Lesson 025 Priesthood of the Son of the Covenant

Priesthood of the Son of the Covenant

(Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14,15; 5:1,5,6,10; 6:20,7; 8:1,3,4; 9:7,11,25; 10:11,21; 13:11; 1Peter 2:5, 9; 1Corinthians 6:19, 20)

The two stellar signs of Taurus and Aries portray animal pictorials in the star chart drawings that relate to the Levitical brunt offering and the sin and trespass offerings. 

The figurative teaching of the Eternal Covenant in the luminaires and the figurative teaching of the Eternal Covenant in the ceremonial law of the offerings is first and foremost the expression of love and devotion from God to man. 

Had not the Son of the covenant in Himself fulfilled what the burnt offering and the meal offering typify (a sinless victim - without spot or blemish, pure and undefiled), a voluntary offering, He could not have been offered in the sinner’s stead.  He could not have become sin as the Lamb slain.  He could not have been the substitutionary ram offered to make peace with God. 

The forgiveness of God’s offended justice and the putting away of the sin is proclaimed because of He who is – Spirit Being of Deity and it is through the worthiness and glory of His Person in the Son of the covenant. 

We are slow to apprehend the blessed truth that God is acting from Himself and in accordance with the merit of the Son of His Love.  The sin and its forgiveness have nothing whatsoever to do with or are in any way conditional on our repentance or faith.  God approaches man in all the fullness of His grace and declares Himself to be Savior God. 

By the one offering of the body of the Son of the covenant, God is glorified in the execution of a righteous sentence.  The Son of the covenant endured death as the only acceptable substitute.  His death meets the wages of the sin.  The sin is judged.  In God’s eyes not a stain of guilt, not a spot of contamination remains. 

His sons are set apart in the will of God and according to His pleasure from everything that they were naturally; such is the effectiveness and such is the result of the death of the Son of His Love − God’s perspective.  The Son of His Love has secured for Him a sanctified people suited to Himself. 

The prophet of God as the Son of Man, the minister of reconciliation offered Himself without spot to God through the eternal Spirit, pouring out His soul – in His body a living sacrifice unto God that He might purge [His sons] from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). 

Consumed in the fire of His holiness, the lawlessness of all mankind, once for all time and for all eternity, was “burnt out” on the Son of the covenant.  The lawlessness has been put away.  It (the sin) is completely done away with; but there is a “much more” to that so great a love. 

The sin consumed by the Love of God’s holiness is God’s provision of Love that His sons of God might also be consumed with the holiness of His Love – free to mind God, free to be occupied with God because all enemies have been conquered and delivered into our hands. 

The enemies are conquered by God – as sons of humanity we cannot conquer them.  God delivers those enemies into the hands of His sons.  God’s sons are responsible to cooperate with Him in dealing with those enemies as conquered. 

The world and its enticement are no longer bait to a son of God.  The flesh with its affections and lusts has been crucified with Christ along with the enmity of one’s own thinking.  A son of God is free from thinking independent of God.  Accepting this responsibility in submission to God brings glory to God as His sons; for a son of God knows his freedom and joy is in walking through life depending on Him.  He knows what God has done; it is finished; it is done and the son of God reckons on that truth! 

The one offering and sacrifice offered is not for man but for God.  Jesus offered His body, the body prepared for Him of the seed of the woman, as His offering.  In the laying down of that body in death, God reconciled man to Himself.  By the one offering, He has perfected forever those who are set apart unto Him in God.  It is done!  He who is, the Eternal – God, has done this (Psalm 22); it is finished; it is done. 

Glorified as the begotten Son, the presentation of the glorified body of life eternal out from the dead gave proof that the blood was shed − gave proof the life was given in death, gave proof of the victory of God (Matthew 27:50)! 

Consequently, the gift of life eternal is the offering of the begotten Son for God that He might be all in all and fulfill that which He purposed in eternity – a kingdom of sons of God, a holy priesthood.  In the presentation of the glorified body - the Son of the covenant was glorified as the one and only king priest after the “order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:6, Psalm 2:7).  Thus, we have understanding of the work of reconciliation the Son of the covenant finished as the birthed son of God (his death and burial) and the redemption achieved (his resurrection) as the begotten Son of God. 

However, one rarely apprehends the significance of the Son of the covenant as priest.  What is the office of a priest?  What is the consequence of the begotten − not the birthed Son − as priest?  Why is it important that the sons of God are priests?  What makes the priesthood holy?  What does it mean to be a part of the priesthood? 

In the letter to the Hebrews, we find a priestly family.  Hebrews is considered the Leviticus of the second Pentateuch, the law and offerings of the better covenant – a new and living way.  Established in Hebrews is the outshining of God’s glory. 

