The gift of priesthood

As God’s people, we are given many gifts.

We are given the gift of salvation.  We are given the gift of eternal life.

We are given the gifts of the Spirit.

But there’s another gift we are given as well.

God told Aaron in this chapter, “I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift.”  (Numbers 18:7)

God gives us the same gift.

But unlike the Aaronic priesthood that was only given to Aaron and his sons, the priesthood we are given is for all who believe in Christ as their Savior.

Man, woman, Jew, or Gentile.  All of us are priests before God.

In Galatians 3:28, it says,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And again in Revelation 1:6, it says that he “has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.”

Why is priesthood a gift?

Basically, because it’s a position we could not have earned.

Aaron and his sons were appointed as priests by God, and from then on out, men were born into the priesthood.

But when God chose Aaron and his sons, it wasn’t because they were special or more spiritual than the others.  Aaron proved that when he made the golden calf under pressure from the Israelites.

In the same way, when we are born into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ, we become his priests.

Not because we deserve it.

Not because we are more spiritual than others.

This service as priests is given to us as a gift.

It’s not a gift that is to be taken lightly.

God told Aaron and his sons to be very careful with this gift that they had been given.  God said,

You, your sons and your father’s family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood. (Numbers 18:1)

One thing to remember is that our bodies are the temple, the sanctuary of the living God.  And as God’s priests, when we sin, it defiles that sanctuary.

Not only that, we put a stain on the priesthood that God has given us.  And God holds us responsible for that.

And yet it’s a gift of great privilege.  A privilege in which we can enter into the presence of God.

We have an even greater privilege in this respect than the priests of the Old Testament.

Only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place where God’s presence was, and that just once a year.

But we have access to Him at all times.

It’s also a privilege in which we may serve the living God, as God works through us to touch the world around us.

And while the Aaronic priesthood was limited in scope to the Jewish nation, we are called to be priests that touch the whole world.

How do you see this gift God has given you?  Do you take it lightly?  Or are you thankful for this ministry as priests that God has given you?

And do you use this gift that God has given you to touch the lives of others?