In this blog I’ll share a tidbit we came across in Isaiah 66. I must confess that I never saw this one before, even though I’ve read Isaiah many times. That’s the thing I like about the Bible. No matter how many times you read it or study it, you still get something new out of it, even if it’s a just a little, but significant, tidbit. This one has to do with the MEDIATORS of God’s kingdom. Here’s what Isaiah says:
“… the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues … Then they [the non-Jews] shall bring all your brethren [Israelites] from all the nations … to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says YHWH … “I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says YHWH. (Isaiah 66: 18, 20-21)
Isaiah is saying that God will MAKE NON-JEWS PART OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. This text is prophetic and refers to a future time when God’s CHOSEN PRINCE rules the nations of the world. Christians believe that PRINCE is Jesus. Let’s make sure we acknowledge that we’re talking GLOBAL GOVERNMENT here. When Isaiah’s text says “I will also take some of them for priests and Levites” it’s talking about THE PRIESTHOOD, no doubt about it. So this blog is about THE PRIESTHOOD IN GOD’S GLOBAL GOVERNMENT. But it’s only talking about the single aspect of the priesthood’s CONSTITUENTS.
Now you have to ask yourself: Is this going to be a RELIGIOUS government? From a modern viewpoint that’s a reasonable question. But from an ancient viewpoint, it’s a STUPID question. Why stupid? Because in ancient times, the peoples of the earth didn’t distinguish between RELIGION and STATE like the modern world does today. Even the NON-JEWISH nations held to that world view. Remember EMPEROR WORSHIP in the Roman Empire? Remember the Pharaohs of Egypt? There are plenty of examples to substantiate this fact throughout human history. In the Roman empire, a person (non-Jew!) could be put to death if he didn’t bow down to the Emperor when ‘required’. If you don’t believe me, read it for yourself in the previous blog (this account is about Christians in particular):
Plinius, Junius, Epistles, X, 96 & 97 (Richard Hooper tr.)
Anyways, you have to shift your mental paradigm when you read Isaiah in order to get the impact of the message he’s giving us. But in order to shift your mental paradigm, you need some FACTS to do it. So that’s what I’m going to try to do now. And let’s not lose sight of the PURPOSE of all this: GOD’S RULE IN OUR LIVES AND SOCIETIES. The end result of all this yacking is to get God’s rule into our lives and into our social structures (instead of the infamous HEDONISM and COMMERCE which have taken hold of people’s minds and of our America’s social institutions today).
Let me point out to you one of the main differences between God’s global government and today’s global governance: THE LAW that will be used is different. God’s global government will use God’s MORAL LAW, in contrast to man’s global governance which uses COMMERCE (aka, commercial law, the law merchant, summary process in finance and administrative procedure, etc.). Another major difference is the government leaders won’t be CORRUPTIBLE like they are today. That’s a good subject for another blog.
And don’t forget what we said about God’s attitude towards COMMERCE. Do you remember? If you forgot, here’s a clue: Think “Canaanite”. Canaanite is a derogatory term for MERCHANT in the Old Testament. Then remember what went on with them in the OT when God ran across them in the “promise land”. And remember that this is a matter of HISTORICAL RECORD, not some religious myth or fairy tale. We’re talking REALITY here. So now bring these ideas into reality in your mind, and bring them into modern times.
Would you agree that, IN PRINCIPLE, God has the same attitude today towards COMMERCE and COMMERCE PEOPLES today that He did way back then? If NOT, then where in the NT does it say God changed his mind about commerce? I’ve not found it. If you want a good read on it, take a look at what the Apostle John says about BABYLON MOTHER OF WHORES in the latter chapters of Revelation. That ought to get you started. But if God’s attitude towards COMMERCE hasn’t changed in 2000 years, then wouldn’t it make sense that God won’t have anything to do with COMMERCE in HIS future kingdom? If so, imagine the possibilities!
Let’s shift our focus to the PRIESTS. The first thing we need to remember is that the PRIEST functioned within a GOVERNMENT SYSTEM called THE PRIESTHOOD. Note that this is not about RELIGION, but GOVERNMENT. Remember that ancient Israel didn’t separate between “church and state”. It was all one ball of wax, so to speak. But we’re not going to delve into the depths of that subject in this blog. Suffice to say that the PRIESTHOOD was part of the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
The next thing we need to focus on is the role of PRIESTHOOD, because that defines the priest’s job and his role in society. What do you suppose that job was? The way I understand it, it was two-fold:
1. MEDIATOR
2. TEACHER OF THE LAW/JUDGE (see my blog discussing James Chapter 2).
Those two ideas are what lies at the heart of this blog.
