It seems that I have more than one theme!
There are more mantles than priests and prophets. Well, at least one! Not only are we all priests and prophets but we are also all royalty!
Each member of the church is seen by God as a priest, a prophet and a king. This doesn't function under congregational church. Under the roman church there were priests over the people and the whole point of the exercise was that there was the emperor over the whole church. In the church of England, we have the monarch as head of the church of course. None of this helps us to establish the truly mind blowing revelation of the New Testament of what we are supposed to be about.
Jesus is the prophet, the high priest and the king of kings! We know that we can only call Jesus Lord by the Spirit and He is the Lord of Lords. That makes those who believe, "Lords!" In the same way, Jesus is the king of kings and He is our king, what does that make us? We are called, "A royal priesthood!" The word "Christian" was first used as an insult to believers. It means, "Like Christs!" Some people don't like the term but it is actually more fitting than we first think. Jesus had the ministry of messiah/ Christ. He passed on the mantle for that and told us to carry on that ministry. We are everything He is, "as He is, so also are we in this world." 1 John 4:17.
In the Old Testament if you wanted to offer a sacrifice to God you needed a priest. That sacrifice is not just a sacrifice for sins, there were all kinds of sacrifices that a person could offer as an act of worship. But, we are told to make our own confessions and that we will worship by the Spirit. We have been released from the priesthood by being Incorporated into it. The priest "applied the blood" today we apply the blood of Jesus.
In the Old Testament, if you wanted a specific word from the Lord you needed to find a prophet, It may surprise you but the weren't just the famous prophets there were prophets all over the place. When Saul was called to be King he was with a band of Prophets. Now, we are freed from having to seek a prophet, we can seek God for ourselves. We can live in the prophetic. That doesn't mean we will go and shout at the national leader! That means that we live in a day to day relationship of knowing God's will for our own lives. God has renewed our consciences so that He can guide us. It is a case of not living by tradition but but the instant whisper of God. Course corrections are ongoing!
In the Old Testament, the splendour of God's nation is revealed in the king. Visitors would come to the nation or Israel to see the king. The witness of God's blessing was on the king. In other nations they had to offer sacrifices for prosperity. Prosperity was seen as a sign of blessing. Other kings would come and be in awe at the wealth of this tiny nation. They would be introduced to the true God. Jesus turned water into wine, He turned an average wedding feast into a royal banquet with quantity and quality of wine. He fed the 5000 (probably actually 30,000 as they only counted the men!) Again showing the kind of kingdom wealth that only a king can provide so freely. Jesus was showing that His Kingdom was not of earthly palaces, but He was never the less a king. In fact in John six that is the very next thing the people say, "Let's make Him our King!" The king also took the nation's army into battle and ordered the people to repent and turn to the Lord. In the same way now we too are meant to show the world what it is like to live under the blessing of God (Only your imagination will limit this!) We are called to be generous in all occasions. We are called to stand in battle where ever we are, not wait for a king to tell us.
Jesus is the head of the body. Every member of the body is individually joined to and controlled by the head. "the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God." Colossians 2:19. Put you hand out in front of you palm up. Now raise one or more of your fingers. This is what Paul might have been seeing. The fingers aren't controlled by the wrist but by the head. In the same way we are each joined to the head, Jesus. This is why we can all sing, "My Jesus, My Saviour!"
Because we are all joined in a way that no one was in the Old Testament, we are all part of the ministry of Christ. We have all that He has. Everything that you head has, your body has too! It is this relationship that enables us to live in such close relationship with God as was never seen before.
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2 comments:
Are you also saying that as far as spiritual gifts go, if one person has the gift of teaching, it's like I have the gift of teaching because we are a part of one body? And in that way there is no jealousy of others' gifts?
That would be very cool.
Unfortunately not!!
I am not talking about everyone having the gift of prophecy, but that everyone can live in the instant prophetic. I would say a gift of prophecy is to speak forth for God to a meeting or an individual.
I would say that although everyone does not have the "Gift" of teaching, everyone can teach! Not everyone has the gift of prophecy but everyone can prophesy. Or at least that is my understanding of 1 Corinthians 14.
A person may not be regularly functioning under a particular gift, but they can at anytime seek to use that gift, otherwise what are prayers for healing?!! Not all have the gift of healing but we all pray for those who need healing!
As for jealousy, that was obviously a problem from the beginning as Paul ourlines this in 1 Corinthians 12, about those who are lesser are esteemed with greater honour! (Yeah, Right, like that'll ever happen!!)
But that is what we are called to, so each individually must seek to do this!
That is another side to this. In the Old Testament the people were judged according to "sin" within the people. In Joshua, Achan sinned and the whole army suffered loss. When David took a sensus it was the army again that suffered. In the New Covenent, every man will give an account of his own sin.
In Acts 5, there is a very similar story to Achan. No sooner do things get going than someone gets greedy! In Joshua, the whole of Israel is Judged, in Acts it is just Ananias and Sophira. We can read into this that when the Corinthians were sick and dying it wasn't a judgment on the whole church it was a judgment on those who were doing it wrong.
Which is kinda nice really! It's bad enough getting it in the neck for my sins let alone someone else's!!
(Sorry the references are vague, I'm in the middle of other stuff)
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