“These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. . . So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.” (Numbers 3:3–4, ESV)
In my lifetime, I have seen many people who have maneuvered to get into the inner circle. It happens in business, social organizations, schools, and even churches. Perhaps you have dreamed of entering the inner circle at some point in your life.
Here in this passage, we see that Aaron and his sons have been given a unique privilege of entering the inner circle. They were ordained as priests to serve the living God. Under the Mosaic Law, only the priests had access to the holy places in the Tabernacle, and only the high priest had access to the most holy place. Moreover, the high priest only had access to the most holy once per year on the Day of Atonement. Thus, access to God was only possible for people through the intermediary of the high priest.
However, unlike the Israelites under the Mosaic Law, believers have been given a privileged access to the most holy place through our great high priest, Jesus Christ.
Peter recorded that we have a high and privileged position stating that all believers are priests belonging to a “royal priesthood.”
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9, ESV)
It is interesting that Peter writes that we are “a royal priesthood.” Under the Mosaic Law, the Aaronic priests were not royalty. They were not ruling priests.
However, we as royal priests are part of a royal line. You might wonder how this could be. It is because Jesus is our great high priest. The writer of Hebrews indicates that Jesus is our great high priest under the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:7-10; 6:20.
“Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:20, ESV)
The writer of Hebrews further explained this (Hebrews 7).
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him” (Hebrews 7:1, ESV)
Melchizedek lived at the time of Abraham, which predated the time of the Law. He was the king of Salem and a priest of God. Thus, he was not of the Aaronic order, but of a priestly order that predated the Law and was quite different.
Jesus, being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek means that Jesus is not appointed as a priest in the Aaronic order. In fact, He did not come from the lineage of Aaron. Jesus is from the lineage of Judah. His lineage is royal. He is our king and has also been appointed as our great high priest. Thus, in Him we have entered the royal priest hood.
This appointment of every believer to this royal priesthood was not made by the work of men, but by the Lord, himself. Moreover, every believer has the anointing of the Holy Spirit to give the power to fulfill this high calling. What is the calling of the royal priesthood? Peter tells us that it is to proclaim the awesome wonder of God’s grace in Christ. We, the royal priesthood, serve the Lord God by proclaiming His excellence. We do this when we manifest the fruit of the Spirit, when we do good works, and when we verbally profess Jesus as Lord and Savior. We need to constantly keep in mind that we who believe have a high position and calling in Christ.
Renewing the Heart 