His called and chosen
elect the spirit and nature of sonship, the spirit and
nature of kingship, and the spirit and nature of priesthood.
These are the realities John saw in the throne room! Oh, the
mystery of it!
To be continued…
J. PRESTON EBY
Please send any inquiries or requests to the snail
mail address:
Kingdom Bible Studies
PO Box 371240
El Paso, TX 79937-1240
Mark Eby for Kingdom Bible Studies.
All writings are
distributed on a free-will offering basis.
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