I hope you are enjoying this last day of summer! We are drawing closer to the end of Exodus, (exhale). I am certainly learning a lot as I plod through this Old Testament book. It’s time to examine “the holy priesthood” that God ordained for the tabernacle.

God desired for Israel to be “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6) to share His blessings and reveal His glory to the surrounding unbelieving nations. But to glorify the Holy God, Israel would need to be a holy people. So God called the Aaronic priesthood (Aaron’s family) and the Levites (Num. 3-4) to serve and represent the people before Him in the tabernacle. They were also to represent God to the people by helping them obey the law through their teaching (Lev. 10:8-11; Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:7). God didn’t choose Aaron and the Levites because of any special merit on their part, but rather as an act of sovereign grace.

Israel, however, failed in their role as a kingdom of priests. Instead of helping the people worship God, the spiritual leadership slowly decayed to the point of allowing idol worship in God’s temple (Ezek. 8). So God disciplined His people by permitting the Babylonians to carry thousands of Jews into exile. The Babylonians not only destroyed Jerusalem, but also the temple. Why? “But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests who shed within her the blood of the righteous” (Lam. 4:13).

How does the Old Testament priesthood relate to us today? Warren Wiersbe (Be Delivered) writes: “Today, God wants His church to minister in this world as a “holy priesthood” and a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5, 9). If God’s people are faithful in their priestly ministry, they will “proclaim the praises of Him who called [them] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:5, 9 NKJV).

Like Aaron and his sons, we didn’t choose God. Rather, “[He] chose us” (John 15:16) as an act of divine grace. It’s no small thing that the Almighty God saves sinners, makes us His children, and then equips us to be His “holy priesthood”. Our first priority is to please God and serve Him. If we accomplish this, then He will work in us and through us to achieve His work in this world.

As we study the Old Testament priesthood, let’s look for parallels between the past work of the Jewish priests and the church’s ministry today of “the holy priesthood”.

The priestly garments

One way the priests were to please the Lord was to obediently dress in His designed garments for them. They couldn’t dress however they wanted when ministering in the tabernacle. Why? Wiersbe lists three reasons: 1) They gave the priests “dignity and honor (Ex. 28:2) and set them apart, just as a uniform identifies a soldier or a nurse; 2) they revealed spiritual truths relating to their ministry and our ministry today; and 3) if the priests didn’t wear the special garments, they might die (vv. 35, 43).

And now—although I love having you here at my site—let’s examine GotQuestions.Org’s summary of this topic: the significance of the priestly garments. Listed below their post are related topics including: What were the Urim and Thummim?, What was the significance of the ephod?, and What was the significance of the anointed priest?  Have a terrific week, end of summer, and beginning of fall! 🙂