The service of the priests was in nature a spiritual warfare, and the portion of the priests was nothing other than Christ – Christ was their house, inheritance, land, clothing, food, and everything.
As believers in Christ we are priests to God; we are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, priests to God and to the Lamb. This means that we need to spend time in God’s presence to be infused with God, and we need to bring God’s presence to man; a priest brings God to man and brings man to God, for God to be infused into man and man to be brought to God.
In the Old Testament there were two kinds of serving ones to God – the priests (who served in the tabernacle and with the offerings) and the Levites (who served the priesthood and with many practical things around the tabernacle).
Especially as the children of Israel were journeying in the wilderness toward the good land, the priests ministered to God in the tabernacle, but when the tabernacle was on the move, it was the Levites portion to move it and carry it.
Some of the Levites took care of the outer court and the boards of the tabernacle, with the skins and all the sockets, while others carried the holy things, including the ark. God had a specific arrangement for the priests and for the Levites, and the priests assigned work to the Levites.
Today in the spiritual realm we can say that the Levites can be those doing practical service in the church life, while the priests are those who do “spiritual things” such as ministering the word, preaching the gospel, etc.
But actually in our experience we are both priests and Levites, that is, we are both those who minister Christ to others and who serve in practical things.
However, we can’t divorce these two aspects of our service, that is, we should not focus only on the practical things at hand but rather, focus first on our function as priest, and when we contact the Lord we are enabled to do many practical things.
Our service in the church needs to be under the inward supervision of the priestly view, that is, we always need to contact the Lord and be infused with Him, whether we do practical things or not, so that we may enable Him to work Himself into us and fill us, and He would work in us and through us.
Our priestly service before the Lord in the church life is in the nature of spiritual warfare, for everything we do in the spiritual realm toward God is opposed by the enemy. We need to see more on this matter today.
Edifying the Saints, Administrating the Church, and Praying are all a Kind of Warfare
All our priestly service in the church is in the nature of spiritual warfare; preaching the gospel, edifying the saints, administrating the church, and praying are all a kind of warfare.
When we preach the gospel, we not only speak the good news to those who are listening, but we are fighting for them to be delivered out of the authority of Satan and brought into the kingdom of God. Our preaching the gospel is to deliver others from the authority of darkness and transfer them into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
The god of this age blinds the minds and thoughts of the people today so that they may not see the light of the gospel; our preaching the gospel is in nature a kind of warfare, where we stand on the Lord’s side to deliver others from Satan’s authority.
Once someone calls on the name of the Lord to receive Him, he enters under the authority of the Lord; Satan’s authority is removed, and man is brought into the kingdom of God.
Edifying the saints is also a matter of spiritual warfare; to edify the saints is not only to build them up in the truth but to deliver them from the rule of Satan, that is, from sins, the world, the flesh, and everything related to the old creation, all of which are used by Satan to rule over man.
When we edify the saints, we help them call on the name of the Lord deeper so that they would allow the Lord to increase His reign in them and thereby let the kingdom of God come more fully upon them.
The spiritual warfare we wage as priests to God is not in the flesh; we don’t fight with fleshly weapons but with powerful weapons before God for the overthrowing of strongholds, as we overthrow reasonings and every high thing rising up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ (see 2 Cor. 10:3-5).
Even though a believer is saved, it is possible that a large portion of his mind and thoughts, with his ideas and concepts, are usurped by Satan. This is why we need to be edified, and those who edify the saints need to cast down through warfare all the strongholds and bases of Satan in the saints, and eventually bring their thoughts into captivity unto the obedience of Christ.
Similarly, administrating the church is a warfare; the purpose of administering the church is not merely to take care of the business affairs but even more, to deliver the church out of the power of darkness and to let God gain the place of rule in the church.
Administering the church is for us to let the name of God be exalted in the church, to let the will of God be done in the church, and to let the glory of God be increasingly manifested in the church. For all these to take place, spiritual warfare is needed.
Even in our prayers, whether our personal prayer or our prayer for our family, for the saints, for revival, or for anything else, all our prayers are for the purpose of delivering us out of the satanic power of darkness.
