Ministering Unto The Lord
The Privilege Of Our Priesthood - Part 6

by Rev. Wayne Monbleau

"The Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to the springs of the water of life" (Revelation 7:17)

Living From The Center

How easy it is for us to live our Christian lives and not see "the Lamb in the center of the throne." How easy it is for us to forget that, every day, we need our Lamb, God's gentle, submitted and victorious perfect sacrifice, to guide us to the springs of the water of life in Himself. How easy it is for us to forget or never even get to know that, even as Jesus is our complete salvation, so is He also our complete life, every day of our life. He alone has/is the Life that feeds, sustains, and grows us into His image. Ministering unto the Lord, because we ARE ministers unto the Lord, is the perfect remedy for this type of forgetfulness, or ignorance, of God. As we progressively practice living our lives from the center, ministering unto the Lord where our Lamb is, we witness firsthand the multitude of benefits that come to us every day from this type of intimately discipled walk in Christ.

Others may scoff at this glorious truth, choosing instead to continue with the crowd, eagerly looking for the next wind of doctrine or experience that tantalizes and misleads. But the priest of the Lord never wonders where the life is for he/she knows that the Lamb in the center of the throne guides us, always, to the springs of the water of life in/of Himself.

Living from the center keeps us ever-present and ever-aware that our victorious Lamb of God, reigning in the book of Revelation, reigns from the center of the throne in our lives NOW, for He has saved us and, in so doing, we have been "purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). It's a done deed. We know we belong to Him, so we now minister to Him, even as He says. We preach the Gospel, even as He says. We live the Christian life, even as He says, completely focused upon our complete Savior, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

We have seen, in Jesus' words to the pharisees regarding their ritual of cleansing the outside, how our Savior cleanses us first on the inside so we may become (and remain) clean on the outside also. In forsaking ourselves to come to Jesus our Messiah for life, He changes us. His forgiveness of our sins, paid for in full through His Own precious blood at Calvary, atones for us. Peter wrote in his first letter to the church, "You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" 

He Himself Is Our Peace

(1 Peter 1:18-19). In his epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote, "Now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace" (Eph. 2: 13-14). And, in the book of Revelation, John wrote these words about Jesus Christ, "To Him Who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood – and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father" (Rev. 1: 5-6). Only with this holy, and centering, understanding of salvation through our Savior's perfect sacrifice of Himself, may we then be consistent, as Paul wrote, to "shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). By diligently being consistent to the center, Jesus Christ Himself, we may then minister from the center, to the Lord, to His church, and to this world.

And oh, how the church today so needs this life from the center in Jesus Christ. From this glorious, forever-life-changing new beginning in Christ we are able to see, as Paul wrote, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Cor. 5:17). God makes us new in Him. We become a new person in Jesus Christ. His life is within. Paul wrote of "the riches of the glory"... “which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory" (Col. 1:27). Paul adds, "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (Col 2:6). This is a simple, sensible and consistent-with-Christ call for us to continuously live from the center, where the life of Christ is. As Jesus Christ - our Messiah, Savior, King, Lord and High Priest (and so much more) has saved us, let us walk, or live, in Him, in this exact same way of being utterly dependant upon and utterly changed by the amazing grace of Him, Himself, and His perfect salvation.

Let us be consistent with our Savior. Even as He has saved us, let us allow Him to be our Lord, reigning from the center of His temple within us. If God has cleansed us on the inside, let us continue walking with this same understanding and complete dependancy upon "Christ, who is our life" (Col. 3:4). The more we align ourselves with the truth of the risen and reigning Christ within us, applying our hearts and minds to the revealed truth of the Scriptures, the more we will readily and rightly understand our identity in Him, in all ways. We simply live from the center because He is our center.

