Building His Priesthood

Session 3: A Priesthood for the Last Days

I.Intro:

  1. Biblical Ministry:

The first and primary use of the term “ministry” or “ministers”in the scripture is used to describea ministry to God, or a ministry aimed at God for God. It is secondarily for the people, butthe role primarily reference in the Bible is to the priesthood (Ex. 28:35).

  1. God’s Priesthood:

The priesthood was God’s idea, a people set apart for Him. He has long established His priests in the Earth for the sake of hearing from Him, crying out to Him, and speaking on His behalf. They are His ministers. Their role is to minister to Him (friendship and worship) and then out of that position they are to minister for Him to the people (intercession and teaching).

II.God Appoints His Watchmen:

  1. The Lord “Watches” Over His People:

As a major role of who God is and what He is described as doing we often see where it is said that God is watching over us (Er. 5:5; Jb. 7:20, 10:12, 13:27, 29:2, 33:11; Ps. 1:6, 33:13-14, 66:7, 80:14, 121:3-8, 127:1, 141:3, 145:20, 146:9; Pr. 15:3, 22:12; Is. 27:3; Je. 1:12, 7:11, 24:6, 31:10, 28, 44:27; La. 4:16; Ho. 9:8; Zch. 9:8, 12:4). Amongst other reasons, the Lord keeps watch so that He can act quickly and intervene when His saints are in need.

“For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (Ps. 1:6).”

From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth (Ps. 33:13-14).”

“The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy (Ps. 145:20).”

“But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be receive (Er. 5:5).”

“If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men (Jb. 7:20)?”

  1. The Priests are to Keep “Watch” for the Lord:

Since the Lord is described as the Watcher of Men it makes sense that when He calls His priests to share in His ministry they are commissioned to keep watching for the Lord (2Ch. 23:4; Ne. 11:19; Ps. 59:9, 63:5-8, 119:148, 130:6; Pr. 8:34; Is. 52:8, 62:6; Je. 6:17; La. 2:19; Ez. 3:17, 22:30-31, 33:6-7; Ho. 9:8; Mi. 7:7; Ha. 2:1; Mt. 24:42-43, 25:13, 26:38-41; Mk. 13:35-37, 14:34-38; Lk. 12:37-38, 21:36; Co. 4:2). He calls them “watchmen” and commissions them to stand at their posts of intercession, keeping a receptive ear to hear and eyes to see what God might be saying or doing. They are to keep watch for the Lord ready and able to make intercession for whatever He may have need of.

“A third of you priests and Levites who are going on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch at the doors (2Ch. 23:4).”

“The gatekeepers(Levites): Akkub, Talmon and their associates, who kept watch at the gates—172 men (Ne. 11:19).”

“O my Strength, I watch for you; you, O God, are my fortress (Ps. 59:9)”

“My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Ps. 63:5-8).”

“My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises (Ps. 119:148).”

  1. He Appoints Watchmen:
  1. The appointer:

The Lord tells us that He is the one who appoints watchmen for His purposes.

“This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.' I appointed watchmen over you and said, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But you said, 'We will not listen.' Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them (Je. 6:16-18).”

“As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth (Is. 62:5-7).”

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves (Ps. 127:1-2).”

  1. Gleaning from this understanding:
  1. It is important to God to have set watchmen in place
  2. There are actually people called into this position/role
  3. Those that are called have a job to do
  4. The Lord is watching with His watchmen
  1. Appointing watchmen to serve together:
  1. Need for eachother:

As is the case with the traditional concept of the watchmen and an ancient city; it would be woefully inadequate to have only one watchman. Also inadequate would be multiple watchmen but for them to be unaware of one another. The strength is in the numbers and in the organization and shared information.

  1. Forged into a priesthood:

While individual watchmen are appointed they are then forged together into the greater priesthood. In order for the great work to be accomplished as the Lord has desired it must be a corporate reality.

  1. Corporate order:

There is no legitimate expression of the priesthood where individual priests operate by themselves outside the context of community, corporate function, teamwork and structured authority. Only the prophet Ezekiel is referred to as a “watchman” where the text makes it clear that he is alone in this role, when the time for intercession arose the scripture makes it clear that his single voice was insufficient to accomplish the task (Ez. 22:30-31).

IV.Why Set Watchmen:

  1. He Established His Promises Contingent on Prayer:

There are many aspects of the Kingdom which God Himself has made contingent of there being literal night and day prayer.

“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2Ch. 7:14).”

“but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt (Nu. 20:16).”

