A New Priesthood: Between Trumpets and Atonement

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ 

We gather together on the weekly Sabbath, in the time between Trumpets and Atonement for a good reason. There is always a Sabbath between Trumpets and Atonement, a time for us to come together between God’s high Holy Days, but also a time for us to look at connections and the full extent and glory of God's plan. It's a time for us to take a look into the past and get a pretty good idea of where exactly it is that we are going. 

The numbers God assigned to the Holy days have meaning and a purpose, and the spacing of these days is not random. There is much we can learn from looking at the pattern of what God has done and the way He has set things up to work. He doesn't do anything at random, and He doesn't do anything by accident. He does things in types and antitypes, which might sound confusing on the surface, but let me explain a bit and we'll see if it gets clearer. 

A “type” is a practice or prophecy in the Bible that points to something more than the practice or prophecy. The Passover lamb points to Jesus, for example. 

An “anti-type” is what the type pictures. In the Passover example, Jesus would be the anti-type. 

On occasion, even the anti-type is a type of something greater, and I don't want to confuse things too much, so we'll use the easiest example, that of baptism. There were a lot of ritual washings in the Old Testament, and these were all types of baptism. This would make baptism the anti-type, but it is also a type of something else: baptism with the Holy Spirit, making the Holy Spirit the anti-type of baptism. 

Even this is not the end of the equation, however, since receipt of the Holy Spirit is also a type of something else. It is a type of our resurrection as spirit beings, making this the last anti-type in this subject. 

I hope that's not too confusing, and if it makes it easier to understand, another way to think of it is as a picture and the reality. The lamb pictures Jesus and Jesus is the reality of the lamb. You're holding the post card in your hand standing by the waterfall going “look mom, they made the waterfall from the postcard!”

Let's go back to the verses I opened with, as we get going here, and take another look at them. Exodus 19:5 and we will read through verse six. This is where I get the title of this post, by the way, “A Kingdom of Priests.” The backstory of these verses is that the nation of Israel had just arrived at Mount Sinai, and Moses was up on the mountain getting some instructions from the Lord for a very special event. 

Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, was only a few short days away, and God had something spectacular planned for it. We're also about to get our first type of the day, as we read through Exodus. Let's back up to verse four to get the whole statement from God.

Exodus 19:4-6 ESV — ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Now, I don't know about you, but I've never read these verses in this context before, or at least, I hadn't noticed that God promised Israel He would make them a kingdom of priests if they obeyed His law and His covenant. 

They didn't, of course, but the offer was made. 

Interestingly enough, similar promises were also made to us in the New Testament, and we will look at those here in a bit. Further down in the chapter, we see the day before Pentecost arrives and it is spectacular! Lightening, thunder, smoke, and a tremendous trumpet blast! God is speaking directly with the Israelites, and they are terrified to the point where they ask Moses to go speak with God without them because they are afraid of death. 

The Jews reverence this day as the day the law was handed down, and they would be partially right. However, the law was already in place and functioning long before this day, and we can easily see that to be the case in the time they journeyed out of Egypt. They kept the Sabbath, frowned on murder, etc. No, the law was not exactly new to these people. So if the big deal of this day wasn't the law, what was it? 

Let's go to chapter 24 where we will find our answer, and we will start in verse one. Exodus 24:1.

Exodus 24:1-8 ESV — Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

God made a covenant with His people on Pentecost, and He offered to make them a kingdom of priests, a Holy nation, an example of the way of God to all the other nations, and they kept it for about forty days. They broke His covenant, and the second time He made a covenant with the children of Israel, He did not make the offer for them to become a kingdom of priests. 

Now, let's jump forward in time to the New Testament Pentecost, where we find the ratification of yet another covenant. We tend to think that there are only two covenants in the Bible, the old one and the new one, but that's not accurate at all. There are a lot of covenants in the Bible, and the one we will take a look at is just one of them, though a very important one. We will find the ratification of this covenant in the second chapter of Acts. Acts chapter two, starting in verse one.

Acts 2:1-4 ESV — When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

In Acts we have another ratification of a covenant and the downpayment of that covenant through the giving of the spirit. God gave His people His spirit to begin a process, and one of the things He promised to them and to us is that we are, and will be, a kingdom of priests. He offered this same thing to the Israelites, but they broke His covenant and lost that opportunity. 

