Jesus’ Sacrifice Makes Us a Nation of Priests

 

the reconstruction of Herod's temple in Jerusalem

        King Herod’s expansion of the temple in Jerusalem in the first century AD made his temple complex during his lifetime the “largest temple complex in the Roman world,” according to David A. DeSilva.[1] As a result, the city of Jerusalem could accommodate tens of thousands of worshipers during religious festivals.[2] The historian Josephus, wrote that from a distance the temple looked like a “snow-clad mountain.” It was covered by massive plates of gold that radiated a fiery flash from the sun (War 5.5.6). The services were run by hundreds of impressive, white-clad priests, almost 2000 priests and Levites, plus singers and musicians, officers, directors, overseers, and treasurers. Each day at least 300 priests and 400 Levites and lay representatives were present.[3] The temple was divided into several courts for men and women, Jews and Gentiles, and within it a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies, dedicated to God’s holy presence. The “sanctuary” was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies,” while the “temple” included the courts and all the adjoining area. The high priest could enter the Holy of Holies only one day per year on the Day of Atonement (Heb 9:7, 25). In other words, the temple with its priests was an impressive place!

        Nevertheless, an incredible change was occasioned by the triune God. When Jesus died on the cross, Jesus “gave up his spirit, and, behold, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matt 27:50b-51a). The opened curtain symbolized how Christ’s sacrifice removed the barrier of purity needed to approach God. The author of Hebrews explains how Jesus as the perfect high priest[4] enters the Most Holy Place of God’s presence as a precedence for us who follow into the sanctuary of the Holy Place. We have “boldness to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Heb 10:19). Ever since that moment, God’s intent in the Old Testament became a reality.

        In Old Testament times, God intended the nation of Israel to become a priestly nation, as God explains when Moses went up to the mountain in Exodus 19:3-6: “tell the Israelites:  ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation’” (NRSV).

        That intention for a priestly kingdom was made possible in New Testament times by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We see this intention referred to in the book of Revelation.

        Revelation has three spiritual songs: 14:3 and 15:3, but the first song is recorded in 5:9-10. This was called a “new praise song” or a “spiritual song,” or “ode.” Many of the psalms are called odes. An “ode” is a joyful song in the Bible and a poem, accompanied or unaccompanied by a musical instrument, about God or God’s representative. Revelation records this first song (literally):

“Worthy you are to receive the scroll and to open its seals, since you were slaughtered and you ransomed for God by your blood from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and you made them to our God a kingdom and priests and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev 5:9-10, Aída’s translation).

        Who sang this song? The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. Here the song is accompanied by 24 lyres. A lyre is a 3-12 string instrument. Afterwards, we are told, ten thousands times ten thousands (myriads) of angels and humans joined in as one full harmonizing voice, antiphonal-in response to the song: “Worthy is the Lamb, the One having been slaughtered, to receive the power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” (5:8, 11-12).

     The apostle Paul also mentions “spiritual songs” in Ephesians 5:19-21. He writes that one way to be filled by the Holy Spirit is to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and to sing in our heart to the Lord, and also to thank always for all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Father-God and to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. You can see why odes are spiritual! They help us be filled by the Holy Spirit!

        The Revelation 5 song has two main parts: to whom is it addressed? The One who is worthy and why is that one worthy?

        It begins “worthy you are” emphasizing the word “worthy.”

        Who is worthy? We are told in vv. 5-6 it is the Lion who has overcome, the One from the tribe of Judah, the root or descendent of David. Who is that? Revelation 22:16 gives the answer: “It is I, Jesus…I am the root and the descendant of David.” The tribe of Judah was called a lion who rules in Jacob’s blessings of his sons in Genesis 49:9-10.

        Isaiah also prophesied about Jesus as a shoot from the stump of Jesse, David’s father, in 11:1-5:

“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist and faithfulness the belt around his loins” (NRSV).

        Jesus as a human becomes a Jew who descended from the tribe of Judah. He is victorious, but the mystery is that Jesus as a victorious lion also was a victorious lamb “with seven horns” but “slaughtered” (Rev 5:6). Seven horns are a symbol for strength and power. The horns of a calf are like the crowns of a king.

         Here is another marvel! The lion overcomes by becoming a lamb!

         Revelation tells us that Jesus is worthy of doing two key things: to receive the scroll, and to open its seven seals.

        What is the scroll mentioned in Revelation 5:1? This book has all of God’s plans for the future. Revelation 4:1 says: “I will show you what is necessary to happen after these things.” By Jesus taking the scroll he becomes responsible to implement it. Many Bible interpreters see the scroll as a contract or a will not to be made public until the seals were opened. The seven seals then represent the seven witnesses to the contract.[5]

        Why is only Jesus in all creation worthy to oversee the future? We are told he was slaughtered (Rev 5:9). The prophet Isaiah wrote about the Messiah:

“he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people” (Isa 53:5-8 NRSV).

        When the Israelites were trying to escape their oppressors in Egypt, to escape the final plague, the death of the firstborn son in each family, they had to kill a lamb without any imperfections and place some of the blood on their front doorpost. They then ate the lamb for dinner (Exod 12). The Lord passed over every door that had a touch of blood on the doorpost (Exod 12:21-24). That’s the Passover! Jesus did that for us. He died so that we are forgiven our sins.

