Priests Versus Priestism
W. H, Jellie. Leviticus 8:2-30 Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams… I. PRIESTS MINISTERED IN ISRAEL WITH THE HIGH SANCTION OF GOD. He — 1. Created the office, and defined its solemn functions, which were of the loftiest character. 2. Invested the person of the priest with splendour, majesty, and beauty, to command admiration and awe. 3. Determined the mediatorial intervention of the priest between man and God; set one man in this august and solemn supremacy among his fellows. 4. Refused any other than the priest to come direct to His altar and stand in His most holy presence. II. THE PRIESTHOOD WAS A PROVISIONAL ARRANGEMENT ANTICIPATORY OF CHRIST'S GLORIOUS OFFICES. 1. In the personal excellence and piety of individual priests, the faultless being always chosen, Christ's perfect humanity was foreshadowed. 2. In the splendid attire with which the priests were adorned, Christ's majestic attributes and Divine qualities were represented. 3. In the imposing ministries before and within the veil, Christ's offices as atoning and mediating Priest were pourtrayed. 4. In the sacred and exclusive privileges the priests enjoyed, Christ's entire acceptableness and God's great delight in Him were impressively and constantly intimated. III. CHRISTIAN MINISTERS INHERIT MANY OF THE MOST AUGUST AND RESPONSIBLE SPIRITUAL FUNCTIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 1. They have no priestly calling, yet are as distinctly commissioned and Divinely consecrated to their work. 2. Their solemn trust places them in highest ministries and responsibilities as mediators between God and human souls. 3. The Christian Church is commanded to maintain them in their ministry and esteem them very highly in the discharge of their sacred commission. 4. As bishops and shepherds of Christ's flock they are put in trust with the souls of their people; "they watch for souls." IV. MODERN PRIESTLINESS PERVERTS AND PROSTITUTES THE SACRED OFFICE OF THE MINISTRY IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 1. Its offensive assumption of spiritual supremacy is in defiance of Christ's law of equality and brotherhood among believers. 2. Its officious intrusion between God and men is an affront to the unfettered liberty and right of every one to seek God for himself, and is an infringement upon the mediatorship of Jesus which always avails for all. 3. Its daring pretensions of altar ministries is a perversion of New Covenant doctrines; neither altar nor sacrificial rites remaining now within the Church. 4. Its appalling misleading of seduced souls, who rest on such beguiling priestliness for spiritual safety, instead of wholly trusting Christ, is sufficient to fill Christian hearts with indignation and to cover the very name of "priest" with anathemas. There is now no priest but Jesus Christ. (W. H, Jellie.) Parallel Verses KJV: Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; WEB: "Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;