Whenever we see a number in scripture, especially in relation to the Holy Days, it means something. It might as well be a giant sign declaring, “There is more to discover if you dig here!” There are connections to be made, and none of the numbers are random. A lot of times these connections are not obvious at first or even the tenth look, but the connection is there. 

Such is the case here where God sends His Spirit upon the early church. When Solomon dedicated the temple he built, the glory of the Lord came down upon it in fire and smoke sanctifying it. The very presence of God dwelt in that temple. There were 120 priests playing trumpets that day, and because of the timing, it was very likely that day was either the Feast of Trumpets or the Day of Atonement. I lean a little more toward the latter because that was the day the High priest entered the Holy of Holies and sanctified the most Holy place. Either way, it was right around that time, and they would have blown trumpets for either day. Shortly thereafter, they kept the Feast of Tabernacles, but that is a bit off the point. 

2 Chronicles 5:11-14 ESV — And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD,

“For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

Why do you think God bothered to include that little detail about the number of priests who were on the trumpets? He could easily have just said there were trumpeter priests there too without giving their number. Perhaps then the interesting connection we find to the dedication of the beginning of the spiritual temple God is building in Acts would not be so easily visible.

Acts 1:15 ESV — In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,

That was also the number of brothers who were there on the Feast of Pentecost in Acts who had the spirit of God fall on them. Fire and smoke once again descended on a building, though not a physical one, and dedicated the start of the new spiritual temple made without hands. These men were likely gathered in the temple courts, probably a room known as Solomon's porch, and the glory of God had never fallen on this temple of stone and wood. 

Rather it fell on the men gathered there just as it did in Solomon’s day drawing a tremendously powerful image and making a distinction that could not be mistaken to mark the beginning of the new spiritual temple. With the original covenant that we looked at in Exodus, we can start to see a pattern, such as it is. They make a covenant on Pentecost to be a special people above all peoples to God, and then some hundred of years later the temple for God to dwell among them forever is finished on one of the Fall Festivals, likely Atonement or Trumpets. 

Then on Pentecost in Acts, the spirit falls upon men once again setting them apart as a Holy people before God and starting the construction of the new temple, and here we are, looking at the Fall Holy days for Christ's return and the completion of and dedication of the new spiritual temple that is still being built even today. I think it is likely that the dedication will once again happen on the Day of Atonement or the Feast of Trumpets after the return of Jesus. 

The reason I lean more toward the dedication happening on Atonement is the cleansing of the sanctuary, but also another numerical coincidence. As I see it, from the time Jesus returned to sit at the Father's right hand until the day of Pentecost in Acts, it was ten days, and at His return until the Day of Atonement is also ten days. A tenuous connection perhaps, but the pattern and timing between Holy Days is important and is meant to convey meaning and reveal more of God's plan. 

They were set where they are for a reason, and in fact, the months from Passover to the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar cannot vary in length as the other months can. Something else significant happened on that day in Acts in addition to being the start of the spiritual construction of the new temple. Remember how God offered a chance to the Israelites to be a kingdom of priests? 

Well on that day in Acts, this is what happened, except not just to the Israelites. 

1 Peter 2:9 ESV — 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.

Peter says we are all priests, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart to His name, which is exactly what God offered to Israel. It's a tremendous opportunity, yet why are we the ones who are taking advantage of it and not Israel? 

How did they lose this opportunity?

It took them about forty days to break the covenant, and they were not without warning! God knew what they would tend toward, and He might as well have announced that, 

“If you get the urge to make a golden member of the bovine family, don't do it! Especially don't worship it and don't dance around it naked! Besides permanently damaging your neighbor's eyesight, it will also make me very angry!” 

I paraphrase of course, and that's not exactly what God said, so let's read what God spoke directly to the Israelites. 

Exodus 20:3-6 ESV — “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

He spoke these words directly to Israel and then He spoke these next words to them through Moses. 

Exodus 20:22-23 ESV — And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

Forty days. That's what it took for the Israelites to make a golden bovine and damage their neighbor's eyesight. With that, they lost the chance to be a kingdom of priests, and the priesthood was handed off to Aaron’s descendants and to the tribe of Levi for their faithfulness. Israel broke the covenant through disobedience and many of them died because of it. 

Unfortunately, Levi too, lost the priesthood when they too disobeyed God, though in a different way than their brethren did. They disobeyed through a neglect of their duty as priests to teach the people the difference between the Holy and Unholy and the clean and unclean, and they were replaced by a new priesthood when Jesus died on the cross. He took on the role of the High Priest and started a new order of priests on that day in Acts, and it continues in us. 

