New Testament Priests

“And it shall be on Aaron's forehead, so that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which will sanctify the sons of Israel in all their holy gifts. And it shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be accepted before Jehovah.” (Exodus 28:38)

This was required of Aaron. It was a metal plate with the words HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH. Wearing this plate on his forehead Aaron would bear the sins of all of Israel. The Bible says the sons of Israel because only the men would serve the Lord and would be sanctified to minister. The Lord was specific about what the plate would be made of and how it would be placed on Aaron’s forehead. (Exodus 28: 36,37)

From the beginning we see the relationship to Jesus, the foreshadowing and the sanctification of those who minister. Aaron as the high priest would bear the sins of all the ministers who ministered to the Lord. “For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21) You may say, we’re not ministers. All believers in the New Covenant are ministers. “And truly He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12) The five-fold ministry was given to the church for the work of the ministry. The church is not a building, but the people in it. We are to do the work of the ministry as priests of the Lord. We are priests offering the sacrifice of praise in the congregation. “...you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1Peter 2:5) Our high priest is Jesus who has taken like Aaron did in the Old Testament, the sins of the priests to minister before the Lord so they wouldn’t die. Jesus did the same.

Will people who are not sanctified die for doing priestly work they shouldn’t? This happened to the sons of Aaron who acted in a spiritual rite they weren’t appointed to. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which He had not commanded them. And there went out fire from Jehovah and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah.” (Leviticus 10:1-2) This is also possible in the New Testament. “So that whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and many sleep.” (1Corinthians 11:27-30) There are some in the church who haven’t made Jesus Lord, whose sins are still with them because they haven’t been washed in the blood. The Bible commands us to examine ourselves before partaking of the Lord's supper. In many churches they say to examine to make sure your sins are forgiven, but it means so much more. It’s to examine to be sure you are sanctified, a believer, a child of God, a priest of the Lord, whose sins have been forgiven and washed in the Blood of the Lamb. Then you are able to partake of the communion. Notice that the Scripture says many are weak and sickly, and many sleep. It’s not just a few, but many. Just going to church doesn’t sanctify a person. Sanctification comes with making Jesus Lord and Savior. And the examination before partaking of communion must be accepting again, a rededication of our lives to our Lord.

In the Old Testament Aaron was the high priest who bore the sins of the priests. In the New Testament, Jesus is our high priest who bore our sins so that we can do the work of the ministry. In the Old Testament doing the work of the priests that are not appointed to a person would cause their death. In the New Testament partaking of the most holy rite of communion which symbolizes eating of the holy sacrifice, can cause people to die if they have not been washed in the Blood of the Lamb.