Lesson 2 Part 1: The Office of the Priest

"You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Before Israel ever had a temple, a tabernacle, or a tribe of Levi, God's original design was a universal priesthood — an entire nation with direct access to His presence. That design is the foundation of everything the New Testament believer is called to walk in.

In this lesson, we open the second major subject of the series: the office of the priest. You cannot understand what a priest does until you understand who a priest was. We begin at Sinai with Exodus 19:5–6, trace the staggering pivot at the golden calf — where a universal calling was narrowed to a single tribe because one tribe answered the question "Who is on the Lord's side?" — and walk through the consecration of Aaron in Leviticus 8: the washing, the garments, the anointing, and the blood applied to the ear, the hand, and the foot.

The priesthood has always required the willingness to stand with God when standing is costly. And every element of Aaron's consecration finds its fulfillment in the believer in Christ — washed by regeneration, clothed with Christ, anointed by the Spirit, and marked by the blood of the Lamb.

You are not waiting for a priest to go in on your behalf. You are the priest. The question is not whether you have the office. The question is whether you are functioning in it.