Between the time Israel lost the offer to be a kingdom of priests and Jesus’s ascension, it was against the law for a priest to be king, but that is exactly what Jesus is, and what we, as part of His new order, are as well. The teaching of distinguishing between the clean and unclean, and the oversight and administration of these regulations fell to the priesthood. To reiterate, the purpose of the clean and unclean laws in the first place was to teach the people how to distinguish between what was holy and what was not holy, what was clean and what was not clean, and God took it very seriously. 

Ezekiel 22:26 NKJV — “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

The priesthood and the Levites mainly functioned as teachers and judges outside of temple service, which at any given time encompassed most of the priesthood and Levites. By far the most important role they had was to teach the laws and statutes of God, but they repeatedly failed in this vital task. With a lack of instruction in the correct way of doing things, the people fell away again and again. 

Most of the backsliding the nation did was a direct consequence of a failed priesthood and therein lies the weakness of the law: humans. Humans as priests, especially High priests were abject failures the majority of the time. They failed to properly instruct the people of God, and thus, the people without proper instruction would reject God and turn to idols. The tragic failings of the old order highlight the importance of proper teaching and instruction in the congregations today, but that isn't quite the point I'm getting to here. Human high priests failed at their most important job, so a change had to be made so that it would be done differently in the future.

Ezekiel 44:23-24 ESV — They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

In order for this change to be able to take place the human element had to be mitigated as much as possible, and the priesthood had to be removed from the line of Aaron. The High priesthood was given to our savior Jesus Christ as He replaced the old priestly order that had existed in the time of Moses. Something that had only existed once in all of history returned at that point: a royal priest. A priest who was also a king was forbidden by God, but Jesus, even though He wasn't of the Levitical line, was able to become both King of Kings and our High priest. How could this happen?

Hebrews 7:11-28 NLT [11] So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based (or which the law established), could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? 

[12] And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. 

[13] For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests. 

[14] What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.  

[15] This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared. 

[16] Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. 

[17] And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” 

[18] Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. 

[19] For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God. 

[20] This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, 

[21] but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’” 

[22] Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. 

[23] There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. 

[24] But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 

[25] Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. 

[26] He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. 

[27] Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. 

[28] The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

The law regarding the priestly line had to be changed to allow Christ to take over the role of High priest. That is the only way it could happen! The human weakness that corrupted the priesthood was removed from the equation and replaced with one who would never die, who never had to offer sacrifices for His own sins, and who offered all sacrifices for our sins as well. This change in the priestly law established a new priesthood, a new order, and a new set of laws regarding the priesthood. Kings can be priests, and such is our future. We are a Holy people set apart to God, and we are part of this new priestly order. 

1 Peter 2:9 NKJV — But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Thus, the burden of instruction in righteousness falls to us, the people of God, as a spiritual nation of royal priests. All of the warnings that were given to the priests, and all of the responsibilities that they were supposed to execute fall to us. We are responsible for teaching the ways of God, especially the difference between the clean and the unclean and the Holy and Unholy to all of His people, present and future. Not only are we an order of royal priests, but we are the temple as well. We are the temple! This isn't a cute phrase that really doesn't mean anything. 

It's not a metaphor! 

We are literally the temple of the Holy Spirit, of the Father and Son, and Jesus is the cornerstone of this building! 

His shed blood is what this temple is built upon. 

We have a temple and as God's chosen people, we will never have another physical temple like the Israelites did. Despite this lack of a brick and mortar temple, we see all nations coming up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in the millenium, which is important to keep in mind because many today will say that we cannot keep the feasts because we have no temple! 

This statement is simply not true. Not only do we have a temple, we also have a priesthood! 

The collective body of believers is the temple of God made without hands from living stones who are living sacrifices to the Father. We certainly don't have our full duties now like we will, or not in the form we will in the millennium, but we do have a lot of responsibility as I have already highlighted. We are, and will be, the teachers of God's way of life, we bring the sacrifices and offerings, and we teach the distinction between the Holy and the Unholy. Israel, and even Levi lost this opportunity, so how do we do it differently so we don't lose our opportunity?

