Priests in the wilderness: I. Outside religion and culture

“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛. 𝐻𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑚.” (𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛 1:6-7)

Who was this man sent from God? Being a Levite, John the Baptist was born into the priesthood and raised with all the priestly knowledge according to custom and tradition. We’d expect to find him in the temple in priestly garb, carrying out his priestly duties. In the beginning of Matthew, however, we encounter him in an unlikely place—in the wilderness of Judea (3:1). And even more, we find him looking and behaving in a manner absolutely contrary to our concept of a priest: “Now this John had his garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (3:4). John had every right to live the life that was expected of him, wearing robes and performing services in the temple, and yet he intentionally didn’t carry the traditional outward appearance or activities.

Indeed, it was very bold of John to reject tradition and civilization. But even more important than this is 𝑤ℎ𝑦 he did so. John was separated from birth unto a very specific calling: “And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb, / And many of the sons of Israel he will turn to the Lord their God. / And it is he who will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the prudence of the righteous, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready” (Luke 1:15-17). 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧. As prophesied by Isaiah, John was truly “[a] voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths!” He was sounding out something nobody had ever heard before: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2-3). All of the people of Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding region came out to hear him. John was a magnet, attracting worldly sinners and religious people alike to come out of the city and into the wilderness to see this seemingly wild man.

“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and much more than a prophet” (Luke 7:26). Why were the people of Judea willing to leave the city and go out to the wilderness to hear a new gospel preached by an unconventional man? This required them to pay a price—to drop their pride. When we hear the truth, we should be impacted and we should have a response. Those who came to him responded in one of two ways: they confessed their sins and were baptized (v. 6) or were offended (v. 7). Those ones seeking self-glorification, religious standing, or spectacle will always be repelled like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those ones will never have a powerful living. And yet if we are awakened to see something different—to repent and to see the revelation of “He who is coming after me [who] is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry…[who] will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire”—we will immediately be empowered to live a life unto this calling.

So what does it mean to live a life unto this calling? While our immediate response is to “do”—to read the Bible, to plan church activities, to fellowship with the brothers and sisters—the primary function of a priest is simply to spend time before God in His presence. The life of a priest is a life of prayer, not as an action, but as a condition of constantly bringing people to God. We want to serve and work for the Lord, but there is nothing in ourselves that we can contribute; He does everything. Whenever we try to do something ourselves, instead of finding ourselves quiet before Him, we are busy; we are unable to be simple, pure, and naked before Him. The first man, Adam, did nothing; he was simply placed in front of the tree of life. And Adam became the first priest—a person who lived in the presence of God. “Doing nothing” is a priestly life! What a breaking of our natural concept! John’s preaching as a priest in the wilderness was a calling unto repentance—to come back and be recovered to the state human beings were meant to be in from the moment of our creation: simple and pure in His presence, covered only by Him. God created us in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26); He wants an expression. So we are called into His presence, which is the true priestly service.

We do have a way to meet Him—to be recovered back to His presence—without “doing” anything: being a priest requires nothing but to come back to the spirit. In the spirit, there is no “doing.” In the spirit, we have nothing but eating and drinking. The Lord wants us to come back to Him. He wants to own us. And the way He owns us is through our eating and drinking Him so He can permeate, saturate, and overflow in us. 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐛—𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞—𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧—𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐛 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲. This is the priesthood the Lord wants to recover.

The expression of that service today is realized in our church life and corporate daily living. When we have His presence, not only we are one with God, but we are also one with the priesthood—those saints around us who are also seeking His presence. Individually, we all need the Lord’s presence. And yet the individual priesthood is unto the corporate priesthood. When each one has the experience of this oneness with the Lord, we are able to recognize our fellow priests and serve the house of God in oneness. And from the priesthood comes the true building in the church life. Among us, we have no regard for activities, talking, Bible study, or even “praying” together without that oneness before God and amongst the serving ones. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲.

Why do we live differently from the so-called “worldly people,” such as our colleagues or friends? If we do not live in the mainstream way, what justifies and substantiates our way of living? Today, we see something in Toledo that can’t be found in the world or in religion; it is beyond the material things, even beyond culture and tradition. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. What we are saying has nothing to do with what worldly or religious people have built up or put their trust in. We have the confidence to declare the gospel in a place so outside of and so barren of any worldly system that only the Lord can be seen. We have more than just the Lord’s physical presence—we have the indwelling Spirit within us and among us. As priests, we go to the Lord, truly meet him and touch him, then we are permeated and saturated by him. We cannot help but express and outflow in this reigning condition.

(𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑛 11/15/2020 𝑎𝑛𝑑 11/20/2020 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟)