The New Covenant And Priesthood Are Both Fulfilled In Christ

Today’s Word Of Encouragement From Wayne:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices’”

Zechariah 6:12-13

Yesterday I shared with you some of the volume of Scripture in the Old Testament that, for hundreds of years, pointed to a time Where God would, Himself, save His people, as their King and Priest and, in response, His people would obey His covenant and be His kingdom of Priests. This has steadfastly been God’s declared will for all of His people throughout the Old Testament.

What God declared to the nation of Israel in Exodus is the same, precise, declaration of God to Christianity in the New Testament.

In Exodus, after God delivered His people out of bondage in Egypt, He directed Moses to declare these words to Israel: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My Own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6).

In 1st Peter, after God delivered His people out of bondage to sin, through the blood of the eternal New Covenant in Jesus Christ, He directed Peter to repeat these words, that He originally delivered to Israel, to His New Covenant body of Christ: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s Own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (2:9).

Jesus Christ is the One Who “will build the temple of the Lord. Yes it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne.” God’s word tells us, that in Jesus Christ, “we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘ I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God and they shall be My people’” (2 Corinthians 6:16). Back again in 1st Peter, the apostle wrote this to “newborn babies” in Christ, “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2:2-5).

When Jesus saved us that’s when He built the temple. We ourselves are the temple of God, individually. And we ourselves are the temple of God, corporately, as His living stones, “Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

“The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever;’ so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7: 21-22) . “The law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the law [in Psalm 110], appoints a Son, made perfect forever” (Hebrews 7:28). “He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would gave been no occasion sought for a second” (Hebrews 8:6-7). “He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will.’ He takes away the first [covenant] in order to establish the second [ the new covenant]” (Hebrews 10:9).

Yes, hallelujah, Jesus Christ is, right now in this moment and forever, both our High Priest and Lord of His New Covenant. “The counsel of peace” is now “Between the two offices” of our Lord Jesus Christ; the two offices of King and High Priest.

Let all of us both obey His New Covenant and be His kingdom of priests. This is truly, and purely, and completely what God has called every Christian to be in this day. Let’s lean in to this truth, in Jesus’ Name, for the glory of God our Father.

If Christ is indeed our King, then let us show our true response by submitting to and obeying His New Covenant.

If Christ is indeed our High priest, then let us show our true response by submitting to and being His “Royal Priesthood.”

If we believe that the counsel of peace, right now, truly is through our “Wonderful Counselor” and “Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6), Jesus Christ, and that He rules His church now as both “Lord” and “Priest forever” (Psalm 110:1,4), then let us show our true response by completely “fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Yes, let us be His people and the sheep of His specific New Covenant Priesthood pasture!

Thank God for all of these amazing, blessed, and sacred truths as you minister in your inner temple to the Lord today!

Hallelujah!