Prophets, Priests and Kings!

Engraving of Micah standing up to the false prophets

There is a great deal to help us in the Bible’s historical books.  We read of the rise and fall of Kings, the courage or the compromise of Priests and the faithfulness or falseness of Prophets.

We also have straightforward statements about the People – their resistance or responsiveness to their leaders.  It is notable that the Kings are often described as “Princes”.  So, in English, we have Prophets, Priests, Princes and People!

There are some similarities with the Church of Jesus Christ.  Israel as a nation was chosen to fulfil God’s purposes.  The Church has been chosen to fulfil the purposes of Jesus.  The Church is his Body, built up by him and for him.  He has given his people leaders to care for them in the same way that Prophets, Priests and Princes were given to Israel.

Eph 4:11-13  It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,  12  to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.[NIV]

It might not be helpful to make direct comparisons between the Old and New Testament lists!  I have heard teaching that suggests that church leaders might be “kings”, “prophets” or “priests” but that is not the point of this musing!  My concern is that there were very few of the Old Testament leaders who managed to serve faithfully or well! Also, the people seemed to go off the rails very easily! 

Now I know that the church consists of a spiritual people – who have new hearts and minds: who are born of the Spirit.  This ought to mean that we are less prone to going off the rails and less dependent upon the kind of rule that the Old Testament leaders brought.  After all – we are all priests; we all have the destiny of being sons of God; and all God’s people are prophets!  Yet, the faults we read about in Samuel, Kings and Chronicles seem to repeat themselves.  Church people follow idols, Baals and Ashtoreths.  By this we understand that church people can be speaking of the “lord” but not really knowing who they are talking about.  The word Baal means “master” or “lord”.

 Mat 7:21  "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [NIV]

The leaders of Israel also struggled.  Most of the Kings strayed from the path God set for them.  There were always false prophets stirring things up and there were many priests and Levites who would compromise everything for money!  Yet there were faithful men and women and these shine out from the pages of Israel’s and Judah’s history.  Even so, the faithful had their weaknesses! 

Perhaps the lesson to learn is that we ought to be aware of our weaknesses?  Then we are less likely to want to rule our own lives or the lives of people in our churches.  We will have a healthy view of what we might be “in the flesh” and will cling to the Spirit.  We will want to walk in Christ’s light not our own! 

2Co 12:9,10  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. [NIV]

Even Paul preferred to take this humble route and not assert his authority or power.  However, we should not see all this as meaning that leaders should be the kind of people who avoid the challenges of real life and hard work!  On the contrary God wants courageous servants with pioneer spirit and who do not flinch at the challenges of life. 

The fact that Prophets, Priests and Kings existed in Israel is that they foreshadow the Messiah.  The Coming One who would be all three!  We know that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is Prophet, Priest and King.  We are shown glimpses of his glory: crowned with many diadems, the Lamb upon the Throne, the Victorious General on his white horse.  We are also shown his character: the King of love, the Great Shepherd of the sheep.  Those Old Testament Kings had to manage without the example we have.  We see Jesus!  Whatever my gift or role in Christ’s Church, I have Jesus as my Lord and Master, Example and Captain.  I have the Holy Spirit as my counsellor and his desire is that I should become like Christ! 

Php 3:8-14  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ  14  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11  and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. [NIV]