Jehovah said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy fathers’ house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. And thy brethren also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou near with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee. but thou and thy sons with thee shall be before the tent of the testimony. And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tent: only they shall not come nigh unto the vessels of the sanctuary and unto the altar, that they die not, neither they, nor ye…. And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are a gift, given unto Jehovah, to do the service of the tent of meeting. And thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priesthood for every thing of the altar, and for that within the veil; and ye shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. (Num. 18.1-3,6,7)
And unto the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting.... For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering unto Jehovah, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Moreover thou shalt speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up a heave-offering of it for Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe.... Thus ye also shall offer a heave-offering unto Jehovah of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and thereof ye shall give Jehovah’s heave-offering to Aaron the priest. (Num. 18.21,24-26,28)
In this chapter of the Bible, we see three classes of people: (1) the children of Israel, (2) the Levites, and (3) Aaron and his sons. May the Lord teach us needful lessons and edify us through our discussion of these three classes of people so that our lives may be more holy, more closely drawn to Him, and more pleasing to Him.
We know that the children of Israel were chosen from among all the people of the world. The Levites were chosen from the children of Israel. And the priests were chosen from among the Levites. And Aaron was chosen to be the high priest.
In like manner, the Church is called out of the world. The workers in the Church are called out from among the many brothers and sisters. And there is a class of workers who have such intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ that they are called to the highest work with the Lord—which is, to do the work of intercession that our Lord Jesus himself is doing. These people are chosen out of the many workers, and our Lord Jesus himself is their Lord.
Aaron, the high priest of old, is a type of our great and merciful High Priest.
All Christians are priests by God’s design: "he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father" (Rev. 1.6); "ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2.9). Our Lord is now in heaven as the Great High Priest, and we believers are priests according to His word. We do the work which He is now doing—which is, to intercede for men—for we are joined to Him in life. Unfortunately, many believers are totally ignorant of their being priests with the Lord Jesus. They live a soulish life, unseparated from the world.
