God’s intention in creating man is that man would express Him with His image and represent Him with His dominion; the priesthood causes man to have the image of God and the kingship causes man to have the dominion of God to accomplish God’s original intention (Gen. 1:26).
God created man in His image and with His likeness so that man would receive Him as life to express Him and represent Him; on the one hand man is in God’s image to express God corporately, and on the other, man has God’s authority to deal with God’s enemy and bring in God’s kingdom.
God’s original intention in creating man is fulfilled through the priesthood and the kingship. The priests enjoy God, are saturated and filled with God, and they allow God to flow through them so that God may be expressed in His image. The kings reign in life by allowing Christ as grace to reign in them, and they bear God’s authority to deal with God’s enemy, thus representing God and bringing in God’s kingdom.
From the beginning to the very end of the Bible we see that God wants all His people to be priests and kings to God so that they may express Him and represent Him, thus fulfilling God’s original purpose in creating man.
The Priesthood is for the Expression of God as the Priests Enjoy God and let Him Flow through them
There are two main aspects of God’s purpose in the creation of man: image and dominion (Gen. 1:26); image is for the expression of God and dominion is for the representation of God to deal with His enemy. The priesthood is for the expression of God; as the priests enjoy the Lord and are filled with Him, they become His expression, manifestation, habitation, and dwelling place.
As we enjoy God and spend time with Him to be infused with Him and filled with Him, we become His spiritual house as His holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5). We need to draw near to God and allow Him to fill us, saturate us, and permeate us, and then God will flow through us so that He may be expressed through us.
Moses went up on the mountain and spent 40 days and 40 nights in God’s presence, and he was so saturated and permeated with God that even his face was shining (Exo. 34:28-30).
When we put aside all other matters and remain in God’s presence, live in God’s presence, touch God, and allow God to flow in and out of us, we are saturated with Him and even our whole being will be filled with God’s glory. This is what a priest does: a priest spends time in God’s presence, ministers to God, and allows God to flow in and out of him; as a result, a priest bears God’s image and expresses God in a practical way.
The priesthood is for contacting God to be mingled with God and to be transformed into and conformed to Christ’s image for His expression (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:28-29). We need to draw near to God, contact God, and open ourselves to God so that we may be mingled with God, transformed by God, and conformed to Christ’s image for His expression.
The highest profession on earth is to spend time being infused with God so that we may glow with God and shine forth God; this is the real priesthood. We need to spend time with God so that we may be infused with God until we glow with God and shine Him forth into others; this is the real priesthood, and this causes us to bear God’s image.
Thank You Lord for creating us in Your image and according to Your likeness that we may express You corporately. Lord, keep us in Your presence enjoying You, contacting You, and opening our whole being to You so that we may be infused with You, be saturated with You, and be filled with You until You overflow through us for Your corporate expression. Lord, we draw near to You and open ourselves to You so that we may be mingled with You, transformed by You, and conformed to Christ’s image for His expression!
The Kingship is for Representing God with His Authority to Deal with His enemy
The kingship is for the Lord’s authority, His dominion; throughout the Bible we see that a proper king represented God with His authority to deal with His enemy. There’s a “line of priesthood” and a line of kingship” through the Bible, and God’s original purpose in creating man is fulfilled through the priesthood and the kingship.
The line of dominion is the line of the kingship, because a king receives authority from God in order to reign for God. In our Christian life we need to reign in life over Satan, sin, and death in order to represent God with His dominion for His kingdom (Rom. 5:17, 21).
How can we reign in life? It is by receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, and by allowing grace to reign in us. According to Vine’s expository dictionary, “Grace is something which occasions pleasure or delight”. Grace is God in Christ as the Spirit for our pleasure, delight, and enjoyment. When we enjoy the Lord, we reign in life as grace reigns in our being.
In order for us to reign in life we need to have more grace – more enjoyment of the Lord! Every day we need grace upon grace (John 1:16). When we are in our spirit, we are in the country of grace, but when we’re in our mind, we’re in a country of quarrelling and doubts (Gal. 6:18).
When we read and pray over God’s word, we are filled with the word of His grace (Acts 20:32), and when we exercise our spirit to touch the Lord, the Spirit of grace imparts grace into our being (Heb. 10:29; Zech. 12:10). Hallelujah, grace is with all those who love the Lord in incorruptibility (Gal. 6:26)!
We should be those who turn our heart to the Lord, exercise our spirit, love and enjoy the Lord, and we will enjoy much grace – much enjoyment of the Triune God! When others come among us they need to see the grace of God upon us (Acts 4:23), just as Barnabas saw the grace of God (Acts 11:23).
When we are saved, have a change in life, living a holy life, and exercise our spirit to prophesy in the meetings, grace is made visible among us. It is by the grace of God that we are what we are, and our labor in and for Him should be in this grace of God (1 Cor. 15:10).
