The Lord’s heart’s desire is not only to save us from the world, from sin, and from the self; He wants all His people to be a kingdom of priests, kings and priests to God.
As God’s spiritual people today we are His personal treasure, His peculiar possession, so that we may be a kingdom of priests (Exo. 19:12), those who are reigning in life over Satan, sin, the world, the flesh, and death, and those who contact God to be filled with God and express God.
But the priesthood has been lost in Christianity, and there’s a class of “super-Christians” who minister to the “laymen”; at the same time, the kingship has been lost. The Lord today wants to recover His people to be His priests and kings for God’s building; this is to recover us to God’s original intention in creating man, that is, back to having God’s image to express Him and having His dominion to represent Him.
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. What was originally God’s intention was lost throughout the ages but it is in the process of being recovered today and will be our portion for eternity when we will be the New Jerusalem with the throne of God and of the Lamb (the kingship) out of which flows the river of water of life (the priesthood).
Today in the church age we need to simply come forward to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help, and we will enjoy the flow of life from the throne of God to be His priests and kings.
Hallelujah, the living God is flowing to come into us and flow through us to refresh us, water us, and supply us, and He Himself is the timely help as mercy and grace. In His mercy He reaches us, and with His grace He supplies us; the result is that we are under God’s throne to represent His authority and we flow Him out as water of life to express Him. Hallelujah!
As Priests we Come Forward to the Throne of Grace to Receive Mercy and Find Grace
How can we as believers in Christ minister today as a priest? Do we have to be dressed in long robes, do a certain ritual, and be in a certain place? According to Hebrews 4:16, the way for us to minister as a priest is simply to come forward to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.
If we put this verse together with Rev. 22:1 we see that the river of water of life proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb to be mercy and grace to us. God’s mercy reaches us wherever we are, even in our lowest condition, and it brings us to a position where we can receive God’s grace; then, we find grace for timely help.
If we come forward to contact the Lord and behold Him by praying in our spirit and touching His throne, we will experience the Spirit flowing in us. The Spirit is not only the anointing but also the flow of living water; whenever we come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, mercy and grace flow like a river toward us for our timely help.
We need help: many times we don’t know what kind of help we need, but when we come to the Lord and contact Him by praying in spirit, we receive mercy and grace for timely help. The Lord Jesus has opened the way into the Holy of Holies, and we can enter in (Heb. 10:19-20); if we apply the Lord’s blood and come forward to touch the throne of grace, God flows to refresh and water us, and we experience indescribable joy!
This is our experience many times: we need help from the Lord, we need answers from Him, and we come to touch Him in spirit; what we get is the flow of water of life as mercy and grace, and we are inwardly supplied. Our situation may not change or turn to better, and we may not get any answers from the Lord, but what we get is the supply of life, the mercy and grace, and we are filled with an indescribable joy, no matter how harsh the circumstances are.
We think we need answers, solutions, and a change of situation; we want the suffering to end, the problems to disappear, and the hard things to go away. But God wants us to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace so that we may receive the river of water of life to be supplied. This supply, this flow of the Spirit of life from the throne of God, is the timely help, which is the mercy and grace of God.
Mercy and grace refer to God flowing through us and being gained by us. Timely help is not God taking us out of a hard situation or Him removing the problems or the suffering; timely help is the living God, the flowing God, coming into us and flowing through us to refresh us, water us, and supply us.
Whenever, by the Lord’s blood we come forward and touch the throne of grace, God flows to refresh and water us, and we experience such an indescribable joy, no matter how harsh, terrible, or unpleasant the outward situations are (1 Pet. 1:8).
Lord Jesus, we come forward with boldness to the throne of grace right now so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Lord, we apply Your precious blood and enter into the Holy of Holies to touch the throne of God and receive the river of water of life. Oh Lord, we need the timely help – we need the flowing God coming into us to flow through us and refresh, water, and supply us. Save us from seeking answers or solutions, and keep us coming to You to be supplied, refreshed, and watered so that You may flow through us more!
Coming to the Throne of Grace (Priesthood) and of Authority (Kingship)
The throne of God – the unique throne in the universe – is a throne of grace and a throne of authority; to us, the believers, this throne is the throne of grace, but to God’s enemy it is the throne of authority. God has only one throne in the universe: God in Christ (the Lamb) is on the throne, and this throne is to us the throne of grace to which we come forward with boldness, and to the enemy this is a throne of authority.
Out of the throne of God flows the river of water of life for grace and mercy (Rev. 22:1; Heb. 4:16), and also the river of fire for judgement (Dan. 7:9-10). The flow of the river of water of life produces and consummates in the New Jerusalem as a city of water, but the river of the fire of God’s judgement flows into the lake of fire. As believers in Christ we are both priest and kings; as priests, we come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace, and as kings, we come to the throne of authority.
When we touch the throne of grace and allow the living water to flow through us, we receive mercy and grace for timely help; then, we can touch His throne of authority so that He can judge the improper situations within us. The way God’s authority is manifested in us is not in an outward way but in an inward way: as we drink the river of water of life flowing from the throne of grace, God’s authority is exercised in us and any improper situations are exposed and dealt with.
May we be those who take the lead to enter into the Holy of Holies through the new and living way opened by the Lord Jesus through His blood so that we may touch the throne of grace and allow the water of life to flow through us. Then our inner condition will match that of the New Jerusalem: the river is flowing in us and through us, and the throne of God is established in our being.
This will supply us inwardly and at the same time expose anything that does not correspond to God’s holy nature in our being. As we receive the flow of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb, we are brought into the fellowship with God and we will be built up in His life to be His dwelling place, His spiritual house, His holy and royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5, 9).
May we be those who daily come forward to the throne of grace to both receive mercy and grace and be brought under God’s authority so that we may have the priesthood and the kingship for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
Lord Jesus, keep us coming forward to the throne of grace to receive the river of water of life for grace. We want to allow the water of life to flow into us and to flow through us. Lord, have a way to expose and judge any improper situations in us as we touch the throne of authority. Oh Lord Jesus, we come forward to the Holy of Holies, our mingled spirit, in order to touch the throne of grace and allow the water of life to flow through us. Lord, bring us into the fellowship with God and cause us to be built up in His life to be Your dwelling place!
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, The Priesthood and God’s Building, ch. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or 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:
# I come before Thy throne of grace / With hungry heart on Thee to feed, / Thy grace and mercy to receive / To help me in this hour of need. (Hymns #813)
# Pray to touch the throne of God, / Touch the throne of grace divine, / Grace to find and mercy too / Which will meet the need of thine. (Hymns #783)
# River of living water, / River that flows from the throne, / Fellowship giving and making / God’s own authority known. (Hymns #984)
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