Priests of New Jerusalem

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

(Revelation 1:4-6)

There are two main roles that the saints will fulfil in the New Jerusalem as we enter the new age. The first is the role of a king, and the second is the role of a priest. In the above passage of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, through the apostle John, informs us that our Lord Jesus has made us both kings and priests to God our Father. In this section, we will discuss our roles as priests in the age to come.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

(Revelation 3:12)

In the above passage of Scripture, our Lord Jesus describes His saints as being pillars in the temple of God and states that they shall go out no more. In other words, our Lord is saying that the saints will serve as priests before God for all eternity. One of the roles that our Lord Jesus fulfils, and will continue to fulfil for all eternity, is that of High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:17). Likewise, every saint has become a priest after the same order of Melchizedek, and we too will fulfil that role before God for all eternity. So, what is the role that we will perform as priests before God? Scripture teaches that the role of the High Priest is to offer both gifts and sacrifices before God (Hebrews 8:3), and the role of the priest is to assist the High Priest in offering those gifts and sacrifices. Thus, we see that for all eternity, whenever our Lord Jesus offers gifts and sacrifices before God the Father, we, as His priests, will assist Him in offering those gifts and sacrifices. This truth is clearly illustrated in Scripture when it speaks of our Lord Jesus standing in the midst of His brethren and performing His vows to God (Hebrews 2:12; Psalm 22:25). All of this will take place in the New Jerusalem in the age to come.

Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

(Revelation 7:15)

The above passage of Scripture describes the saints as serving before the throne of God, both day and night. What does this mean? It does not mean that both the Lord Jesus and the saints will stand before God for all eternity and worship Him, for God Himself has decreed that both the Lord Jesus and His saints are to reign over all creation as well. As we will see, that aspect of our lives will also make demands on our time. So, how much of our time will be dedicated to serving as priests, bearing in mind that we will have twenty-four hours available to us every day to fulfil all our roles, because, like our Lord Jesus, we will no longer sleep? To answer this question, we can look to the old covenant, for it was given as a type and shadow of that which is to come. Under the old covenant, the priests were required to offer both a morning and an evening sacrifice before the Lord every single day (Exodus 29:38-39). Thus, in the New Jerusalem, every morning and every evening, the saints will gather with the Lord Jesus before the throne to offer the daily sacrifices before the Lord. This is what the above Scripture means when it says that we will serve God both day and night.

Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

(Psalms 141:2)

What is the daily sacrifice? Under the old covenant, the priests offered a lamb on the altar, but priests under the new covenant will not offer lambs. The Holy Spirit, in the above passage of Scripture, describes the evening sacrifice to us: it is the lifting up of our hands before the Lord in worship. In other words, every morning and evening, all of the Lord’s saints will stand before the throne of God on the sea of glass and offer our worship before Him. If our Lord’s comment is to be used as a guide, we can be assured that this time of worship before the throne of God will be no less than one hour every morning and one hour every evening (Matthew 26:40). This the saints will do for all eternity.

For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. You will prolong the king's life, His years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him! So I will sing praise to Your name forever, That I may daily perform my vows.

(Psalms 61:5-8)

As our High Priest, the Lord Jesus will stand with His saints before the throne of God every day to offer praise and worship before God the Father. In the above passage of Scripture, our Lord Jesus speaks about His daily performance of His vows before God and of His singing unto God in praise and worship. Obviously, the saints will join with our Lord Jesus when He expresses His worship before the throne of God. In this life, many have experienced the presence of God during worship and have been overcome with joy and laughter, drenched in the power of God, and smelled the beautiful fragrance of heaven. Those experiences, however, are nothing compared to what it will be like worshiping before the physical presence of God in the age to come. It is also likely that, during these times of worship before the throne of God, the bodies of the saints will be transfigured, displaying the glory of God, as our Lord’s body was when Moses and Elijah appeared to Him on the mountain (Mark 9:2).

"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me," says the Lord, "So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord.

(Isaiah 66:22-23)

We have already examined the above passage of Scripture to show that all the nations of the earth will come before the throne to worship God on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and set feasts. Although all of mankind will gather before the Lord on these occasions to worship Him, it will be the church, as the priests of God, that will be used by Him to lead the assembly of the Lord in worship. We can only speculate as to what these various days of assembly before the throne of God will be like and what role the saints of God will play in these gatherings. Nevertheless, it will form a very important part of our eternal roles as priests of the Most High God. Regarding the Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feast days, I must make the following comment: On these days, the children of God will also appear before the throne, standing on the sea of glass. However, we must remember that, unlike the saints who will not experience day and night, the children of God will still experience both day and night. Practically speaking, when the Sabbath day begins in one part of the earth, that same Sabbath day will be ending in another part as the earth revolves on its axis, just as it does currently. Thus, because the children of God will experience time, God will not bring all His children before Him at the same time. Instead, He will bring them before Him as the Sabbath begins in each time zone on the earth and then return those children to their homes when the next time zone arrives. It will be as if there are multiple services before the throne on the Sabbath days, with each service lasting approximately one to two hours. However, although the children of God will be brought before His throne in relays on the Sabbath, the saints of God will remain before His throne for the entire time. Thus, we see that on the Sabbath days, the saints will spend the entire day worshiping before the throne of God. This same principle will apply to the New Moons and Feast days.

"And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have raised My hand in an oath against them," says the Lord God, "that they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. Nevertheless I will make them keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it. "But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood," says the Lord God. "They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.

(Ezekiel 44:10-16)

I will close this section with a word of caution. The context of the above passage of Scripture pertains to the period when the third temple will be rebuilt in Israel. In this passage, God is specific about the consequences of the lifestyles chosen by the Levites when Israel was in a backslidden state. God says that those who led consecrated lives to Him will be allowed to draw near to Him to minister before Him, while those who chose a backslidden lifestyle will still be allowed to serve as priests but will not be permitted to draw near to Him. This passage is prophetic regarding the Lord’s priests after the order of Melchizedek. In other words, those saints who choose to live in a lifestyle of sin in this life will still be priests of God in the age to come, but they will not be permitted to draw near to Him.

Michael E.B. Maher

The End of the Age

Buy Now

Donate

Payoneer