“They said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us…He cried out to the LORD on Israel's behalf, and the LORD answered him (1Sa .7:8-9).”

“Who knows?He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God…declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people (to pray)…Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD (Jo. 2:14-17).”

  1. He Wants Friends Who Know His Plans:

He wants for there to be those on the Earth who understand Him and so can pray in His purposes.

“When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Am 3:7).”

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (Jn. 15:15).”

“Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the LORD (Ps. 25:12-15)”

  1. There is a Coming Devastation:

The greatest difficulties that the world has ever known are coming to the last generation. The Lord desires that there be posted seasoned watchmen in the Earth who have been readied for that hour and can minister His purposes in that trial from the place of knowing God in prayer.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man…"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Mt. 24:37-44).”

  1. He Desires Revival:

The Lord wants a harvest of souls. He wants to see revival far more than we do. The concept of prayer ushering in revival was His plan not ours, posted watchmen are part of His strategy to accomplish this purpose.

“Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field (Mt. 9:37-38).”

V.The Call to Intercession From the Place of Intimacy:

  1. Abiding in Him:

He is looking for those who will abide in Him, to draw near to Him in relationship.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you (Jn. 15:7 NKJV).”

  1. Friends of God:

He calls us friends first and from that place we gain privilege to ask Him for things we could never have had access to apart form that intimate position of friendship.

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name (Jn. 15:15-16).”

  1. Seeking Him First:

It is not enough o seek Him, He wants for us to make Him our first place, our first thing and that everything else would come second to Him. He tells us that when we do this our intercession will accomplish everything else as well.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Mt. 6:33).”

  1. Drawing Near:

He is looking to reward the ones who will draw near to Him with power that will show forth in intercession from the posture of the intimate knowledge of God.

“My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me. No one who practices deceitwill dwell in my house; no one who speaks falselywill stand in my presence (Ps. 106:6-7).”

VI.His Model Priests:

The Word of God speaks in depth about how God feels about His priests. There are several shinning examples where the Lord speaks quite highly of individuals and families who carried themselves well before Him in their generation. He refers to them as faithful priests.

  1. Samuel and His Procession:

“I will raise up for myself a faithful priest(Samuel), who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always (1Sa. 2:35).”

“As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying (1Sa. 10:5).”

“they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied (1Sa. 19:20).”

  1. David’s Singers:

“The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer. They and their descendants were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of the LORD -the house called the Tent…They would spend the night stationed around the house of God…Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night (1Ch. 9:22-23, 27, 33).”

“Four thousand (Levites)are to be gatekeepers and four thousand (Levites)are to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose (1Ch. 23:5).”

  1. Daniel:

“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before (Da. 6:10).”

“I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed (Da. 9:2-4):”

  1. The Sons of Zadok:

“These are the sons of Zadok, who are the only Levites who may draw near to the LORD to minister before him (Ez. 40:46).”

“You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD (Ez. 43:19).”

“But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me (Ez. 44:15).”

“This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray (Ez. 48:11).”

  1. Anna:

“There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying (Lk. 2:36-37).”

VII.Methods of Appointment:

The key to whether or not a person is a Set Watchman or not is not dependant upon how they were appointed, it’s in the knowing of it, that the individual knows they were set by whatever means they came to find themselves that way. The Lord draws the hearts of His priests in many ways.

  1. By Association:

Sometimes we can receive a call into something the Lord has on His heart through our association with those God has called into that particular ministry.

  1. David’s mighty men:

Those who had been close to David while in his dark times running from Saul now became involved in the house of prayer through their association with David (1Ch. 25:1).

  1. Ezra’s servants:

In Ezra’s day 7300 menservants and maidservants, and 200 gentile singers accompanied the returning exiles on their way to Jerusalem to build the house of prayer (Ez. 2:65).

  1. Those Born into It:

There are also those who are born into the reality of night and day prayer and it is God’s will that they serve the vision as well.

“They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests (Ex. 28:4).”

  1. Conviction Through the Word:

There will be countless millions who come into the reality through the powerful conviction that comes from the Word of God. They will read about God’s heart and purposes and decide to throw in their lot.

  1. Recognition of the importance of prayer:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful (Co. 4:2).”

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up (Lk. 18:1).”

  1. Recognition that the Church is actually a Kingdom of Priests:

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:5-6).”

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood (1Pe. 2:9)”

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father (Re. 1:6).”

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth (Re. 5:10).”

  1. Recognition of the fading human heart:

“my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed (Ps. 143:4).”