As the apostle, (the sent one from heaven) the Son of the covenant lived, loved, suffered and died, rose again and has gone back to heaven in the power of His sacrifice.  As the high priest of our faith, those in whose behalf the sacrifice has been offered find “a new and living way” into the presence of God. 

Thus, the epistle to the Hebrews is devoted to the message of the priesthood of the Son of the covenant – Christ Jesus.  Anonymously written, the authorship of the letter is disputed.  Nevertheless, the writer’s exhortation is of utmost importance.  The exhortation to the royal priesthood of the Son of the covenant is not to neglect their great salvation or come short of victory but to hold fast their confidence and go on to perfection; they are the sons of God, a royal priesthood, a holy priesthood (Hebrews 2:3, 3;6, 4:1, 14; 6:1, 7:14, 10:23). 

The letter divides naturally into five sections:

Section one (Chapters 1 - 2:4) shows the Son of the covenant as the first born in uniqueness and supremacy as the apostle of our confession, enthroned and having laid the foundation of peace. 

Section two (Chapters 2:5 - 4:13) shows the Son of the covenant in His humiliation to death, who is the originator of salvation. 

Section three (Chapters 4:14 - 10) shows the Son of the covenant as the priest who enters into the heavenly sanctuary; the Son of the covenant provides the way into the heavenly sanctuary by His accomplished work; He is contrasted to both the priests and sacrifices of the law. 

Section four (Chapters 11) gives instruction to the walk, trial and experience of faith. 

Section five (Chapters 12 and 13) closes with an admonition to the sons of God as it pertains to their faith and priesthood. 

Answers to five questions concerning the priesthood of the Son of the covenant follow: 

What is the office of a priest? 

A priest is a mediator between God and man, the intercessor or arbitrator for God on man’s behalf.  The priest as the peacemaker is the attendant or minister of spiritual sacrifices pertaining to God. 

What is the significance that the begotten and not the birthed Son is priest? 

The Levitical priesthood was ordained in the tribe of Levi and the Levitical sacrifices could not permanently take away sin; they were temporary in their expiatory power.  Making amends is not the same as putting away.  

The Son of the covenant as priest could not obtain the priesthood while on earth as the birthed son because Jesus was from the tribe of Judah (the kings’ line).  Moses said nothing about the tribe of Judah that concerned the priesthood. 

The priesthood of the Son of the covenant comes out of His death as the begotten Son.  Jesus was divinely declared to be of the “order of Melchisedek.”  Of what significance is this?  Who is Melchisedek and what does the phrase “order of Melchisedek” mean? 

“Order” denotes inheritance or succession; such as is the case with the Levitical priesthood of Aaron.  Aaron’s priesthood was taken among men, meaning it was carried through Aaron’s line – his sons.  Melchisedek’s priesthood preceded the priesthood of Aaron by approximately five hundred years. 

The “order of Melchisedek” denotes character of being and office.  It is the character of being − the honor, integrity and strength of the priesthood of the begotten Son and His office which is likened to that of Melchisedek. 

The Jews regarded Melchisedek in type as having virtues associated with that of the Messiah; he was considered a great man, but that is all that he was, a man.  By interpretation Melchisedek was King of righteousness and after that King of peace; …as to the pertaining of his priesthood, he was made like unto the Son of God, meaning a priest continually (Hebrews 6:20, Hebrews 7:1-3). 

In his priesthood, Melchisedek did not offer sacrifices for sins.  Melchisedek’s ministry as “king of Salem” and “priest of the most high God”… were the “bread and wine,” the spiritual sacrifices of the memorial of the Son of the covenant (Genesis 14:18, 19). 

What is a spiritual sacrifice?  The word spiritual means things pertaining to the Spirit in contrast to the natural or soulish being.  In his priesthood, Melchisedek did not offer the slaying of animals for sins.  Melchisedek brought forth the memorial of the bread and wine.  What is a memorial?  A memorial is the commemorating – the honoring and celebrating of a remembrance of an event that occurred earlier − past.  

The spiritual sacrifice of the bread and wine brought by Melchisedek represented the good news of the Son of the covenant.  The bread pictured the unleavened “bread” sent down from heaven that if a man eat he will live forever.  The “wine” pictured the joy of the Son of the covenant who was able to give to His Father seed for much fruit – sons of God. 

The bread and wine Melchisedek brought forth as a memorial was the celebration of the remembrance.  The celebration of the remembrance of the union of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for the purpose of communion – for the purpose of partaking of and entering into His holiness. 

