COMPETING PRIESTHOODS AND THEIR CONFLICTING THEOLOGY
(THERE ARE CONTRASTING PRIESTHOODS WITH COMPETING LAW, RITUALS, SALVATION AND IDEALS)
THERE is a great need for Christians today to have a better understanding of the two priesthoods of the Bible-Aaronic and Melchizedek including an awareness that they both originate early in Biblical history and that only one remains in force during both the present age and the millennial reign of Christ. It is instead common to hear church sermons on the supposed millennial reinstatement of the Aaronic priesthood and animal sacrifices, a teaching that is directly contrary to the theme of the New Testament, especially the Book of Hebrews.(See Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:13-16; 5:1-10; 6:13-20; 7:1-22)
We read about Aaron and the beginning of his priesthood in Exodus 32. Moses had ascended the mount to receive the Ten Commandments. We read,
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, 0O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the LORD.” (vv, 1-5)
Of course, all of this was in disobedience to God and true worship. Religious writers marvel that God did not immediately strike Aaron dead for his great transgression, but perhaps God was giving the people a choice of whether to follow the true or the false way of worship. Aaron’s sin in deviating from true religion was also prophetic of his descendants the Pharisees of whom Christ said,
“Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3)
How strange that many Christians think that the perfect millennial kingdom of the Messiah will be Aaronic and Pharisaical.
The Aaronic priesthood throughout the Old Testament was a continuing story of deviation from true obedience to God. Jeremiah the prophet quoted the Lord Himself as saying,
“The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit …For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:8, 13)
The Aaronic religious leaders, by their actions, had forsaken God!
In contrast, Melchizedek was not only a “priest of God Most High,” but “king of Salem” as well (Genesis 14:18) The Melchizedek priesthood originated with the blessing of Abraham:
“And Metchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” (Genesis 14:18-20)
This priesthood did not end with Abraham and Melchizedek. Abraham’s descendant King David is similarly portrayed as a priest-king in 2 Samuel 6, where we are told that “he sacrificed oxen and fatlings” (v.13), “was girded with a linen ephod”(v.14), “offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord” (v.17), and “he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts” (v. 18). Dr. Werner E. Lemke of North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, states, “David wore a linen ephod which, in tiis days, was the prerogative of the priest alone.” (HTR 38:4, p.353) Even more importantly we are told that, “David was a priest of a non-Aaronic order, that of Melchizedek … The Melchizedek-David-Jesus priesthood is a straight-line extension that operates outside of and superior to that of Aaron,” says Dr. Eugene H. Merrill of Dallas Theological Seminary (BibSac 150:57, 59)
David’s son Solomon was a priest-king of the same order as well. An interesting note is given in I Kings 3:4, which tells us,
“And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.”
This again was a priestly prerogative, and there is no mention of the Levites participating in any way.
The dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem is described for us in 1 Kings 8. The Levites had brought in and arranged all of the furniture and furnishings in preparation for the dedication ceremony, when an extraordinary thing happened.
“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.” (vv. 10-11)
The Lord appeared as a glory cloud in the temple and prevented the Levites from having any part or participation in the dedication of Solomon’s temple.Yes, the heavenly glory cloud removed the Levites! Solomon then proceeded to consecrate the temple by himself. We read that Solomon “blessed the congregation” (v.55), “offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings” (v.64), “Solomon held a feast” (v.65), and gave the beautiful dedication sermon, all without Levitical participation.
This is tremendously significant to us as Christians, because Solomon (whose name in Hebrew means “peace”) prefigured the coming Messiah Jesus Christ, Solomon’s reign symbolized the future millennial reign, and Solomon’s temple typified the millennial temple to come. Yet there were no Levites participating whatsoever in its dedication. Where do the modern dispensationalists get the basis for teaching that Christ’s millennial temple is entirely Levitical, with Levites performing sacrifices? The Melchizedek priesthood of the line of David down to the Messiah is entirely missing in much of modern church theology!
God promised David in 2 Samuel 7: 12-13
“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.”
There is no question that this kingdom promised to David and his seed, Jesus Christ, is established upon a Melchizedek priest-king foundation. Hebrews 5:10 speaks of Christ as “an high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” That being the case, why would anyone characterize His millennial kingdom as Levitical?
In referring to Solomon’s dedication of the temple, the Preacher’s Commentary says
“It was not unusual for the king to assume the priestly role as Solomon does in leading this worship service. Other kings, including David, Ahaz, Jeroboam, and Hezekiah, did the same thing, indicating that Israel’s monarchs must have enjoyed priestly prerogatives.”
You might then assume that all of Israel’s kings had such privileges and that all of them therefore constituted a class of Melchizedek priests. Such was not the case, for the Melchizedek priesthood followed David’s descendants to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. King Jeroboam of the House of Israel was not Davidic, and although he performed priestly duties, his model was Aaron, not Melchizedek. Even Jewish theologians recognize this, such as Moses Aberbach and Leivy Smolar, who state, “Jeroboam deliberately
patterned his religious changes upon a well-known cult which was traced back to Aaron.” (JBL70, p.225)
One of Jeroboam’s first acts as king was to set up two golden calves modeled after Aaron’s calves, even quoting Aaron’s infamous statement of Exodus 32:4 (see above) in his sinful calf dedication recorded in 1Kings 12:28. In addition to that, Jeroboam named two sons, Nadab and Abiyah, after Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu. (Exodus. 6:23; 1 Kings 14:1; 15:25) Much of Jeroboam’s sin and wickedness stemmed from his following the Aaronic cult system.
Dr. John W. Bailey of Berkeley Baptist Divinity School commented that “the order of Melchizedek…was believed to be more ancient than, and to have precedence over, that of the house of Aaron. ” (JBL70, p.225) Even more important, Abraham and Melchizedek were symbols of righteousness, and Abraham is regarded to as the father of the faithful
(Romans 4:3; Galatians3:6; James. 2:23) in contrast to Aaron’s faithlessness.
A popular false teaching today claims that the Jews will rebuild the Jerusalem temple and reinstitute Aaronic Levitical worship with animal sacrifices under Christ’s millennial rule. This ignores the fact that Christ’s death for sin made such a ritual obsolete, and challenges the efficacy of His life, death, and Messiahship. For more to this story you are invited to listen to an audio sermon I recently delivered, entitled, “The Dual Priesthoods,” found on the audio page of our website at www.israelite.ca.
CBIA-The Servant People, www.israelite.ca Toll-free phone: 800-919-8819
Canadian Address: 500 Tecumseh Rd. E., Box 28047, Windsor, Ontario N8X 5E4 Canada
USAddress: 145 S. Livernois Rd., PMB#196, Rochester Hills, MI 48307
Visit our new extensive online bookshop at www.migrations.info