We have also seen, even in the heavenly pattern of building the tabernacle, which God gave to Moses: "According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the furniture, just so you shall construct it" (Exodus 25:9), that in this divine pattern, God began from the exact precise center, speaking first of the Ark of the Covenant. "They shall construct an ark of wood" (Vs 10). The ark was the exact center of the tabernacle. Indeed, the Holy of Holies would be constructed for its containment. "Just so you shall construct it." Moses was to make the tabernacle exactly according to the pattern given him from God, and the pattern began from the center, even as Jesus our Savior does.

"Just so," we shall live our Christian life; according to the pattern, God's Own expressed pattern, the pattern of truth of all life beginning from the center, and living from the center. All life in Christ is lived from the center, the center of Christ Himself. This central truth should constantly remind us that we must flee from our own scattered and selfish thoughts, which somehow always ultimately make us the center.

Flee to Him

Let us flee from ourselves into Him, fleeing to the center, where He dwells. Flee to Him always mindful that our lives have been "purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Flee to Him knowing He, and only He, has the words of life (John 6:68). Flee to Him because He is our "High Priest" and He is our "Good Shepherd" (Hebrews 9:11, John 10:11). We flee, from ourselves, the world, and the devil, to Him with the full assurance of Jesus' declaration, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

In light of all we have beheld, it is not surprising to see this exact same consistent principle of living from the center being once more declared towards the close of the prophet Ezekiel concerning the new dwellings God awarded to the family of Zadok, this blessed and faithful family who were given the divine reward and privilege to minister within the inner court unto the Lord. In Ezekiel chapter 45, God was speaking through His prophet regarding where the tribes were to reside, all in relationship to the temple.

Concerning the actual ground of the temple, which was to be in the center of the tribes, Scripture says "In it shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary" (Ezekiel 45:3-4).

Hallelujah! Although the other tribes were apportioned land in relationship to the temple, the family of Zadok would have their dwellings in "the holy portion," actually living from the center, living closest to the presence of God, closer than any other tribe or family in all of Israel. God considered this a great reward and honor to be given to this faithful family of the inner court.

I pray every believer in Jesus Christ will have eyes to see and ears to hear that this is exactly what God has freely given us in His Own Son, this same great privilege and honor of living, or having our dwelling, closest to His presence. Let us not be of those who disregard this honor through neglect or ignorance. Let us instead be faithful people of the inner court, living in forever thankfulness to God, honoring His gift by actively living in an ever-increasing awareness of our priesthood in Him, dwelling in our spirit in the inner court of ministry to Him, where our hearts and thoughts reside as near and within the truth and presence of His Spirit as possible.

The more we understand and accept our priesthood in Jesus Christ, the closer we will actually be living, in thought, worship and action, to the actual presence and person of Jesus Christ. Other Christians, absent of this revelation and knowledge of their priesthood, may desire to serve God and may from time to time encounter God's presence.

Live From the Center

But the priests unto the Lord live from the center, daily, as near to the presence and truth of God as possible. The priests unto the Lord joyfully and insightfully minister first to the Lord (in the center), and then to the people (from the center), and in doing so, the priests unto the Lord are constantly submitted to and reminded of the fullness and presence of Jesus Christ. Living from the center becomes the "norm" for the Christian who knows their identity as a priest unto God. This is living from "the holy portion," always aware of and growing in the knowledge and practice of God's presence.

At the close of Ezekiel, in chapter 48, the allotment of the tribes was further laid out. Each tribe was assigned their portion in relationship to the temple. The first seven tribes were given their allocations in verses 2 through 7. The remaining five tribes were given their allocation in verses 23 through 27. In the middle, or center, of this text the holy allocation for the priests was established.

As we have already seen, the priests were given land for their houses right next to the temple. However, what we see even more pointedly at the close of Ezekiel, is the special preference given specifically to the family of Zadok, the family that ministered to the Lord in the inner court. Scripture says, "It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

It shall be an allotment to them from the allotment of the land, A MOST HOLY PLACE, by the border of the Levites" (Ezekiel 48:11-12). Praise God, once more we see that, in God's eye, in our Lord's estimation, the one who ministers to Him becomes the one who lives the closest to Him, the one who lives from the center, from what is now called the "most holy place."