Please note: When we talk about PRIESTS in the Bible, we’re NOT talking about Catholic church or Orthodox church “priests”, or any of the other nation’s priests who are APPOINTED BY MEN. No, we’re talking about priests who are officially appointed BY GOD. Big difference! And we know that God doesn’t appoint priests today, because He does’t have a kingdom in which they can function as priests like with 1st and 2nd Temple Israel. According to the NT, the ONLY priest God has today is JESUS. HE EARNED IT! And he’s doing his work “at the right hand of God” (wherever and whatever that is!) RIGHT NOW! Check it out:
Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34 )
So let’s take a quick look at what the Bible says about the MEDIATOR role of the priest. The term “mediator” is NOT found in the books of Moses where he legislates the priest’s work. But it IS found in the NT referring specifically to priests. Check it out:
1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest [Jesus], who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices … 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8)
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)
In a previous blog I briefly discussed the THREE MESSIAH’s, which I got from David Flusser’s article on the 2 Samuel 7. The 3 Messiahs are the Prophet Messiah, the Priest Messiah, and the Prince Messiah. Jesus showed up on the scene as “the PROPHET who is like Moses” (only better). You see all the signs of that in the Gospels, especially John’s. We also know that Jesus fulfilled the HIGH PRIEST role by his ‘redemptive’ death on the cross and through his present ministry “at God’s right hand” (a good subject for another blog). But we know very little about the PRINCE Messiah from the NT, although we can figure he’ll be like Jesus was when he lived during 2nd Temple times, only he’ll be ‘militant’. And we know that the OT references to PRINCE Messiah are prophetic.
Now when you read John Lightfoot’s commentaries on the NT, you see that the “rabbins” also had various views on this. One of the controversies on who the Messiah would be is found in his 4th Volume, 11th page. He mentions “Messiah ben David, Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben Ephraim”. You can see there was a LOT of SPECULATION among the ‘authorities’ during Jesus’ time about this future deliverer. Anyways, we can see that Jesus is the PRIEST Messiah, as stated above in the book of Hebrews. That means Jesus is GOD’s CHOICE for the CHIEF PRIEST’s office in God’s future kingdom. And the priesthood will be governed by a DIFFERENT LAW in that future kingdom:
For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. (Hebrews 7:12)
In order to get an idea of all that’s involved in the Priest’s job, you have to read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Same with the Levites. Essentially, the Priests did the MANAGEMENT stuff whereas the Levites did all the LABOR stuff. It’s like ‘white collar’ and ‘blue collar’ government workers in modern America. In Moses, you’ll see that the majority of Priesthood regulations have to do with their activities involved with REMEDYING SIN TO SATISFY GOD’S JUSTICE and INSTRUCTING THE PEOPLE IN HOW TO OBEY GOD’S LAW. The priesthood revolved around SIN AND REDEMPTION for God’s people. And remember that there was NO remedy for WILLFUL sin! All this was based on a LEGAL AGREEMENT that the nation Israel was bound to obey (by their informed, voluntary choice), known as COVENANT. So, the priest’s job was built on BLOOD SACRIFICE and TEACHING GOD’S LAW. In a word:
THE PRIEST WAS GOD’S MEDIATOR OF GOD’S COVENANT TO GOD’S PEOPLE.
The whole point of it was to create a nation of people who obeyed God’s law “from the least of them to the greatest”, so that all the people and all their social process (social institutions) functioned on the basis of God’s law.
If you want a good summary of the PRIEST’s role as MEDIATOR, you can read the “International Standard Bible Encyclopedia” article entry, MEDIATOR.
For the most part, the LAW has to do with the priest, because the priest received the law from YHWH (through Moses), and APPLIED that law to people’s lives when consulted or when JUDGING a dispute. It’s a theme you’ll see throughout the OT. That’s where they are known as teachers of the law and judges.
