Priesthood of YHVH

What is the job of a priest?

The role of a priest is to intercede for sinful mankind to a sinless authority, namely, the Creator. Yeshua makes atonement for us through His priesthood requirements in the heavenly tabernacle and this is what justifies us in the Creator’s eyes allowing us to be resurrected to eternal life.

Priests perform the duties of offerings and mediate for men to the Creator.

Hebrews 5:1-2

Deuteronomy 18:6-7

Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and he comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, 7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord.

Priests are knowledgeable in the word and should teach others regarding it.

Malachi 2: 6-7

True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.

1 Samuel 2:35

But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed always.

Priests are the ones who collect the tithe.

2 Chronicles 34:9

“When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, and which they had brought back to Jerusalem.”

Priests are judges.

Deuteronomy 21:5

“Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and violent crime shall be settled by them.

How many priesthoods are there?

Levitical – The Priesthood of Men

Jubilees 30:18

And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that they might minister before Yahweh, as we continually, and that Levi and his sons may be blessed forever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and judgment and vengeance on all those who rose up against Israel.’ [referencing the event at Shechem]

Heavenly – The priesthood of Angels

Psalms 103:19-21

“Yahweh has prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom rules over all. Bless Yahweh , even his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless Yahweh, all his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.”

Psalms 104:4

“He makes the winds His messengers, His ministers a Flaming Fire.”

Matthew 4:10-11

Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him.

Testament of Levi 3:4-5

“In the highest of all dwells the Great Glory, far above all holiness, and next to it are the archangels, who minister and make propitiation to Yahweh for all the sins of ignorance of the righteous. Offering to Yahweh a sweet-smelling savor, a reasonable and bloodless offering. And in the heaven below this are the angels who bear answers to the angels of presence of Yahweh.”

Melchizedekian – The Highest Priesthood (The Priesthood Yeshua Earned)

Hebrew 5:1-10

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of people in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is clothed in weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins for himself, as well as for the people. And no one takes the honor for himself, but receives it when he is called by God, just as Aaron also was. So too Christ did not glorify Himself in becoming a high priest, but it was He who said to Him, “You are My Son, Today I have fathered You”; just as He also says in another passage, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of His humanity, He offered up both prayers and pleas with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His devout behavior. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him, being designated by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 1:4

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, to the extent that He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”

Angels have their own sanctuary?

Jubilees 31:13-14

“And he turned to Levi first, and began to bless him first, and said unto him, may the Elohim of all, the very Yahweh of all ages, bless you and your children throughout all the ages. And may Yahweh give to you and to your seed greatness and glory, and cause you and your seed, from among all flesh, to approach him to serve in the sanctuary as the angels of the presence and as the holy ones. Even as they, shall the seed of your sons be for glory and greatness and holiness, and may he make them great unto all the ages”

Tobit 12:15

I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the holy one.

So there are sacrifices in New Jerusalem/Heaven?

Hebrews 9:23

Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these things, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Ezekiel 40:38-42

“A chamber with its doorway was by the side pillars at the gates; there they rinse the burnt offering. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on each side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. On the outer side, as one went up to the [gateway toward the north, were two tables; and on the other [d]side of the porch of the gate were two tables. Four tables were on each side next to the gate; eight tables on which they slaughter sacrifices. For the burnt offering there were four tables of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which they set the utensils with which they slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice. “

Angels eat food?

Tobit 6:1-5

And as they went on their journey, they came in the evening to the river Chiddeqel, and they loged there. And when young man went down to wash himself, a fish leaped out of the river and would have devoured him. Then the angel said to him, take the fish. And the young man laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land. To whom the angel said, open the fish and take the heart, the liver, and the gall, and put them up safely. So the young man did as the angel commanded him. And when they had roasted the fish, they did eat.

Psalms 78:25

“He rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven. Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.”

Satan’s role as an angel

Ezekiel 28:13

“You were in Eden, the garden of God Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared.”

Exodus 28:17-20

And you shall mount on it four rows of stones; the first row shall be a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald; and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree.

How does a priest mediate for you?

Exodus 28: 29-30

“Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he shall bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of judgment, as a continual reminder before the LORD. And place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece of judgment, so that they will also be over Aaron’s heart whenever he comes before the LORD. Aaron will continually carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD.”

Exodus 29:32-33

Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy.

Leviticus 17:11

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

Does sacrifice forgive sins?

Leviticus 4:20

He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; he shall do the same with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

Leviticus 4:26

And he shall offer all its fat up in smoke on the altar as in the case of the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his sin, and he will be forgiven.

Leviticus 19:22

Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat was removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar as a soothing aroma to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

Hebrews 9:22

And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Leviticus 5:11-13

‘But if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or two young doves, then for his offering for that which he has sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering; he shall not put oil on it or place incense on it, for it is a sin offering. He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar, with the offerings of the Lord by fire: it is a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he has committed from one of these, and it will be forgiven him; then the rest shall become the priest’s, like the grain offering.’”

Does forgiveness through the Levite priesthood only forgive unintentional sins?

Leviticus 6:1-7

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and disavows the rightful claim of his neighbor regarding a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or regarding robbery, or he has extorted from his neighbor, or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins regarding any of the things that people do; then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or acquired by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him, or the lost property which he found, or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it a fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your assessment, as a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.

Our problem is not that we do not have the right sacrifice, we never had the right priest!

Hebrews 8:1-7

Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things by the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better priesthood, which has been enacted on better promises.

Levitical Priesthood had faults. Not the process, but the people.

Malachi 1:6-10

“‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of armies to you, the priests who despise My name! But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’ And when you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? Or when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not evil? So offer it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you, or would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of armies. “But now, do indeed plead for God’s favor, so that He will be gracious to us. With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the Lord of armies. “If only there were one among you who would shut the gates, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar for nothing! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of armies, “nor will I accept an offering from your hand.