STUDY TIP FOR THIS PAGE: It will be very helpful for readers to read the following pages before reading this one:<\/p>\n
The first thing that must be done to understand high priests is rid the mind of all images of high priests in fancy robes standing in front of gilded altars.<\/a> Religious priests past and present wear fancy robes and make names for themselves<\/a> through their clothing and their public religious behaviors, but these are not the kinds of high priests that God endorses<\/a>. They are religious priests who are paid<\/a> to follow religious traditions<\/a> and religious laws<\/a> in religious institutions<\/a>. God’s high priests serve in the most holy place called the heart. <\/a>They do not work for money in a religious building in front of a fancy altar.<\/p>\n STUDY TIP: See Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages.<\/a><\/p>\n High priests in fancy clothing<\/a> who display their religiosity<\/a> in synagogues and churches obey religious rules<\/a> and profit from commercial religion<\/a>. They are modeled after priests in ancient Egypt and Babylon<\/a>. God’s high priests are clothed in righteousness and salvation<\/a>, and serve in temples not made with human hands<\/a>. They speak God’s words out of their heart<\/a>. They are also called true prophets<\/a>, angels<\/a>,\u00a0messiahs<\/a>, witnesses<\/a>, and\u00a0warriors.<\/a> That is why all of these terms — including high priest — are used to describe Jesus.<\/a><\/p>\n The model of Old\/First Covenant<\/a> religious high priest is introduced and explained in the Exodus 28 and 29<\/a> where Aaron and his sons are fitted with priestly garments<\/a> and consecrated for service in the tabernacle<\/a>. Even though most Jews and Christians are quick to dismiss the detailed, literal terms of these scriptures as archaic and irrelevant to modern times, some still try to emulate the Biblical clothing with fancy religious clothing<\/a>. And they try to emulate the consecration<\/a> process through Bible schools, seminaries and religious rituals.<\/a> While making sincere attempts to be Biblical, they dismiss the symbolic application of those scriptures. Here are a few spiritual truths that they fail to understand:<\/p>\n The differences between Levitical priests and high priests like\u00a0Melchizedek<\/a> and Jesus<\/a> are stark and radical. They are as different as Pure Religion and Defiled Religion<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is important for religious people who think of themselves as lay people — not as clergy — to pay attention to these differences. Even if they do not have the education or wear the clothing or identify themselves with priestly titles (e.g. pastor, prophet, pope, evangelist, etc.) they are priests in God’s eyes if they are New Covenant<\/a> disciples. If they think that they are part of the kingdom of God, and if they think that they are members of God’s holy nation, they are priests in God’s eyes. If they say that they follow Jesus, they in effect say that they are high priests because Jesus was a high priest<\/a>. These are reasons why they need to understand the differences between Melchizedek and priests of the Old Testament.<\/p>\n These differences are discussed in detail in the following scripture:<\/p>\n Hebrews 7:<\/a> This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: See this link<\/a> and this link<\/a> for discussion of the story of Abraham and Melchizedek. To say that Melchizedek was a priest of God is the same thing as saying he was a prophet who spoke for God. It is the same thing as saying that he was a shepherd of God’s flock. It is the same thing as saying that he was a warrior<\/a> in God’s army.<\/p>\n The name Melchizedek means \u201cking of righteousness\u201d; then also, \u201cking of Salem\u201d means \u201cking of peace.\u201d 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: A son of God is created in God’s image.<\/a><\/p>\n 4 Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: See this link for understanding of plunder\/spoils of war.<\/a><\/p>\n Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people\u2014that is, from their fellow Israelites\u2014even though they also are descended from Abraham.<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: Levites symbolize\u00a0 the clergy<\/a> of Old\/First Covenant religions. They are able to preserve their positions in synagogues, churches and ministries because they convince the laity<\/a> that God expects them to pay tithes to them and to give money to the church<\/a>.<\/p>\n STUDY TIP: See Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings<\/a> and Tithes\u00a0 for correct understanding of tithes.<\/a><\/p>\n 5 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: Melchizedek is not an Old\/First Covenant priest who descended from the tribe of Levi.<\/p>\n STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of blessings.<\/a><\/p>\n 8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. 9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, 10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: The contrast here between living and dead should not be interpreted in terms of physical life or death. Rather, it should be interpreted in terms of spiritual life and spiritual death.