All our spiritual work as priests, whether it be delivering man from sin, from the world, from illness, or from problems, has the ultimate goal of rescuing people out of the power of Satan and driving out the satanic power of darkness from within men so that men might be gained even more by God.
This is what we pray for, this is what we fight for, and this is the result of our spending time with the Lord.
Lord Jesus, we pray that Your name be sanctified among men, Your kingdom reach unto all men, Your will be done in men, and Your glory be manifested upon men. Amen, Lord, for this we want to spend time with You to be infused with You and filled with You so that we may fulfill our holy service as priests. May we realise that all the spiritual work we do in serving the Lord is that of spiritual warfare. Lord, we stand with You on earth for Your kingdom to come, Satan’s kingdom to be diminished, his rule to be overthrown, and men to be delivered from Satan’s kingdom and brought into God’s kingdom!
Our Unique Portion as Priests is Christ – He’s our House, Inheritance, Land, Clothing, Food, and Everything
In Num. 18:8-32 we see that a reward, or compensation, was given to Aaron and his sons as the priests and to the serving Levites; v. 20 in particular says that God is the inheritance and portion of His serving ones.
All the other tribes in Israel had a portion of the good land allotted to them, but the tribe of Levi had no portion of inheritance outwardly; God was to be their portion and their inheritance among the children of Israel. This is the reward and compensation of serving as a priest and a Levite.
As a priest and a Levite one would not get rich or accumulate possessions, but they will accumulate God as their portion of inheritance. As believers in Christ we are priests to God, and our unique portion of inheritance is nothing else but Christ; Christ is our house, our inheritance, our land, our clothing, and our everything (v. 31).
God gave the priesthood as a service of gift to the priests (Num. 18:7); the priesthood itself was a gift given to them. To Moses and Aaron and their sons God gave all the portions from the house of Israel, all the holy portions that are not consumed by fire.
The priests enjoyed the same thing that God enjoyed – they ate God’s food, that is, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. The priests ate God’s food, which is holy food. The house of the priests was God Himself; He was their dwelling, the place where they lived.
God was the inheritance and possession of the priests; He was their land, their clothing, their food, and their everything. When we as New Testament priests serve God, we are like the Lord Jesus in John 4 – we have food which others do not know about, for we eat God’s food, holy food.
Today in the New Testament the Levitical service is combined with the priesthood (see 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). There’s no difference between the priests and the servants of the priests; the believers in Christ are both the priests and the serving Levites. The only reward, the only compensation, for our priestly and Levitical service is Christ (see Matt. 25:23; 2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 3:20-21).
In 2 Tim. 4:8 Paul was confident that the crown of righteousness is waiting for him in that day, and this crown the Lord will give to all those who love His appearing.
Today our portion is Christ; our unique supply is Christ; what we eat and drink is Christ; what we handle is Christ; what we live on is Christ – He is our land. Our clothing is Christ, our food is Christ, and Christ is everything to us.
For us to serve God as priests, Christ is everything to us; He’s our unique portion. And He will also be our inheritance; we are not here to have an inheritance on earth – our inheritance is in the heavens, and Christ is our unique reward and portion. The only reward, the only compensation, for our priestly and Levitical service is Christ.
Lord Jesus, You are our unique portion. You are our house, the reality of our dwelling place; we dwell in You as the house of God and man. You are our land, the all-inclusive good land in which we live and from which we receive all our supply. Lord, You are our clothing, the priestly garments that cover us for our service before God. You are our real food, our real nourishment, and our real drink. Amen, Lord Jesus, we take You as our portion and inheritance, our everything, for our priestly service! You are our only compensation, our only reward.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 26-27 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 3, The Service of the Priests and the Levites for God’s Move.
- Hymns on this topic:
# In the Body, by the Headship, / Sitting in the heavenlies, / Struggle with the wicked spirits / And the principalities. / As a member of the Body, / With the brethren stand for God; / Praying always in the Spirit, / Claim the vict’ry through the Blood. (Hymns #855)
# In Christ we live, by Christ we fight, / On Christ we labor day and night, / And with His surplus we unite / To thus exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864)
# 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: / All his clothing, food, and dwelling, / And his portion therewithal. (Hymns #911)
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