Daily Devotions
Priests As Teachers
Reading for September 30th: Malachi 1-4
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 2:7
In the old covenant, the priests came from one tribe (Levi), and the high priest came from only one family in that tribe (Aaron). However, Jesus Christ is our high priest in the new covenant, and every child of God serves a priest before God (see 1 Peter 2:4-10).
The point we typically make from this is that we all have direct access to the father. We can come boldly before his throne to find help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
But the Hebrew writer also points out that part of our charge involves being teachers. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God." (Hebrews 5:12) He does not directly link this responsibility to the idea of priesthood, but it certainly was one of the chief responsibilities under the old covenant and it is certainly a responsibility pressed upon all believers.
Not all of us can teach in a formal sense (James 3:1), but all of us should be teaching in an informal way at some level. That means we cannot be lazy and leave the heavy lifting of Bible study to the "teachers" among us. Some want to cleave to the old model of Levi's priesthood and let the "priests" do the work for us.
We are not afforded that luxury. We're all priests! We should all understand God's Word that we can not only take care of our own spiritual needs, but we can help others with theirs. We should know the Bible so well that our friends and neighbors who don't know God should consider us a resource they come to with Bible questions.
Father, you have made us a royal priesthood, having called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. Help us to proclaim your excellencies to a world that does not know you!
