THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD II - SONS OF ZADOK
THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD II
(The Zadok Priesthood)
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
November 1, 2016, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Last week I stated that the study of the priesthood is inexhaustible. I come before the Lord approaching this study asking Him what it is that I am to bring forth. All of it is rich whether it is the offerings, garments, calling, duties, ministry, etc. I began to pour the “ointment” of this teaching series last week from the head of Jesus Christ, Our Great High Priest flowing down to the royal priesthood of the sons of God.
The cry will be to see the power of the life of Jesus Christ transform the creation.
Ezekiel 48:11: “It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.”
“The Lord is working this royal priesthood into our nature and life. This priesthood works in the very real world that we live in. It works in the nitty-gritty of everyday, mundane living. This priesthood is mercy to those who deserve no mercy. It is compassion to those who have worked evil. Priesthood is forgiveness, even for the most callous criminal. Priesthood is blessing the unblessed with something more than a hand-out. Priesthood is healing and releasing the oppressed. It is divine love swallowing up fierce diseases. The priesthood is a people who are filled with sympathetic yearnings to see the power of God’s life transform the creation. If you are a member of this priesthood, whoever comes in contact with you will know it.”
The central focus of this priesthood is Jesus, our Ark of the Covenant (Heb. 12:2). For those who are ever longing to see Him, even now the heavens are being rolled back as a scroll, the Temple of God is opened, and the Ark of the Testament (covenant) is being seen (Rev. 11:19).
Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1). He is the Bishop over our souls (1 Pet. 2:25). He is the ever coming One, even the Almighty (Rev. 1:8). He is the full acknowledged mystery of God (Co. 2:2). Our maturing as a priestly body is all of us coming unto the stature of the fullness of Christ. When we see Him, we will be like him. (1 Jo. 3:2).”
The primary function of the Priest ministry is to minister unto the Lord. I believe as we minister to the Lord’s people in grace and love, this is also ministering unto the Lord. Melchisedec blessed both God and man. (Gen. 14: 19-20) This is the true nature of prayer.
Under Jewish law, a priest was chosen of God, the property of God, holy unto God, offered gifts and sacrifices unto God, took gifts from God, taught the people about God, and prayed for the people of God.
Heb. 9:11-12: “But Christ being a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
We have direct access to Father God through the blood of our Great High Priest who opened Heaven for us.
Aaron who was the first High Priest is a type of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, our New Testament High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, the king-priest, the Prince of Ezekiel’s Temple. This truth is applied to the Royal Priesthood/Overcomer who follows Jesus Christ beyond the Vail into the Most Holy Place. For Aaron alone entered into that which was within the Vail.
Heb. 9:25: “Christ entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Heb. 5:4: “”No man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.”
Josephus (Jewish historian 37-100a.d.) “But now God Himself has determined that Aaron is worthy of this honor, and has chosen him for His priest, as knowing him to be the most righteous person among you; so that he has put on the vestments which are consecrated to God; he is to have care of the altars, and to make provision for the sacrifices; and he it is who must put up prayers for you to God, who will readily hear them…because He will receive them as offered by one whom He has Himself chosen to this office.”
“We are invited to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need…Seeing that we have a great high priest, who passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” (Heb.4: 14-16)
Aaron was made spokesman for Moses and commissioned by God as a deliverer. He worked miracles. During the battle with Amalek, he held up Moses’ hands. Later he made an idol of the golden calf; the repented over this hideous transgression.
Aaron later rebelled against Moses with Miriam, and then reaped when he sowed when the Israelites experienced Korah’s rebellion. While Aaron typified Jesus, he yet remains Aaron of the molten calf and other transgressions.
Aaron’s name means “illumined, enlightener, teacher, very high, lofty mountain of strength, mountaineer.”
God proved the validity of his chosen priesthood by the principle of resurrection life of Jesus Christ---“the power of an endless life.” (Heb. 7:16)
Aaron died at the age of 123 in Mt. Hor. The High Priesthood descended to Eleazar and to his descendants to the time of Eli (a descendant of Ithamar). Ithamar’s descendants continued to Solomon’s time, when the office was restored to Zadok (of Eleazar) and taken from Abiathar (of Eli).
The zenith of the Priesthood’s glory was reached during the Kingdom administrations of David and Solomon.
Aaron’s sons typify:
- The priesthood of believers.
- The five-fold ministry – Aaron plus four sons.
- The royal priesthood after the order of Melchisedec which, in Ezekiel’s temple, are the sons of the Prince and the Zadok ites (the overcomer, the 100-fold, the 42nd generation of Matt. 1, which is a chosen generation.)
So, today let us being our focus on the Zadok Priesthood:
Again we are in a subject so wide, vast and deep that I cannot cover it in one session.
In the case of determining who the Sons of Zadok are, we can use the lives of the two sons of Eli, the high priest, as examples of those who are not the Sons of Zadok.
The sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas represent every aspect of the clergy defined as “abominable” according to God. Eli himself was cursed because of them, their lives were cursed and their children were cursed. Ichabod, meaning the glory” has departed,” was the name of Phinehas’ son. “Born in death” shortly after the demise of both Phinehas and Eli. (Actually Ichabod has a deeper meaning which is “inglorious,” or opposite to the glory resting upon the true children of God.)
These sons of Eli represent flesh religion apart from God, which the Sons of Zadok represent a spiritual heritage based on intimacy with God. Eli’s sons literally robbed the people by taking far more than they were allowed to take as priests. They soured the people, by their greed at the time of offering.
As to Phinehas, the focus is not upon the “spirit” of his name so much as the “blood” of his lineage and the actual deeds of the flesh. Hence, he and his brother are perfect counterparts to the Sons of Zadok. Hopni and Phinehas emphasized their “rights as priests” versus God’s rights in the priesthood. It would be easy to focus on their faults if they were unique in history, but alas, they stand as doorkeepers to a vast institutionalized clergy. Their departure into the realms of lechery came first from their liberal father, Eli. His decision not to discipline his sons and his enormous size are depictive of a clergy grown weak through compromise and lack of discipline.
1 Samuel 2:12: “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they knew not the Lord.”
Yet in the house of Eli, another son of Hannah’s answered prayer, Samuel had been dedicated to the Lord.
Young Samuel was a counterpart to the real sons of Eli. Samuel heard God and responded. Eli at least is to be credited with knowing it was the Lord dealing with Samuel. The compromised heart of Eli did not affect young Samuel. God eventually used Samuel to bring about the kingship of David.
Every man and woman of God is priests and kings unto our God. The judgment of Eli rests upon ever believer who honors anything more than the Father. God seeks Sons of Zadok who will worship Him in spirit and truth.
It is the Lord’s intention to have a responsive priesthood, leading His people in His chosen pathways. According to God under the Eli Priesthood, this had not take place. The system was broken! The Eli system gave support to ideals and goals that were opposite from those of the Lord. The system that Eli was born into, educated by, and trained and which he sought to perpetuate was a broken system. Any system of organized religion regardless of its name will bear the same scrutiny and destiny.
The enemy of the “system” is a righteous man, doing righteous deeds, which have originated in a Holy God. The “system’s” enemy is any man who takes his orders only from the Lord. Jesus became the “system’s enemy and they crucified Him. When the Sons of Zadok rise up on the order of the True and Living God, their righteousness, holiness and obedience will be despised by the Eli system.
Today this truth is never more cogent than ever. In the Eli system, the approval of man has one goal in mind and that is to maintain the chain of command. Their approval is always based on man’s close adherence to “the system.” No Son of Zadok need apply!
Just as the trumpet is sounding for Joel’s Army to arise; when the Lord sounds the trumpet for the Harvest of the earth, there will be a spiritual trumpet heard announcing the rise of the true Sons of Zadok. God has been preparing them in the wings for many years. They are like the hidden multitude of Elijah’s day, “who have not bowed their knee.” They are the Gideon 300, not the Gideon 10,000. Their rank is not measured in the same measure as the Eli system measures. Money means nothing to this band that has “God as their shade over their right hand.” (Ps. 121:5)
Notoriety is not the issue with the Sons of Zadok; they are a breed far different than history has ever seen. Willingly, they have already counted the cost, and willingly, they will lay down their lives to usher in the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ. Their blood on the streets in front of cathedrals will not stop them. They are armed with God!
1 Samuel 2:35: “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to that which is in my heart and in mind…”
Ezekiel Chapter 44 deals with ungodly and Godly priests. The main subject is the regulations for the priests of the Lord who serve in the Temple. Purity of worship is safeguarded and emphasized throughout.
This chapter is a powerful revelation of the Zadok Priesthood, which is the same principle of the Melchizedek Priesthood, or the royal Priesthood. I have a Book, on The Sons of Zadok, written by Dr. C. R. Oliver. The whole book has the main text of Ezekiel 44. It is a tremendous study. The following is a brief quotation from that book:
“The house of Israel and its Levitical Priesthood is linked inseparably to the sin and error of their ‘system’ way of doing things. The Levites were unfaithful during the time of captivity. (Ez. 44: 10-14). They are limited to earthly ministry. (Servants serve the ‘system.’ “Friends” serve as Sons in ministry to God. The disciples once were servants of the system, but now they operate like Sons of Zadok and are of the same house of Jesus. As servants of the “system” they are to be blocked from the holy, the most holy things of God. When they stand to minister to the people, they are silently praying that their adulteries are not discovered. When they counsel those who have wrecked their lives through sin, they are aware of the wreck of their own life. When they socialize with the crowds, they recognize that instead of living the separated life, they are more at home with the “flow” of the crowd than the Glory of the Cloud.”
The faithful Levites during the hour of captivity were the sons of Zadok, who personifies the Melchisedec order. Ez. 44;15, “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood said the Lord God.”
It is here the Lord begins His separating process. God wants His people to know He is contrasting the “system” and separating it from His Sons. To the “system” God is a God of judgment and distance. To the Sons, He is Father and full of fellowship. These two groups have nothing in common.
44: 15-31: “Sons of Zadok are a separate class. Every biblical reference to them sets them apart. They operate in power in the presence of God. Their ranks are holy; their duties are holy; their specific instructions are holy (what they teach, where they live). Their lives separate them to themselves. Since they are delineated apart from the other priests and Levites, they operate on a different plane. Theirs is a higher Law. Like the law of gravity is superseded by the law of lift, their law of holiness supersedes all that has been operating before. This is why the Lord is careful to make sure that He calls them separately each time in the giving out of the general laws regarding His spiritual Temple. He shows favor and special concern for the Sons of Zadok.”
First they must have Holy Hands – they never enter into the way of the “ungodly” they kept the charge. What God ordered to be done, they continually attended to. They did not sink into the ways of sin “for a season”. They stood before the Lord in holiness and did holy work. Many congregations of today have never seen Holy Work. Many aspects of congregational life are rife with man’s programs, and man’s fleshly goals. Intent upon hearing of the Acts of God in evangelical circles, they are bereft of the Ways of God.
Next is Sacred Sacrifices. The Sons of Zadok knew what it was to come near to God. Righteous Samuel battled the Eli system. He called down the king who could have ordered his death. The “Eli system” had rather take an offering than obey. They would rather put on a production featuring a thousand sacrifices than repent and humbly walk before God.
Psalm 51:17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite hear, O God, you will not despise.”
Their constituency is different from the “system” people. Zadok priests assist the elect who bring the type of sacrifices mentioned as “acceptable”.
Mark 12:33: ‘And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Paul when he received a love gift from the Philippians in 4:18 said the gift was “an odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.”
Ezekiel says they must live their lives differently than the “system” priests. Their clothing must be handled differently. Instead of a Cossack, robe, habit, collar, or other liturgical garb, the Sons of Zadok wear spiritual clothing often indiscernible by a lost church and world. Not until the spirit illuminates them to have “eyes that see” can they be truly known. Their raiment, worn in the presence of the Most High, was linen. They wore no “wool” from sacrificial sheep. The clothes were housed in special chambers bathed in prayer.
They were to discern the clean from the unclean. What is clean to God? What is unclean to God? Our counsel must reflect God’s right to discern. (24) “And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my assemblies; and they shall hollow my Sabbaths.” The Zadok ministry will teach (by a lifestyle) the difference between the Holy and Profane, the clean and the unclean. This has been the issue of Ezekiel’s entire prophecy: Idolatry! They will minister judgment. They will not defile themselves with anything that is dead. I believe this death has to do with that which is absent of the Holy Ghost. The Lord shall be the possession of the sons of Zadok. They shall partake of the first fruits; they will be the first fruits!
Rev. 14: 1-5: “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a 144,000 having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps; And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four bests, and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins, these are they which follow the Lam wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the Firstfuits unto God and to the Lamb.”
The Zadok priesthood will share in the glory of the Lord, for he is their portion (44:28) “And it shall be unto them for an inheritance; I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.
What a ministry! What a priesthood! Faithfulness in our present calling is key to entering this greater ministry. The body of Christ and the nations of the world are in dire straits and perilous captivity, awaiting this Zadok ministry.
Psa. 133:2: “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments.”
Perhaps next week we will study the garments.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Principles of Present Truth on Leviticus by Rev. Kelly Varner 1949-2009); The Sons of Zadok by Dr. C. R. Oliver, Woodlands, TX.; Bible Study Notes by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom – Ezekiel 43, 44, & 45.