We're talking about the Redeemer
here in the book of Revelation chapter 5. It's all about Him,
about the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. He hath prevailed to open the
book and to loose the seven seals thereof. That is verse 7. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth
into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts, and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for
thou hast slain, and hast redeemed us to God. by thy blood, out
of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation, and hast
made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth." Hymn number 266. I want to read
to you just a little bit here this evening. I'll read to you from the twenty-first
chapter of the book of Leviticus. I read to you from the book of
the Revelation just a few minutes ago. Chapter 21, and the Lord said unto Moses,
Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall
none be defiled for the dead among his people. One of the sons of Aaron was
forbidden to touch anything that was defiled, and in particular,
a dead person that defiled him. And if they
were defiled, then they were forbidden to offer the bread
unto God. intercessors on behalf of the
children of Israel. And God, in his graciousness
and in his sovereignty, chose Aaron, the brother of Moses,
to be the first high priest And then the priest that would succeed
Aaron was narrowed down to Aaron's family. I heard here the other day on
the evening news, Dan Rather, He announced that he was talking
about the Pope. The Pope is the priest, the high
priest, the vicar of Christ for his people, God's representative on earth.
That's the claim of Catholicism. And he talked about
the Pope in that very important figure in the world. And he had a back set or something. He had been sick for a while,
and he talked about that. But he said this, which I thought
was remarkable. I never heard it on any other
program. I never read it in the paper. But Dan Rather said that
the Pope said that But the theory of evolution is not just a theory. Now, what do you think of that?
The Pope said, did anyone else hear that? I heard that. That the theory of evolution
wasn't just a theory. Well, when the Pope dies, They
have a successor, someone that succeeds the Pope as the visible
ruler of the Roman Catholic Church all over the world, wherever
Roman Catholics are. He's the head official. And they, the College of Cardinals,
I don't know exactly how many are in the College of Cardinals,
but it's an enormous body. And they meet in a particular
room for so many days, as long as it takes, until they come
to a resolve as to who will succeed the Pope. Now, that's the way
they continue their successes in the Popery. The high priest here is the brother
Moses, Aaron. And he tells Moses that Aaron's
sons, if he's to be a priest, he's got to be born a priest.
He's got to be born of the family of Aaron, or he can't be a priest. And even if he's born of a priest,
he can't offer the bread unto God if he's got a physical defect. It says if he's lame. Verse 18, look down there, 17,
17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17,
17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, Aaron's seed in their generations. That hath any blemish, if he's
got any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of
his God. He can't do it. If he's got a
physical defect, he can't offer the bread of his God. Well, you might say, He can't
help it because he's got a physical defect. That don't change the
matter, does it? That don't alter it because he
didn't have anything to do with the physical defect. If he has a blemish on him, like
Carl's got on his... Carl's got a blemish right there.
Had to go to the doctor and have it burned off. Got a blemish. You can't offer the bread of
God. You can't do it. He shall not approach. You can't
approach the holies of holies. If he's a blind man, or if he's
lame, or if he has a flat nose, if he's got a flat nose, that
rules him out. You say, well, he can't help that. That don't
change what God said, does it? Well, I can't help that. It makes
no matter. If he's got a flat nose, rule
him out. Or anything superfluous. Or a man that's broken-footed. Or broken-handed. Or a crooked
back. Or a dwarf. or hath a blemish in his eyes,
or to be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken. No
man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall
come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord, made by fire. He hath a blemish, he shall not
come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He can't offer it, but now listen,
he shall eat the bread of his God. He can't offer it, but he'll
be a benefactor. He shall eat the bread of his
God, both of the most holy and of the holy. Only he shall not
go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because
he hath a blemish. God will not have a priest come
near the altar to offer a sacrifice that has a blemish. God won't
have it. Because he hath a blemish, that
he profane, dishonor my sanctuaries, for I the Lord do sanctify them,
And Moses told it unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and to all
the children of Israel. Now, Aaron's sons, let's say
one of Aaron's sons, he might not be as intelligent
as someone else. He might be very ignorant. Aaron's
son. But his position of a priest
is not founded or grounded upon his knowledge. He might be ignorant, but his relationship in this
Levitical priesthood Him being a son of Aaron, and he's a priest,
might be ignorant, but his position of a priest is not founded on
his knowledge, but upon life. It's founded upon life. He was born of Aaron. Now, his experience may be very
shallow, but his place as a priest does not depend upon experience. Now, he was born into the position
and relationship of a priest. He did not work himself into
being a priest. He did not go to the school of
the prophets. in order to attain certain knowledge,
whereby in the end, after certain rigorous examination, he'd qualify
for the priesthood. No? He was born into this position
as a priest. priest of the Most High God,
born into it. Well, if he is the son of Aaron,
he became a priest by birth. Sons of Aaron, in virtue of their
birth, were priests unto God. Not a matter of attainment. not
a question of progress, not something which one had and another had
not. That had nothing to do with it.
