The Priests’ Duties and Privileges

By Byron Jackson

My two-year-old daughter came into the world with a big personality. She communicates well and understands a lot more than I could’ve imagined. She often likes to play a game with me with a Minnie Mouse headband, one with ears and a bow. She puts it on, runs up to me, and waits for me to say something to her. I typically get super excited and say to her, “Oh my goodness! You’re so beautiful!” From that moment, she runs through the house with her head up and her shoulders back, saying, “I’m so pretty!” She now lives in the reality that her father created for her. She is what she believes she is because I said so. While the same is true for God and His children, this reality comes with great responsibility and discipline. 

The holiness of God is often overwhelming. In the Old Testament propehts, we often read about God’s acts of judgment, confronting and condemning sin in all manner. His divine mercy is also present in the Old Testament. In every instance, God’s holiness points us to the culmination of God’s mercy, the cross of Calvary. 

God’s standards of holiness, purity, and restoration remain true. In Ezekiel, God calls the priests to serve as leaders—ensuring that God’s holy commands are kept, and that the people are in right standing with God. We now have Christ as our High Priest, the one through whom God’s holy law was fulfilled. Therefore, as servants of Christ, filled with His Spirit, we are called to live in the same manner as the Old Testament priests (1Peter 2:5–9). Believers are called to live according to God’s standard for our lives, and the Lord will be our inheritance (Ezekiel 44:28). In our service to God, we can rest fully on God’s provision. 

God’s servants today are not responsible for the design of a building to serve as the meeting place between God and His people. By His Spirit, God has made all those who believe in Him to be “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession” (1Peter 2:9). We are called to present our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). In our seeking of God, His kingdom, and His righteousness, we have the privilege of resting on His provision. God says, “I am their possession” (Ezekiel 44:28). May we glorify God for the expansion of His grace, making us all priests in our service to Him.