The Church's Priest

"And as a penalty he must bring to the priest, that is, to the LORD, his guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value." (Leviticus 6:6)

There is a very important concept assumed by this text of Scripture: that coming to the priest of the LORD is the same as coming to the LORD, Himself. This bears out the great responsibility of those who are priests, and shows why the Scriptures say, “"No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was." (Hebrews 5:4) Coming to the Old Covenant priest was like coming to the LORD, for the Old Covenant priest represented the LORD.

The church has no such priests in her ranks. She has pastors and teachers, who are also called elders and bishops. She also has evangelists (evidently they were traveling preachers and missionaries) and she has deacons. But she does not have a priesthood.

But, the church does have a priest, even our Lord Jesus Christ. As it is written, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God..." (Hebrews 4:14) The Lord Jesus Christ is our priest, and coming to Him is the same thing as coming to the LORD. So, when we pray to Christ, we pray to the LORD; when we praise Christ, we praise the LORD; for He is, “Christ, the LORD.”