The Christian who lives from the center today is the one who is keeping charge of the inner court, just like the clan of Zadok did. The ones who minister to the Lord today will be the ones least likely to be swayed by falsehood in this day, "carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14 ), for the priest of the Lord always knows and remembers; "the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 John 5:11).

The believer in Jesus Christ who receives his or her identity as a priest will always be Christ-centered. In this truly holy and consistent with the heavenly pattern understanding, we are protected from evil, by living closest to the presence of God. We are protected from the never-ending insidious intrusion of worldliness into our faith, because we are living where the glory dwells, closest to the heart and divine intention of Jesus Christ for His children.

Honoring God's Presence

By ministering unto the Lord, we honor God's presence, we strengthen the true message of the Gospel and we more consistently reflect the intention of Jesus Christ towards this fallen world. The more one lives next to the presence of God the more God, Himself, becomes one's life, one's thought, one's theology if you will.

There is one more sacred truth to share concerning this glorious privilege of our Priesthood. As if it were not enough already that we have been greatly blessed and favored to be called this priesthood by God, this God given intimate identity, and given the awesome invitation and ability to minister unto Him, and thereby to learn to live the whole of our lives from the center, where Christ is. All of these blessed sacred truths of our priesthood and calling in Jesus Christ bring us to this ultimate reality and crowning reward given to the priest unto the Lord.

Towards the end of chapter 44, a chapter in which we have already seen so much, God was speaking once more concerning the family of Zadok. He said, "And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that I AM THEIR INHERITANCE; and you shall give them no possession in Israel - I AM THEIR POSSESSION" (Verse 28). "I am their inheritance." "I am their possession." Perhaps through worldly eyes some would see the sons of Zadok being deprived of earthly wealth or possessions.

But to the true seeker and lover of God there can be no sweeter or fuller promise given from your Creator to you than for His Own definitive promise that He, Himself, has become your inheritance and that He has made Himself your possession.

This is our birth right, our new-birth right, in Jesus Christ. The practical application in this is: as we receive and grow in our God given identity, and enter into the actual life and practice of Ministering unto the Lord, living our lives (actions and thoughts) from the center where Christ reigns, this is the very life that will enable us to know, for sure, the blessed truth that God, Himself, is our inheritance, each and every day, for now and forever. He, Himself, is our possession. He has fully promised and committed Himself to us. What a blessed way to live this life in Jesus Christ. What a blessed assurance!

How would you like to know, beyond any doubt, that God is, right now, your inheritance and He is your possession? Take up the mantle of your priesthood, with gratitude, humility, joy and reverence. The more you enter into this life from the inner court, from the center, the more you will see yourself as a priest first unto God and in doing so you will be able to see Him as being completely committed to you, and pleased with your full response to be who He has called you to be in this world.

Yes, let us honor our Lord, our reigning "lamb in the center of the throne," our Holy of Holies. Let us fulfill His great commission to "go into all the world” (Mark 16:15) with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our risen Savior and Lord. Let us go forth in this great commission with a God-honoring reawakened priesthood, ministering unto our Lord and seeing all things as He does, in spirit and in truth, to His praise and honor and glory.

May the light of Christ break out anew upon His entire church, radiating lives upward into His high holy calling, bringing greater light to bear, that the world may know that God has sent his Son, our glorious Lord, to bring and become salvation to all in the precious name of Jesus.

By accepting the privilege of our priesthood, we are saying YES to God concerning the very essence of our creation and highest purpose in Him. His light towards this world will shine the brightest as His children step into the center of His life and light, the center of Him Himself. By standing in His presence, ministering unto Him, the Gospel may then go forth with a truly God-honoring humility, spirit and truth, bringing the full message of Jesus Christ to this world, reflecting His presence to His Own people even while revealing His perfect salvation to all who have yet to know Him, our King of Glory. Amen. May it be "just so."

"God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

End