It was all based, founded upon life. Now, I read to you where it says that
no man that hath a blemish broken-footed, a flat nose, broken-handed,
a crooked back, or a dwarf, or one that hath a blemish in his
eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed? No man of the sons of Aaron that
had a blemish could approach the holies of holies, and offer
bread unto God. None of the sons of Aaron." Now,
let me ask you this question in light of what I've said. Now,
none of these things, none of these blemishes, blind, scurvy,
scab, or whatever, none of these things could possibly touch the
fact of relationship founded upon the established principle
of human nature. In other words, they could not
change the fact that though one of them was scabbed, yet he was
still Aaron's son. You see the point I'm trying
to make? Though one be born a midget,
or a dwarf, if he was the son of Aaron and
he was a dwarf, that son or that dwarf was still
a son of Aaron. If one of the sons of Aaron happened
to be or happen to fit into the category that God described here
that would be a blemish, say he's broken-footed, would he
be deprived of his sonship? He's still Aaron's son, that's
what I'm saying. If he's got a broken hand, a
broken foot, or whatever it is, nobody under heaven can deprive
him of his relationship, his sonship, to Aaron his father. Though he hath the scab, he cannot
go and offer the bread unto God, but yet as a son of Aaron he
can eat the holy bread. I said all that to say this. I think what it's teaching, I
think what it emphasizes is this, that God could not have a blemished
priest at His altar, that God could not have a blemished sacrifice
on His altar. Now, you and I are priests unto God. I read to you in chapter 5 of
the book of Revelation. Well, first, turn with me to
the third chapter of the book of Hebrews. I think Henry, here the other
day, read from this third chapter and emphasized That word, considered,
you remember that. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider. Would you just consider the apostle? Apostle means one sent from God. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. who was faithful to him
that appointed him, faithful to God who commissioned him,
as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, that is, the Son of God, the Lord
Jesus, inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor
than the house. For every house is built by some
man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was
faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after." But now here is
the verse, "...but Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house we are. As Aaron fathered these sons who were to be priests
unto God, they were to be faithful unto the house of Aaron. Moses
was faithful unto his house. the Lord Jesus faithful unto
His house. But Christ has a Son over His
own house, whose house we are. Now there in the book of Revelation,
it says that they sung a new song. Now, he's talking about
those that, the saints. Well, verse 8. He's talking about believers who died and went to
heaven. They're with God. To be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. When a man dies,
wherever the Lord is, that's where he goes. He does not lie,
his soul doesn't lie smoldering in the grave, but it goes to be where God is.
And that's where these people were, these martyrs. Some of them were martyrs for
the Lord Jesus. Saints. He calls them saints.
He said in speaking to these saints, and when he had taken
the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and gold
and vials full of odors, full of incense, which are, prayers
of the saints. And so they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals, this is the Lord Jesus, thereof,
for Thou hast slain and has redeemed us to God. He has redeemed us
to God. He is not trying to redeem us
to God. He's not waiting until we die
to find out whether we're redeemed or not, but He hath redeemed
us to God by His blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people,
and nation, and listen to this now, and hath made us unto our God kings and priests,
and we shall reign upon the earth. He's made us kings, and He's
made us priests. Aaron's sons became priests founded
upon life, and we become priests founded
upon life. We're born again into this priesthood. We did not work ourselves into
it. We were born into it. Our Lord said, Except a man be
born again. That is, he must have life. He's
got to have life. He doesn't have life. The natural
man has physical life, but he has no spiritual life. He's dead
to spiritual things. He can't understand spiritual
things. They're foolishness unto him.
He's got to have life. He's dead while he lives. And
the Bible says that you hath he quickened unto life. We're born into this priestly
house, and we're priests. Isn't that wonderful? That we're
kings. He hath made us kings and priests
unto God, and we shall reign and rule forever. Well, now listen. I've already
said that man cannot help because he's got these physical defects. Sons of Aaron couldn't help it.
He was born that way. But that doesn't alter the matter
concerning blemishes. God will not have a blemished
priest at his altar, and he will not have a blemished sacrifice
on his altar. Now, you and I, who are believers,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have both the perfect priest
and the perfect sacrifice in one person. Do you see that? We have one and the other in
one person. We have a perfect sacrifice and
we have a perfect priest. And we're priests ourselves because
we're in his family, in his household. We're the sons of God, the daughters
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So we have divine perfectness,
whether as a victim or as a priest. We have it. We have all that
God could require. And we have all that man could
need as a sinner in the priest and the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His precious blood hath put away
all of our blemishes, all of our sins. He hath put them away
And His all-prevailing intercession maintains us before the throne of God forever
and forever and forever. And we are kings and priests
unto God forever. That's something, isn't it? If you tell somebody tomorrow
that you're the king, they'd say, well, I can't see anything
kingly about you. If you told them tomorrow, you'd
say, really, really and truly, I am a priest. I'm a saint. I'm a priest and I'm a saint
of God. And they'd say, well, we don't
see it that way. They're looking at the wrong
place is the reason, see. Our kingship and our priestly
office is had because we've been born into it. We haven't attained
it by virtue of merit or knowledge or experience. We've been born
into it. God says we're kings and priests,
though the world cannot see us that way. Yet that's the way
we are. You say, well, I don't understand it. I don't
either. I don't either. But that's the way it is. And
because I don't understand it or because you don't understand
it doesn't alter the matter. God says you're kings and you're
priests on the account of the son who is the priest of his
house, on his account, our unblemished sacrifice and our unblemished
priest, God has accepted him and raised him from the dead,
and he ever lives to maintain our relationship with God.