A Royal Priesthood: Attached to the Lord

Peter calls us a holy and royal priesthood (1Pe 2:5, 9).  But what does this mean?  Does a ceremonial animal slayer of the Old Testament or a collared Roman Catholic priest enter your mind?  Me too.  Last summer, though, the Lord unshackled my mind to see a priest expressing an intimate relationship with Him.

Origins matter.  When the Pharisees had pinned their understanding of divorce based on what Moses said, Jesus said, “From the beginning it was not so” (Mt 19:8).  Want to find God’s heart on a matter?  Go to the beginning.  That reveals His truest purpose.  The origin of the Levitical priesthood reveals its truest purpose. 

The Levites were the offspring of Levi, the patriarch of the priestly tribe.  Levi’s mother, Leah, locked horns with her sister to win the affection of their shared husband.  Despite the ugliness resulting from Jacob’s polygamy, Leah’s heart that longed for her bridegroom is a silver lining in that dark cloud for us to glean insight from.   

When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.  And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”

Genesis 29:31-32 ESV

Leah’s names for her sons manifested an aching for Jacob to love her.  How fitting that the twelve tribes of Israel, the Lord’s bride, all had names expressing either a wife’s longing for her husband (Leah) or the fruit of their union (Rachel).  Each tribal name reinforces a unique aspect of marital love.

Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. 

Genesis 29:34

Leah’s travail to be attached to her husband birthed the name Levi—”attached.”  Levi’s violence and cruelty invoked his father’s curse to scatter his offspring in Israel (Gen. 49:7), but God turned the curse into a blessing!  Levi was indeed scattered but as priests of blessing among the other tribes.  Best of all, Levi alone possessed the Lord for their inheritance (Deut 10:9).  Attached.  How prophetic the name Levi was! 

Moving along from the Old Testament shadows, the new and better covenant displays our inheritance like this:

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you

1Peter 1:3-4

Unlike gold or silver our inheritance isn’t sitting passively in heaven as we will see.  By contrast this passage vividly pictures what a fading inheritance might look like:    

For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

James 1:11

While not James’ intended context, this rich man who fades away in the midst of his pursuits is a pale reflection of Jesus, the true Rich Man whose eternal pursuits never wither!  Unlike the grass that withers, Jesus’ pursuits are always green—full of life!—and always in full bloom—a beauty that never perishes! 

Our unfading inheritance is not locked away in a vault somewhere in heaven.  He’s alive!  Our inheritance is Jesus, in hot pursuit as a rich man.  What are His pursuits?  Jesus is the “merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Mt 13:45-46).  Consider billionaires like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos chasing after wealth.  Christ’s noble pursuit of us is far more passionate than that!   

It’s not our pursuit of Him that matters as much as His pursuit of us.  Ever feel like your pursuit of Jesus at times is like withering grass?  That does not dull His evergreen affections toward you one iota.  “I have loved you with an everlasting love,” He affirms (Jer. 31:3). 

Our Rich Man will never fail in His pursuits to win His bride!  Though the richest king, Solomon, failed in his pursuits to stay true to his bride in Song of Songs, Jesus never will!  “Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills” (Song 2:8).  He pursues us as His bride, unfadingly vigorous as the stag bounding in full strength over the mountains.  This imperishable, undefiled, and unfading Jesus is the inheritance of the royal priesthood.

Let’s continue tracing this Rich Man’s pursuits:

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.

Luke 24:28-29

There’s the cry of Leah: “Stay with us!”  “Attached”—Levi.  This is what it means to be a priest that ministers to the Lord.  The voice that yearns for attachment is what attracts the Lord to come and dine.  He stands at the door and knocks, awaiting our urging to welcome Him in.  This is the holy priesthood fulfilling the greatest commandment: separated to love Jesus.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 1:6-7

We are made priests, not after a perfunctory nature, but of the spirit birthed by Leah’s name Levi—Attached—resonating with Leah-like hunger to be attached to our Bridegroom.  Whereas Jacob failed to fulfill Leah’s longing for attachment, Jesus fully satisfies our union with Him as our Husband (Rom 7:1-4).  He is our inheritance beyond all imagination, pursuing you and me with an everlasting love that will never fade or wither.  Amazing love!