Priests of the Lord

In the scripture for today we see the truth that every believer is a priest. So what does that mean? Teaching on this subject often focuses on our ability as believers to go to Jesus directly with our petitions and prayers, rather than needing to rely upon a human intermediary. This is right and true teaching as far as it goes, but there’s more to our priestly role.

The primary role of the priests of the Lord in the Old Testament was that of intercessor. The priests took the sins of the people to the Lord, offering the blood of animals to cover them. In this sense, the priests stood in the place of intercession between the people and the Lord.

Our text says that, as priests, we’re to be offering ‘spiritual sacrifices’ to God. In God’s divine plan for the redemption of the world and the release of His Kingdom on earth, He’s chosen people to stand in that place of intercession.

We humans are unique in that we’re connected to both the physical world and the spiritual world simultaneously. It’s through us that His Kingdom must come in a very literal sense.

The manifestation in the physical of the Kingdom of God is to come through the intercessor – the human being who’s in right relationship with God, and obedient to His direction. Our ‘spiritual sacrifices’ are not literal blood, but praying the blood of Jesus and the work of the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

Because of our role as ‘portals’ connecting the spiritual and the physical, there’s a huge battle over us. Our crucial role as believers who stand in the place of intercession for other people – aligning our will with God’s will for His purposes to be accomplished in others’ lives and pleading the blood for them – is every believer’s Kingdom mandate. We can’t repent for someone else, but we can ask for the Lord’s mercy and His conviction to fall upon them.

In order to fulfil this mandate, it’s essential that we heed the command of the verses at the beginning of the chapter where our text is found and be clean vessels through which the Lord’s prayers can flow.

Prayer: Lord, reveal any uncleanness in us that needs to be dealt with so we can be clean vessels through which our spiritual offerings are raised. Show us how to intercede for others. Pray Your prayers through us, Lord. We cry out to You for those You put on our hearts now … Show us actions we should take in the physical world in response to what You’ve revealed. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.