Pastor Sola Ogidan
[biblegateway passage=”1 Peter 2:1-5-9″ display=”1 Peter 2:1-5-9″]
The King James Version says we are already built up, but the New King James Version says, “We are being built up”. The house being described in our text is priesthood.
[biblegateway passage=”Hebrews 5:1″ display=”Hebrews 5:1″]
Priesthood can be viewed as an office that mediates between man and God. One of the things that stands at the core of priesthood is the matter of dealing with sins. But, the essence of priesthood does not revolve around sin. This is because there will come a time when sin will cease to exist, but priesthood will remain.
God knew that man would sin. Sin was stronger than man. Jesus could not sin because the nature of God in Him gave Him the capacity to say no. If sin destroyed an angel and the Bible tells us that man was made “a little lower than the angels”, how could he have survived it? But God permitted him to either stand or fall.
There is a correlation between priesthood and the ministry gifts.
[biblegateway passage=”Numbers 18:7″ display=”Numbers 18:7″]
God did not choose Aaron to be a priest because of anything he had done, or anything he had. Levi had zeal, but so did the other tribes. The sacrifices in this new priesthood are not sacrifices for sins, but rather are a matter of is what is coming from us to God. This is in fact, the true end (essence) of priesthood.
Priesthood also talks about the community of priests. One of the things that God is doing is to build us up into this priesthood. Our building is not what is going to make us priests. We have been made kings and priests according to scriptures. This is what God has done for us through Christ. It is our inheritance. We must then understand that there is what God is doing in us so that we can appropriate our inheritance, and there is also what God is doing through me.
Priesthood is what God has made for us. But we will make a wreck of our priesthood if there is no building. That is why being born as one sons of Aaron, did not come with the automatic rights for them to begin offering sacrifices. They needed to be taught.
Thank God the genealogy counts, for if we are not born into it, we cannot be it. By nature, we are priests. But we need to be trained and built up to be priests.
Every portion of the temple is a journey of heights to heights. Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. In essence, there is a need of a building.
[biblegateway passage=”1 Kings 6:7″ display=”1 Kings 6:7″]
There are many things about Solomon that we do not know. David could not just build something shallow. Solomon went to Quarry and brought Gentiles to be a part of building the temple. God was
saying that he would use a Gentile to be a part of this work. Solomon was saying that we want to God to stay in one place. That is why he used stones. This is the same analogy that was used in the New Testament.
[biblegateway passage=”John 14:16″ display=”John 14:16″]
Why did God send the Holy Ghost? He did this so that he can have an eternal commitment with us. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit did not stay on (or within) the vessels God had chosen to use but in the New Testament, God has an abiding Presence with us.
[biblegateway passage=”1 Kings 8:27-30″ display=”1 Kings 8:27-30″]
Solomon prayed and said that even though God cannot dwell in temples made by human hands, He should please stay.
In the New Testament, we are called living stones- stones with life.
These men would willingly give themselves to me and I will work on them.
[biblegateway passage=”2 Corinthians 3:3″ display=”2 Corinthians 3:3″]
God is talking about hearts of flesh- people who can yield to Him.
[biblegateway passage=”Romans 6:1-18″ display=”Romans 6:1-18″]
A gentile is dead and has no capacity to yield to God. This is why he needs to be born again.
[biblegateway passage=”2 Corinthians 3:18″ display=”2 Corinthians 3:18″]
The core of the New Testament is change. Stones do not change. The stones had to be changed by being cut overtime in the quarry. The fitting thereafter comes almost too easy, because there was a time for preparation.
‘Living stones’ refers to men that cannot be changed. If the influence of God cannot bring you to change, then you have issues. The quicker we respond to God, the faster the work of God within us. We are alive because we are yielding with God. If there is no building (process), there is no priesthood. Your obedience is the mark of life. If we are not obeying God, we are not living. The high priestly ministry of Jesus will not benefit us if we do not come here.