THE NEW TEMPLE PRIESTHOOD

Please carefully read Ezekiel 44:15–16. The Hebrew name Zadok means “right or righteous.” Ezekiel here is referring to a man named Zadok who served as a priest during David’s reign. This righteous man never wavered in his faithfulness to David or to the Lord. He stood by the king and by God’s Word, through thick and thin. Zakok always remained loyal to David, because he knew the king was the Lord’s anointed.

Because Zakok remained faithful through everything, he came to represent a ministry distinguished by its faithfulness to the Lord. Indeed, Zadok was a prime example of a true minister of God—separated from this world, shut in with the Lord, consistently hearing from heaven. Such a minister recognizes his main work as prayer: seeking God daily, constantly communing with the Holy Spirit and ministering to Jesus.

The new temple priests are faithful to stand before the Lord before they ever stand before the congregation. They spend precious hours in the Lord’s presence, until they’re saturated with a message that’s been burned into their souls. And when they emerge from God’s presence, they are able to speak straight to the people’s hearts. Their message gets down to where the sheep live, because it has come directly from God’s throne.

The Lord says of the Zadok priesthood, “These ministers will enter my sanctuary and stand before me. They shall come near to my table and minister to me. And they shall keep my charge. I’ll be faithful to lead and direct them and I’ll give them my word for my people.”

In the new, last-days sanctuary, the Zakok priesthood knows their central work is to minister to the Lord. This ministry includes every lover of Jesus who desires to walk in righteousness. Indeed, we see the “priesthood of believers” echoed throughout the books of the New Testament. John tells us, “[He] hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Revelation 1:6). Peter writes, “Ye also, as lively stones, are…an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

You may not have ministerial credentials from any church body. You may never have been to seminary. You may never have preached a sermon. But you are just as called and ordained to serve in the Zadok priesthood as even the most well-known preacher or evangelist. Both Testaments make it abundantly clear: Each of us is to hold the office of priest and perform a priest’s duties.

So, you’re wondering, how are you to do this? You do it by ministering primarily unto the Lord. You offer up sacrifices to him—sacrifices of praise, of service, of turning over to him all your heart, soul, mind and strength. He’s called you to be part of his royal priesthood. Therefore, you are to minister to others only after you’ve ministered to him. This means you are not to show up at God’s house each week empty and dry, hoping some message from the preacher will fire you up. No, you’re to come prepared to minister to the Lord with a heart of praise.