There are a few topics concerning how the laws of Leviticus relate to the New Covenant that I'd like to write about, and I've been mulling over exactly how to get started. I finally realized that some background information was needed about the priesthood in the New Covenant in order for it to really be effective. Moreover, I found this topic to be worthy of its own discussion anyway!
If I asked you whether there was a priesthood in the New Covenant, hopefully you would know that the answer is yes. But could you answer if I asked you why there is a priesthood in the New Covenant? Moreover, why did God command a priesthood for the Old Covenant? That first question has an definite and clear scriptural answer, which I'll review. The latter two questions, however, require some thinking on our part!
Jesus Christ: High Priest Forever
Hebrews 6:19-20Hebrews chapters 5-10 contains a lot of discussion about Jesus' priesthood. Hebrews is, in fact, the only book in the New Testament which discusses the idea of Christ being a priest at all! We see here that Jesus is not only a priest, but a "High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." There are some other elements of what He does as priest mentioned there, about how He "enters the Presence behind the veil." I intend to cover that eventually, but it's a long way off in the discussion.
This hope [Jesus] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7 goes on to justify what it refers to as "a change in the law." In the Old Covenant, only the sons of Aaron could serve as priests (Exodus 28:41), but Jesus was not from the family of Aaron - in fact, Jesus wasn't even part of the same tribe as Aaron, being born into Judah rather than Levi. God, by incredible prophetic foresight, said that the Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah and also that He would indeed be a priest - but a priest of the order of Melchizedek rather than of Aaron (Psalm 110:4). Melchizedek was a "priest of God Most High" (Genesis 14:18) in the time of Abraham - hundreds of years before Aaron was even born or his priesthood existed! Many believe that Melchizedek was a bodily appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, which I won't go into here. To be completely honest, I haven't studied that issue on my own enough to have a firm opinion, and I don't think it matters much either way. What I do want to emphasize, however, is something that took me by surprise when I started this study: God never actually said that only the sons of Aaron could serve as priests. It's a subtle point, but bear with me!
The Priesthood Not Exclusive
Exodus 29:9
The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual covenant. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
Exodus 40:15
You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.
God appointed a priesthood to Aaron for the physical sanctuary. He even said that it would be "an everlasting priesthood." But God never said it would be the only priesthood that would ever exist! At that time, God permitted the sons of Aaron to be priests, and there were instances where God became very angry that people not from this family were wrongfully set up as priests (Judges 17:5-13, 1 Kings 13:33). But, rather than say, "no one but the sons of Aaron may be priests," notice that what God actually said was "anoint the sons of Aaron as priests."
God in no way prohibited Himself from being able to later anoint someone else as priest! In fact, He had planned for the entire nation of Israel to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6) if they would follow all of His commandments - which they didn't. However, God now promises the same to His called-out people in the New Covenant today, that we will be "kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on earth" (Revelation 5:10).
Old or New: Why Have a Priesthood at All?
We've now seen clearly that the answer to the first question is a resounding "YES!" There is indeed a priesthood today: not a priesthood of the order of Aaron, as it was in the Old Covenant, but of the order of Melchizedek. At this time, the only priest in the New Covenant is Jesus Christ, who is the High Priest. But now let's try to look at the second question: why did the New Covenant need a priesthood at all?Hebrews 8:1-5The answer to this question, as it turns out, goes back to understanding why God instituted a priesthood in Israel to begin with! Why did God command a priesthood for the Old Covenant? It certainly wasn't because God wanted His people to have priests like all of the pagan nations around them. Rather, God commanded Moses to anoint Aaron as a priest to serve as a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things."
Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest... a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man... For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
God didn't just decide one day that a physical tabernacle sounded like a swell idea - it was part of His plan all along to show them what the tabernacle in heaven was like! Likewise, God ordained Aaron and his sons to reveal the priesthood that served (and still serves) before God in heaven. In making Jesus Christ the High Priest of the New Covenant, God was not borrowing some archaic cultural practice from the Old Covenant! In commanding the priesthood of Aaron for Israel under the Old Covenant, God was not conforming to the cultural norm of the times! Rather, God showed plainly that His law is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting! He instituted a priesthood from the beginning of time as part of the eternal law of God, and revealed it to Israel in a way that would help them to understand Him.
Why Does It Matter?
As I set out in the beginning, the goal now is to examine the book of Leviticus - large portions of which are directed towards or at least involve the priesthood - in the light of this understanding. Everything that God commanded the priests was to be done as as a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed." As incredible as it may seem, every law of God has purpose and meaning for us today, and that's what I hope to write about in the next several posts.
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