The reason we looked at all of the above stuff is because we want to CONTRAST the OT priesthood with what the NT talks about PROPHETICALLY. That contrast helps us form a mental idea of the reality of all this. And what would that realty be, specifically?
But you (“Christians”) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light … (1 Peter 2:9)
Peter must be thinking about this:
“… you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words that you [Moses] shall speak to the sons of Israel. (Exodus 19:6)
The KEY here is realizing that the Exodus text is specifically talking about ISRAEL ONLY, whereas Peter’s words are talking about ALL HUMANS (who choose to join the covenant community). So Peter is talking about BOTH Jews and non-Jews, because Jesus ended that DIVISION when he died on the cross (as we saw in the Apostle Paul’s writings in a previous blog). The Apostle John talks about this same thing in his prophecy about Jesus’ ruling God’s kingdom on earth:
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth. (Revelation 5:10)
You can see this PRIESTHOOD thing is a very important part of God’s future kingdom, for obvious reasons. And remember the PURPOSE for the priesthood? TO MEDIATE BETWEEN GOD AND HIS PEOPLE, so God’s people can learn to obey God’s law and so their social process (social institutions) function according to God’s law.
The point to be had out of Isaiah 66 is:
GOD INTENDS TO APPOINT NON-JEWS AS PRIESTS IN JESUS’ KINGDOM (besides appointing Jews). Read that again. Let it sink in.
That means NON-JEWS will also be MEDIATING between God and the nations of the world during God’s future GLOBAL GOVERNMENT! That’s the point I wanted to make from the beginning of this blog. It won’t be JUST JEWS (i.e., only the 12 tribes of Israel).
In order to apply more force to this idea, let’s take a look at a NT example of this ‘new theology’ which counters long-standing “Jewish tradition”:
And he [the Apostle Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. (Acts 10:28)
And there you have it. It was AGAINST THE LAW for Jews to FREELY associate with non-Jews during 2nd Temple times. Why? Because BY LAW, Jews considered ALL non-Jews to be “unclean”, and therefore UNFIT for relationships with them, and ESPECIALLY unfit for GOVERNMENT WORK in Israel!
The POLITICAL and LEGAL Jews in America today still believe the same thing, considering ALL non-Jews INFERIOR. But God has a different view, as we see throughout the NT. God changed His view on this because His Son, JESUS, did the difficult work that fixed the problem. You’ll find this theme very pronounced by the Apostle Paul. Just read Romans 11. You can also look up the phrase “Jew Greek”, “dividing wall” and “distinction” in an online Bible. You’ll easily see what I’m talking about. In a previous blog I also mentioned Peter Tomson’s book, “Paul and the Jewish Law”. He talks about “anti-idolatry halakah”. That’s where you can get an idea of the vast amount of 2nd Temple LEGISLATION separating Jews from Gentiles. Remember: If you BREAK THE LAW you PAY A FINE. Sometimes it’s DEATH! This is a BIG subject for another blog.
So according to the OT Prophet Isaiah, in God’s future kingdom GENTILES will work for God in God’s government. It’s a no-brainer that God COULD NOT then consider gentiles UNCLEAN, right? That means there will no longer be any division between Jews and non-Jews in God’s kingdom. Why? Because God will require EVERYBODY IN EVERY NATION to obey His law. So that means ALL the laws of ALL nations will be based on God’s law. Today the lawyers and bureaucrats call that “uniformity of law” (it’s not a good thing for us today due to political and legal corruption by COMMERCE!).
So, the thing that struck me about Isaiah 66:21 is that GOD WILL APPOINT NON-JEWS TO THE PRIESTHOOD (along with Jews) WHEN JESUS RULES GOD’S GLOBAL GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE.
GENTILES IN THE PRIESTHOOD IN GOD’S KINGDOM
Burn that into your mind!
That’s all I have to say on this subject. Anybody who is a “religious Jew” will know how significant this is. If you’re just not getting it, why not ask one of the “religious Jews” you know and see what they have to say about it. You may not like what you hear if they’re being honest with you!
In contrast, in today’s world global governance is perpetrated on all of us by the UBER RICH (why not do some research and discover who they are!). It has nothing to do with ‘race or creed’. It has to do with HUMAN EGO. I also believe the devil is in charge of it, but that’s another subject of another blog. Either way: How sad!
Thanx for stopping by and reading about Global Governance done GOD’S way!
Reality Bible 