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a>11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood\u2014and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood\u2014why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?<\/p>\n COMMENTARY\u00a0 ON THE ORDERS OF AARON AND MELCHIZEDEK: This scripture says clearly that priests established under the order of Aaron have been replaced by priests established under the order of Melchizedek. The order of Aaron includes pastors, rabbis, priests, and all other Jewish and Christian religious leaders, past and present, who base their teachings on literal words of the Bible — not on the symbolic (i.e. spiritual) meanings of those words<\/a> taught by God’s spoken voice. <\/a><\/p>\n The order of Aaron is the physical, visible, fleshly Old\/First Covenant<\/a> clergy system that is passing away as it is replaced by invisible, spiritual high priests established in the order of Melchizedek.<\/a><\/p>\n This says very clearly that religious laws<\/a> and the priests (i.e. religious leaders) who preach and enforce those laws are unable to achieve perfection for religious people who follow the priests and obey the doctrines they teach.<\/p>\n The idea of clergy, and the doctrines, traditions and rituals<\/a> they preach and administer, all have their roots in the literal words of the Bible. They are all doctrines taught by men<\/a> and are not the same thing as God’s spiritual laws<\/a> written on the hearts<\/a> of men who hear his spoken voice<\/a>. The heart is the place where we hear God’s spoken voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n When we think of the tithe as a spiritual thing and not as money, bringing a tithe to God is the same thing as bringing our hearts to God. We want to be close to God so that we can hear his voice. Thus it must be said that heart is the tithe.<\/p>\n When we incline our hearts toward God, we do so with the intent of hearing his voice. In the natural world, this is the same thing we do when we want to hear the voice of someone who speaks very softly. We twist our head and get close so that we can hear. This is especially true if we happen to be hard of hearing. We want to get close to the one who is speaking. When we bring anything less than our whole heart to God, we are not fully tuned in to hearing his voice. We bring only a partial tithe. When we bring the whole tithe, our hearts are fully tuned in and receptive to hearing his voice. That is what God wants and that is what he expects in Malichi 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n Priests (i.e. clergy) established in the order of Aaron are unable to lead religious people to the kind of spiritual perfection they strive to attain. In other words, the clergy and the religions they promote are not adequate to teach people how to get right with God while on earth or how to get to heaven. That is why the New Covenant system must be established.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.<\/p>\n COMMENTARY: The priesthood is changing from the order of Aaron to the order of Melchizedek. The order of Aaron is based on religious laws created by past and present religious leaders. God has always been in the process of leading his people away from religious laws<\/a> and toward following his spiritual laws<\/a>. That is why he is calling his people out of religion<\/a>.<\/p>\n The law does not changed on a wholesale, global basis. It changes for one person at a time when God writes his laws on their heart. <\/a>Then, when they hear his spoken voice<\/a>, they know the difference between good and evil<\/a>, and choose to stop following religious laws and religious leaders in favor of listening to God’s spoken word.<\/p>\n At that point the law is changed. But it is not the laws that change. Religious laws still exist. The change is in the choice of which laws to follow: religious laws<\/a> or God’s spiritual laws<\/a>. When people make the right choice, they move from the order of Aaron to the order of Melchizedek.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n FUNCTIONS OF THE HIGH PRIEST<\/strong> These literal tasks are symbolic representations of Jesus\u2019 ministry functions.<\/a> This is not helpful to know, however, unless we understand the symbolism of slaying animals and sprinkling blood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Animals are people<\/a>.<\/p>\n Old\/First Covenant religious people are unclean animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STUDY TIP FOR THIS PAGE: It will be very helpful for readers to read the following pages before reading this one: Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings Tithes The Problem of Priests THE RIGHTEOUS ALTERNATIVE TO COMMERCIAL RELIGION The first thing that …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2090,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1913","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1913"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9069,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1913\/revisions\/9069"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n
\nThe function of a high priest is to sprinkle blood on the ark of the covenant. Since blood symbolizes God’s spoken word, and since the ark of the covenant is the pure heart of New Covenant disciples, we interpret the high priest’s function as follows:<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n