In his coming to Abram and offering him the bread and wine, Melchisedek asked Abram to remember the ministry of reconciliation and redemption in the Son of the covenant.  Remember He who is and who was and who is to come has done this; it is finished; it is done.  Remember for the purpose of communion – for the purpose of partaking of and entering into His holiness. 

Melchisedek’s offering of the substance of the Truth in the spiritual sacrifices showed forth the praises of Him who has called men [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light (1Peter 2:9). 

Thus, the priesthood of Melchisedek typified the priesthood of the Son of the covenant, Jesus.  As High Priest, Jesus is not the sacrifice for sin; rather, Jesus – the great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, is the Son of God, the Son Begotten.  He is the one offering for God that has put the sin away forever and has sat down at the right hand of the Father. 

Are all sons of God part of the royal priesthood and why is this question important?  

Not all sons of God are part of the royal priesthood.  The priesthood of the Son of the covenant comes out of His death as the begotten Son; the priesthood is collective – the priesthood is an assembly of sons of God.  From the beginning of time down through the ages, sons of God would be prophets and priests of God (Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, etc.).  The priesthood was not formed until the death of the Son of the covenant.  The question is important because it keeps straight the plan and prophecies of the Eternal Covenant as fulfilled in time. 

The household of Israel choosing to forsake her fountain of living water – her Messiah, the Son of the covenant, is set aside as planned and prophesied in the Eternal Covenant that the heavens declare.  Since the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70AD, the Jews have been scattered throughout the world.  Thus, the priesthood established in Aaron is scattered.  There is no collective unity. 

In 1948, God saw to it that the Jews became a nation in preparation for the great tribulation.  The great tribulation will serve as birth pangs for a regenerate Israel to head all nations during the last thousand years of the kingdom reign. 

God never leaves Himself without a witness.  Having ascended back to the Father after His resurrection and seated at the Father’s right hand, the apostle and high priest Jesus Christ has his own house of sons of God, a royal priesthood, a kingdom of priests unto His God and His Father established on earth (John 20:17). 

The priesthood of sons of God was instituted collectively and commissioned together, united in one body with Jesus Himself as its head.  Each son of God in the household regenerate – washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.  Each son baptized into Jesus through faith to believe into Jesus and united in His death to be of His resurrection (Romans 6).  Each son as living stones built up a spiritual house (1Peter 2:5). 

This priesthood of the Son of the covenant in the beginning was primarily a Jewish house; later the rivers of living water flowed out to the ends of the earth and the household became primarily Gentile.  The household is now primarily Gentile; but as far as sons of God, there is neither Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11). 

Through baptism into the death of Jesus Christ, a son delights to do the will of His Father God.  The son of God in his union of death with Christ died to the sin of choosing to have his own will over the will of His Father God.  This newness of life is the true testimony of a new creation, the true testimony of a son of God. 

A man’s sons are the strength of his household.  As priests, the sons of God, the sons of the Son of the covenant, are the character of being - the honor, integrity and strength of the household of the begotten Son.  They bear his name – sons of God. 

What makes the priesthood holy? 

Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the Levitical priesthood as holy; the priesthood of the sons of God, however, is sanctified unto God.  Consecration for the priesthood is different from sanctification of the priesthood; Aaron and his sons were consecrated as holy, the priesthood of the Son of the covenant, born of His Seed, are holy (1John 3:9). 

During the church age, the water of life flows freely from the source – the fountain of life, the Son of the covenant.  Whosoever is thirsty may come and drink – freely (Revelation 22:17). 

Each son of humanity must make the choice.  Each one born of the seed of man and bearing the image of the earthy must make a decision to come to the fountain of life and drink – to be free from sin and death to inherit all things or perish.  The two choices are believe and receive the Life Eternal to be born a son of God and have a body of glory or remain dead in trespasses and sins and have part in the lake of fire (Ephesians 2:1). 

Who will speak the wonderful words of life – share the words of Jesus that are spirit and life (John 6:63).  Who will tell the message of the hope of life eternal that whosoever drinks will be freed from the bondage of self-love and the bondage of serving self to become a new creation in Jesus?   Who will do this, the Priesthood of the Son of the Covenant? 

What does it mean to be a part of the priesthood?  

The members of the priesthood of the Son of the covenant have been given a body – that they might present their body a living sacrifice.  What does it mean to be given a body to present?  What is a living sacrifice?  How is it possible for a sacrifice to be living?  How does one do that?  Does the living sacrifice relate to the spiritual sacrifices?  

Next week’s lesson will answer these questions. 

Please read:

Romans 6:1-13; 1Corinthians 6:19; Romans 12:1-2