Change of Plans….

Sometimes we set out to write (or do) one thing, only to realize that the Lord has different plans.

I’d been feeling like the Lord was calling me to write about legalism and not getting so caught up in law that we forget to pay attention to what the Lord is saying within our actual relationship with Him.  I started studying and pulling verses, and I kept coming across the same word…the same name.

Melchizedek

Melchiza-who?!  For real, I wish I could tell you that with the reading of his name came a whole flood of historical information and biblical data that I have stored in my little ol’ brain…but that wouldn’t be true.  I had to look the guy up and do some serious digging…and once I dug around, I realized that what the Lord wanted to say to us now has a whole lot more to do with Melchizedek than talking about being bound up in legalism.

Turns out that Melchizedek was the last of the priest kings.  He was a contemporary of Abraham, and up until his time, rulership was synonymous with priesthood. After Melchizedek’s reign, the throne was transferred to the descendants of Abraham.  The new kings were royal, but the priesthood aspect of a royal reign pretty much just ended with Melchizedek.  Abraham’s descendant kings eventually led to King David and then ultimately to Jesus, the long awaited reinstatement of the true Priest King.

The LORD sends forth from Zion
      your mighty scepter.
      Rule in the midst of your enemies!
            Your people will offer themselves freely
      on the day of your power,
      in holy garments;
             from the womb of the morning,
      the dew of your youth will be yours.
           The LORD has sworn
      and will not change his mind,
             “You are a priest forever
            after the order of Melchizedek.” – Ps 110:2–4

This explanation of Psalm 110 from a commentary I read knocked my socks off….

• “Not only was there nothing in the position or character, personal or official, of David or any other descendant, to justify a reference to either, but utter severance from the royal office of all priestly functions (so clearly assigned the subject of this Psalm) positively forbids such a reference. The Psalm celebrates the exaltation of Christ to the throne of an eternal and increasing kingdom, and a perpetual priesthood (Zec 6:13), involving the subjugation of His enemies and the multiplication of His subjects, and rendered infallibly certain by the word and oath of Almighty God. – *1

Did you catch that?  The implications of all that came with Jesus begin restored as priest king and what that means for us?  As I was thinking on this whole priest king phenomenon, the Lord reminded me of this verse in 1 Peter (interestingly enough, the very book that Katie Orr is leading us in a study of here on the Allume blog!)

“But 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;  for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God” – 1 Pet 2:9

Priests weren’t historically just the people set in place to keep religious laws…they were the ones appointed to set and maintain the spiritual tone of the land… To turn the people towards God and help restore them to a right relationship with God.  And, the kings, and queens, princes, and princesses….they ruled the lands.  They brought peace and waged war against evils.  Theoretically, their job was literally managing the state of the lands to bring about prosperity and order in the kingdom.

Do you get what that means when He calls us priestly royalty?!  All that it means?!

OH. MY. WORDS!

And in case you’ve ever questioned what your role here on the earth is…well, there you have it!  Our job is now.  Our role to play is now.  We start NOW.  We’re not just to bide our time here on the earth until His glorious coming.  We have a huge role to play, and not only that, but we have been invited into the most high order of royalty.  Priestly royalty.  Chosen by God, with the privileges and responsibilities of priests and kings.

So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…

How’s that for an identity descriptor?!

***Have you ever wondered about what your role is on this earth until Jesus’ coming?  Have you considered that you are, in fact, part of THE royal priesthood? What does that identity mean to you?  What does that mean to us as a community?  What does that mean for the world?  Join in the conversation in the comment section below!

**You can read more about Melchizedek in Gen 14:18, Psalm 110, and Hebrews 5, 6, and 7

* Photo Source
*1 – Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.