Grace and the Zadok Priests

GRACE AND THE ZADOK PRIESTS 

Ezekiel was a unique prophet in that he was not only a major prophet, but he was a priest after the line of Zadok who descended from the high priest Aaron. Zadok also served as a high priest during the time of King David. 
The ministry of the prophet/priest Ezekiel spanned two eras of God’s dealings with Israel. The first was the era of Israel’s falling away from God which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon and Israel’s exile into captivity in Babylon. The next era of Ezekiel’s ministry was his account of the work of God upon Israel as the captives came back after seventy years in Babylon to the city of Jerusalem where they rebuilt the temple and repaired the city and its walls and gates. 

Ezekiel tells us that many of the Levitical priests had become unfaithful in representing God’s heart to his people and had gone after idols and become corrupt and immoral, setting a bad example to the people. God finally lifted his anointing from them and did not allow them to come near him into his holy place in the temple. He chose the Zadok clan of priests who were faithful to God’s ways and who found Grace in his presence to receive God’s heart of love and truth for his people.

Ezekiel 44.12 The Levites who were unfaithful to me when Israel went astray from me in pursuit of their idols will suffer punishment for their iniquity: Because they used to serve people in the presence of their idols they caused the community of Israel to fall into iniquity, and for that reason I swear with an oath that they will have no access to me by acting as my priests or by having access to anything I hold most sacred. They are to suffer the shame they deserve and the consequences of the shocking practices they have perpetrated. 14 I will make them responsible for duties that pertain to all the labours of the temple area and to all the work that must be done in it.
15 "But the Levitical priests who descend from Zadok, who faithfully took care of my Sanctuary when everyone else went off and left me, are going to come into my presence and serve me. They are going to carry out the priestly work of offering the devoted (heleb - the best part for dedication) sacrifices of worship that is pleasing to God. They're the only ones permitted to enter my Sanctuary. They're the only ones to approach my table and serve me, accompanying me in my work.
When they enter the inner sanctuary of the inside courtyard, they are to dress in linen. No woollens are to be worn. They're to wear linen headpieces and linen underclothes - nothing that makes them sweat. When they go out into the outside courtyard where the people gather, they must first change out of the clothes in which they do the work of priests and leave them in the sacred rooms where they change back into 
their everyday clothes, and they are to make clear to my people the knowledge of what is pure and what is tainted. In any cause or contention, they are to be in the position of judging things in harmony with my heart and my will.

Spending time with God was the first thing the Zadok priests did, unlike the other priests, who did their work each day with people and with things but without the presence of God.  How long would these Zadok priests spend in God’s presence? We do not know but it’s clear that if they took so much time to put those special robes on to be in the company of God that it would not have been a fleeting five-minute visit with God. They were responding to God’s personal invitation of communion with himself and accompanying him in his work and the effect of their time with God stayed with them.
You might wonder about the choice of a linen headpiece instead of wool. The natural reason given here is that wool causes sweat. There’s also a spiritual reason why God went to so much trouble in the detail of things like this. There are many things in the Old Testament that hide a message for us in the New Testament. The Bible says that fine linen represents the righteousness of people who believe God and want to live close to him (Revelation 19). Righteousness means having our heart in alignment with God. This linen headpiece speaks to us of having our mind upon God, and having a mind of peace and order, and not causing sweat or anxious striving.

When the Zadok priests drew near to the Holy Place to be with God and discarded their ordinary outdoor clothing, it was like leaving the things of earth behind and allowing their spirit and soul and body to be covered with the presence of God.
When they went out to meet the people, they changed their spiritual clothes for everyday clothes so that they could identify with the people.
They had been in the presence of God and so they were able to carry this presence and impart it in the way they spoke and acted amongst the people. That is the work of a priest, to bring God into people’s hearts. 

The final verse says ‘they are to make clear to my people the knowledge of what is pure and what is tainted. In any cause or contention, they are to be in the position of judging things in harmony with my heart and my will’.

The Zadok priests were given God’s wisdom in their counsel to people who asked for help and advice and prayer. They were able to hear and comprehend a person’s need and were able to help people hear what God saying to them in their situations. 
This was a type of the priestly ministry of Jesus as he spent time with his Father so that he would have his Father’s heart and mind on what to say to the people. 

Ezekiel prophesied of a New Covenant work of God that would one day come upon his people to redeem mankind from their human failure. He prophesied of the Grace that God would give them when he said, ‘a new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways… You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God (Ezekiel 36:26).

We are told we are a spiritual priesthood, and we can do the same as these priests in a New Covenant way and bring God into people’s hearts with simplicity and grace.
This is the same picture as us climbing the mountain of God and leaving the things of earth down below to spend time with God on his Mountain of transfiguration where we leave all our earthly cares in his hands and let his grace act upon us. We then came down the mountain prepared for that grace to work upon the needs and challenges of the day. The more time we spend silently with him knowing he is within our heart the more his presence penetrates our soul. God wants to pour his life into us in those times and the effect of that time stays with us.

God is speaking to his church in this way today. He is saying to us, ‘You are to come into the holy place which is where my heart and your heart grow closer together as one in the Spirit. You will draw near to me in that place and receive my life and you will go out from that place and give my life to others’.