His grace is sufficient for us, even though we may have a thorn in our flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-9); the Lord may not remove our weakness, sickness, or problem, but He is eager to increase the level of grace so that by enjoying the Lord we may overcome.
The stewardship of the grace of God is to me for you: we enjoy the Lord not only for ourselves but for others also (Eph. 3:2). The motivation for us to enjoy the Lord is that others may also enjoy Him; we have an economy, a stewardship of grace, given to us for others. The last verse of the Bible tells us, The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints, Amen!
Lord Jesus, give us grace upon grace! Keep us in our spirit, the country of grace, so that we may enjoy You as our pleasure and delight. We love reading and praying over Your word which is the word of grace. Lord Jesus, we love You! Fill us with Your enjoyment until grace reigns in us so that we may reign in life. Oh Lord, may we receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that we may reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ! Increase the level of grace in our daily life so that any problem or weakness would be swallowed up in Your grace. Hallelujah, the grace of the Lord Jesus is with us!
The Priesthood and the Kingship are for God’s Expression and His Representation
Throughout the Bible we see the line of the priesthood (starting with Abel, the first priest who offered pure lambs to God, and ending with the New Jerusalem, a city of priests) and of the kingship. Christ’s redemption made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father (Rev. 1:5-6); we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood to God.
All believers in Christ are priests and kings to God; however, not all practice being a priest and a king. In the millennium the overcomers will be priests, drawing near to God and Christ, and they also will be kings, reigning over the nations with Christ (Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6).
But the believers who are defeated will forfeit this reward; they will pass through a thousand years of being dealt with and produced as overcomers, and in the New Jerusalem all God’s people will serve God in the priesthood and will represent God in the kingship (see Rev. 22:3, 5).
The whole city of New Jerusalem is like jasper (Rev. 21:11, 18); God’s appearance is like jasper (Rev. 4:3). In the holy city the water of life – the Spirit of life – flows to fill the city with God! The whole city of New Jerusalem will express God in a corporate way, being the corporate priesthood for God’s expression. Furthermore, those who are a part of the New Jerusalem will reign as kings and exercise God’s authority for eternity (Rev. 22:5).
The New Jerusalem is a city of priests expressing God and of kings reigning with God; the priesthood and the kingship will ultimately fulfill God’s original intention in creating man: image and dominion!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 2, “Functioning in Life as Gifts Given to the Body of Christ,” chs. 7-8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood for God’s Building, week 1 / msg 1, The Priesthood and the Kingship for God’s Building.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# In the Word of old, we are clearly told, / In His image God created man. / To express His worth, to subdue the earth, / Have dominion and fulfill His plan. / Image, image, / In His image He created man. / Image, image, / For dominion, to fulfill His Plan. (Hymns #1144)
# Putting on the Lord as clothing, / Christ without he doth express; / Eating, drinking, with Him mingled, / Christ within doth him possess. / O how blessed is the priest’s life, / Christ to him is all in all. (Hymns #911)
# How I love Your reigning life, Lord. / How I love abundant grace. / How I love to have Your presence, / As I live before Your face. / By Your life, Lord, I am reigning. / I am over, over everything. / As I’m joyfully confessing, / Jesus, as my Lord and King. (Song on Reigning in Life)
About aGodMan
There are two main aspects in the creation of man: image and authority, dominion (Gen. 1:26). Image refers to the expression of God, and dominion is for the representation of God to deal with His enemy. These two aspects were in God’s original intention….From the beginning to the end of the Bible there are these two lines, the line of image and expression and the line of dominion and representation.
The priesthood is for the expression of God. The priests enjoy the Lord, and they become His expression, manifestation, habitation, and dwelling place. Through the priesthood God fully gains His image and expression. The kingship, on the other hand, is for authority and dominion. The kings represent God to deal with His enemy. These are the two items of the original intention of God. (Collected Works on Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 2, p. 466)
Thank God we have been created in God’s image and we can contain God’s life to enable us to express Him and have dominion, to represent Him here on earth. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “ But we all with unveiled face, behold and reflect the lord like a mirror the glory of the Lord and we are being transformed from image to image and from glory to glory, even as from the lord Spirit. First we need to behold the Lord daily in order to enable others to see the Glory of the Lord expressed through us. One way to behold Him is come to Him by calling on the name of the Lord as we take in Christ as the Spirit. Isaiah 12:3-4 says that when we call on the name of the Lord and declare His doings we drink out of the wells of salvation. Christ is the well of salvation and whenever we call on His name we draw the water of Life from the wells of salvation that strengthens and nourishes us and enables us to grow in Life. As we draw out of the well of salvation we spontaneously behold the Lord and are being transformed from one stage of glory to another and will be conformed into the same image. Romans 8:29 says, “Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Everyone who is called by God has a glorious destiny and we give thanks to the lord for coming to us day after day and whenever we call and behold Him. Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!