Passover is a personal examination, searching out and removing the sin from our own lives, but Atonement, while it bears many similarities to Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread, is different. The Day of Atonement was when they cleansed the sanctuary of the Tabernacle or the temple. The one day a year when the High Priest could enter the Most Holy place without dying instantly. We are the temple now, so what does this have to do with us? 

Spiritually speaking, the Day of Atonement, with the symbolism carried forward, is a day of collective examination and cleansing of the spiritual temple. I'm referring to the body of Christ, the Church, the assembly, or whatever you prefer to call the gathering of the living stones that compose the temple of God. 

The time between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement is preparation for the cleansing of the temple, making sure that we have things in order and come to the Day of Atonement prepared and approach the fast with careful forethought. Problems within the Body ought to be resolved, resolutions reached, and impurities removed during the Day of Atonement. Let's go over to Ephesians chapter four for a minute. 

Paul, interestingly enough, quotes from a passage in Zechariah that mentions the Day of Atonement as he tells us how we ought to treat each other. That's in Zechariah 8:16 if you would like to look it up. 

Ephesians 4:25-32 NKJV — Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

God has us go through these days each and every year to teach us about a great and tremendous change that will be brought upon the Earth and even upon the Church of God. We won't rely upon human rulers any longer, in fact, no one in the world will. The human rulers will all be removed as surely as the Devil they serve will be. The various sects of Christianity will learn the truth about God's way, and the attitude of the Church of God will get a tremendous adjustment into the unity we have always dreamed of but never achieved. 

As long as I have been around, there's been the dream of all those who serve God, all the different organizations coming together as one, but that is unlikely to happen until the kingdom of God.

That is the awesome picture that God has given us through His Holy Days, a picture of perfect unity! This is what we have to look forward to!

This unity is also part of the responsibility that being a kingdom of priests comes with. When we walk in unity with the spirit of God and with each other we take a tremendous step toward not repeating the mistakes that Israel and eventually Levi made. 

If we walk in obedience before God, keeping His commandments and spreading the gospel the way we are supposed to, then we have no reason to fear ending up like Israel and Levi, because if you want to know the truth, the reason they failed was because they took their eyes and their focus off the one true God and let the fear and distractions of their situation drive them to do what was right in their own eyes. 

1 Peter 2:4-5 NKJV — Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:1-2 NKJV — I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

That is how a kingdom of priests functions. It's a daily sacrifice of our lives to God ,living for Him above all else, and seeking the unity of the brethren. Not a unity born out of lies and false doctrine, but a unity in the Truth of Jesus! We turn away from the course of this world we live in and we are transformed into new creations! 

The spiritual temple cannot be built out of corrupt stones, stones defiled by the works of the flesh!

Every Fall, we are reminded to put these things away and we are reminded of the new creations we are and the new creations we will be as spirit beings in the kingdom of God! A kingdom of priests is a tremendous thing and it is a tremendous honor to be chosen to be part of this new order, but it carries a responsibility to the temple of God. Priests are supposed to serve at the temple, teaching God's ways, worshiping, walking together in unity, and preparing for war; which begs the question, if we, who are being built into a spiritual temple, are to become a kingdom of priests, what do we need to change and what responsibilities are we not filling that we should be?

It's an uncomfortable question, but as priests of the living God we cannot afford to leave it unanswered, and this time between Trumpets and Atonement is the perfect time to answer it. 

What are the things in our sanctuary that need to be purified? 

What are the things in our priesthood that need to be settled for us to be in unity? 

The answers to these questions will look different for every congregation of Jesus Christ, but we are not concerned with the shortcomings of the other parts of the body, we need only worry about the one we have right where we are at. Our modern church story began with the first layer being laid on the spiritual temple, and the consecration of the spiritual priesthood on that Pentecost day in Acts chapter two, and it all comes down to these Fall Holy Days. 

These days are what the whole story has been about from the beginning! 

They are the final brush strokes on the painting God has been laboring over for the last six thousand years, and it is our tremendous honor to be a part of this painting, His master plan. These days give us a fleeting taste of the good things God has in store for us, and we have so many things to look forward to. We have so many awesome things that God wants to give us and do for us, no war, no pain, no death, no tears, all tremendous things, but for my part, the thing I am looking forward to the most is serving forever in the presence of our God. 

He offered it first to Israel, but through their rejection, the mercy of our Father, and the blood of His Son Jesus the Christ, that offer has been extended to us. An offer to forever be in His service as His most Holy kingdom of priests.