The Coordinated Body of Priests, the Priesthood, is God’s Built-up Spiritual House

God’s heart’s desire to have a corporate expression in this universe is fulfilled by the priesthood; what the Lord is doing today is to recover the priesthood, and we as believers in Christ need to cooperate with Him to be those who are brought into His presence and even into the Lord Himself until we are one with Him.

Throughout the Bible we see how the priesthood was strengthened among God’s people, and then it was lost; then God came in to recover the priesthood, and His glory shined through His people, but then God’s people lost the priesthood. In Christianity today the priesthood has been lost, damaged, and degraded; everyone does “what’s right in their own eyes” and according to their interpretation of the Bible.

May the Lord have mercy on us to recover the priesthood among us in all the local churches so that He may have a dwelling place, a corporate people who express Him with His glory.

According to 1 Pet. 2:5 and 9 we are a holy priesthood being built up as a spiritual house to be God’s dwelling place; we are being built up as a coordinated body of priests – the priesthood – to be God’s built-up spiritual house, the church.

May the Lord shine on us to see our need and to see God’s need; our need is to be those who spend time with God to be filled and saturated with God, and we need to spend time to fellowship with the saints in spirit so that we may be built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. God’s need is to have a group of people who live in His presence and are brought into God Himself so that they may be one with God for the fulfillment of His purpose; this is the priesthood.

The Coordinated Body of Priests, the Priesthood, is God’s Built-up Spiritual House

All believers in Christ are regenerated by God with His divine life and nature, and they are living stones being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:5). We are a spiritual house – we are God’s spiritual building, God’s dwelling place today, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.

As believers in Christ we are in the process of being transformed from men of clay into precious stones so that we may be built up into God’s house, God’s building.

Praise the Lord, there’s a building work going on right now, and it is carried out by the process of “petrification”, that is, transformation: as we daily and even moment-by-moment turn to the Lord, come to Him and drink Him in His word, we are being transformed into stones suitable for God’s building. Together, we are a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.

The holy priesthood is the spiritual house. In the New Testament three Greek words are used in relation to the priests: hierosune, referring to the priestly office, as in Heb. 7:12; hierateia, referring to the priestly service, as in Heb. 7:5; and hierateuma, referring to the assembly of priests, a body of priests, a priesthood, as in this verse and v. 9. The coordinated body of priests is the built-up spiritual house. Although Peter did not address his two Epistles to the church or use the term church in this verse in stressing the corporate life of the believers, he did use the terms spiritual house and holy priesthood to indicate the church life. It is not the spiritual life lived in an individualistic way, but the spiritual life lived in a corporate way, that can fulfill God’s purpose and satisfy His desire. He wants a spiritual house for His dwelling, a priestly body, a priesthood, for His service. Peter’s view concerning the believers’ corporate service in coordination is the same as Paul’s in Rom. 12. This service issues from the three vital steps in the spiritual life: being born anew (v. 2a), growing in life by being nourished with Christ (v. 2b), and being built up with the believers. (1 Peter 2:5, footnote 7 on, priesthood, Recovery Version Bible)

God is not after individual priests who individually shine for God and are so filled with God that everyone can see that and thus admire them. What God is after is a priesthood, a “hood of priests”, an assembly of priests who are coordinated together to be the built-up spiritual house for God’s dwelling and expression.

On the one hand we need to personally live before the Lord, be in God’s presence, and be brought into God Himself that we may be one with Him, and on the other hand we need to be built up with the saints into a coordinated body of priests in our meetings and service for God’s expression (see 1 Pet. 1; Rom. 12).

We enjoy Christ, eat Christ, drink Christ, and let Christ flow into us and through us, and when we come together, we offer up spiritual sacrifices through Christ and with Christ to God for His satisfaction. It is not the spiritual life lived in an individual way that God is after but the spiritual life lived in a corporate way that can fulfill God’s purpose and satisfy His desire (Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; 3:11; Gen. 1:26).

What God desires is the church life – the spiritual house and the holy priesthood in Peter’s writings – as a spiritual house for His dwelling, a priestly body for His service. May we be those who in reality and practicality are God’s spiritual house for His dwelling and satisfaction, and may we be built up as a priesthood for HIs service. When we have the priesthood, we have the building, the corporate expression of Christ.

If we don’t have the priesthood, we don’t have the building; if we don’t have the priesthood and we don’t care about it, this is serious. May the Lord recover us back to His original intention of having a coordinated body of priests that are His built-up spiritual house!

Lord Jesus, keep us in the process of transformation from being clay into being precious stones suitable for Your building. Lord, may Your divine life live and grow in us, and may Your divine nature separate us and sanctify us that we may be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. Gain a coordinated body of priests that are filled with God and function in their measure in coordination in the church life Lord, gain Your built-up spiritual house, Your holy priesthood, among us in the local churches today!

Being One with the Building and Builded God to Build God into Man and Man into God

Concerning our ministry as priests, we need to be one with the building and builded God to build God into man and man into God (see Eph. 3:16-17; John 14:2, 23). In our spiritual pursuit of Christ we may desire to be “a man after God’s heart” such as David was…but a person may be after God’s heart and yet be without God, without having God wrought into Him.

What God is after today is not one who merely knows God’s heart but one into whom God has been wrought and into whom God is built. God’s desire is to work Himself into His chosen people so that He may flow through them into others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

If we realize that this is God’s desire, we will cooperate with Him and work together with Him to have God built into our being and minister Christ to others so that the Triune God may build Himself into their being.

Our work today is not merely to save souls for God but to minister God into man so that this God would build Himself into man and make man a part of His building, the church as the Body of Christ. This is why when we speak to one another we should not merely impart Bible knowledge or doctrines but exercise our spirit to minister something of Christ into others so that the Triune God may be built into their being!

The God whom we minister is not just the building God – He is also the builded God! Hallelujah!

If we minister anything besides Christ to others, our work will be wood, grass, and stubble; but if we cooperate with the Lord to be transformed and have God built into our being, we will minister the Triune God as gold (the Father in His divine nature), silver (the Son in His redemptive work), and precious stones (the Spirit in His transforming work) into others for the building up of the church (1 Cor. 3:12).

We may now understand how this happens since we have a limited mind, but we can pray these things to the Lord and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to be those who are not only according to Your heart but who also have God wrought into them. Lord, work Yourself into us and build God into our being that we may be precious stones for God’s building. Give us the experiences we need that we may be constituted with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and we would thus minister the building and the builded God into others! Lord, make us one with You as the building and builded God to build God into man and man into God for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Priesthood and God’s Building, chs. 11-13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 8 / msg 8, The Recovery of the Priesthood for God’s building.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # By Thy life and by its flowing / I can grow and be transformed, / With the saints coordinated, / Builded up, to Thee conformed; / Keep the order in the Body, / There to function in Thy will, / Ever serving, helping others, / All Thy purpose to fulfill. (Hymns #840)
  # Now the church is but the priesthood; / Thus the priesthood formed we need; / When the priests are knit together, / Then the church is built indeed. / Only serving by our praying / Will our spirits mingled be; / Stressing prayer as much as preaching- / Thus the church is built for Thee. (Hymns #848)
  # Building God and man in one / Is their work before the Lord; / In this fellowship divine / Saints are built in one accord. (Hymns #849)