        We are like those Egyptians in that we act and think in ways displeasing to God, but we do not receive the punishment we deserve if we turn to Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

        We are also like prisoners of war. When people were conquered in ancient times, they were often turned to slaves. The majority of captured soldiers were enslaved, serving as laborers in agriculture, construction, mining, and domestic work. Some, like the Gauls, Thracians and Samnites were trained as gladiators. High status leaders were paraded through Rome in triumphal processions and then executed. However, wealthy or politically important prisoners could be ransomed.

        Jesus ransomed us for God. God frees us from our enemy—Satan—by offering Jesus for us.

        Who did God ransom? ---- everyone! Twelve Jewish tribes, and tribes everywhere; people who speak different languages; Gentiles; people living together in community: every “people and nation.”

        Is anyone left out? Is anyone not ransomed? No! Is there an age requirement? No! But we have to respond with gratitude and invite Jesus to be Lord of our life. Even in our times, prisoners of war are sometimes taken. My uncle from the Netherlands was a prisoner of war in Indonesia during World War II. In 1990, nearly 50,000 captives were returned home from Iraq to Iran. What was their ransom? Iran returned about 50,000 of Iraqis back from Iran to Iraq.[6]

        Jesus is also worthy for what he did for our future. Everyone who has been ransomed, may now as well join a new country, a country of priests. This point repeats what we learn in Revelation 1:5-6: “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father.”

        For example, I myself have dual citizenship: the United States and the Dominican Republic. I have a passport from the US and a cedula (a social security identification) from the Dominican Republic. If you are born in the Dominican Republic, you always remain a citizen of that country.

      Do any of our readers have dual citizenship as well?

        But I also have membership in a third country, a greater one than either of these—God’s kingdom. To join it, I had to repent of my sins and aim to follow God’s laws for God’s kingdom.

        How about you? Are you also a citizen of God’s kingdom?

        Are you also not a priest?

        What do priests do now since we no longer have a temple with sacrifices? Peter writes a similar point in his first letter (2:4-12):

“Come to [Jesus], a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and ⁵like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: ‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.  Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge” (NRSV).

        We learn from this passage that New Testament priests “offer spiritual sacrifices.” Do you pray with others for their needs? You can become an intermediary between them and God.

        Priests would “proclaim the mighty acts of him who called them out of darkness.” Do you share with others how God has worked in your life? Jesus Christ is worthy and we should explain to others why.

        Priests tried to be holy by “abstaining from the desires of the flesh.” Do you try to practice moral habits?

        Priests conducted themselves “honorably.” We too need to behave in exemplary ways so that no one can accuse Christians of being criminals.

        Do only adults do these things? Can’t children do them as well?

        Do we do it only alone? No- we reign with God (Rev 20:6, 4). And we reign with the rest of the tribes, language groups, people, and nations.

        When we think of the temple in Jerusalem, we should be impressed, however, in contrast, in heaven we have not hundreds or thousands praising God but myriads that cannot be counted praising God. God’s shekinah glory has moved on from the beautiful ancient temple (which hardly exists now after its destruction) to the believing humans of the first century (1 Cor 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16) onto the heavenly hosts in heaven. The stationary temple has become motionary again like the first tabernacle and now it moves, multicolored, throughout the world. Eventually the temple will be joined with God in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-3).             

          But, in the meantime, do we all live like the New Testament priests as we Christians are supposed to live?

Aída

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[1] David A. DeSilva, Archaeology and the World of Jesus: A Visual Guide (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2025), 201.

[2] DeSilva, Archaeology, 202.

[3] Joachim Jeremias attempts to tally the number of each in Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus: An Investigation into Economic and Social Conditions during the New Testament Period (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 160-206.

[4] Heb 2:7; 3:1; 4:14-15; 6:20; 7:26-27; 8:1; 9:11.

[5] Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 248.

[6] www.iranintl.com/en/202508177757.

 

 

When You Experience Change, Consider Reading Ecclesiastes

 

                                           photo June 2026 by Aida Besancon Spencer

At a time of much change, I decided to re-read the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s words of wisdom as he reviews his own life amidst great change. He remembers always to “fear God and keep his commandments” as he looks forward to God’s judgment in the future, to reward good and punish evil (Eccl 12:13-14). But, if this is his goal, what is the significance of the introduction?

How does Ecclesiastes begin? Is it “’Meaningless, Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’” (Eccl 1:1). That is the rendering of the NIV 2006. “Meaningless” is an interpretation of a literal term: “The words of Qoheleth, son of David, king in Jerusalem. ‘Breath/breeze of breezes (hebel hebelim), [1]’ says Qoheleth. ‘Breath of breezes, all [is] breath’” (Eccl 1:1-2). Qoheleth comes from the verb qehel “to be assembled or congregated,” signifying “Preaching Wisdom or the Assembler.”[2] Qoheleth assembles his listeners so he can explain the meaning of this phrase “breath of breezes” throughout his book.

He begins: “What does anyone gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever” (1:3-4 NIV). I write these reflections as my familial home finally leaves possession by our family and friends to a bank who will sell it to total strangers.

When my mother was young, she found a destroyed house, only a foundation remaining, in the countryside of the capital of the Dominican Republic. Now it is an urban residential part of the city. The history of that former house is lost in time, but its walls were an impressive 16 inches wide, wide enough to ward off enemy attacks. She designed our house (together with an architect) and supervised every phase of its building on that foundation during the era of dictator Rafael Trujillo, who had renamed “Santo Domingo” to honor himself “Ciudad Trujillo” or Trujillo City. Our family moved into the rebuilt house when I was only one year old. But then my mother contracted tuberculosis. In her day no vaccine or antibiotic for treatment existed. And she had to go to a health sanitarium in the United States for a year. We moved to Cranford, New Jersey and lived there for a few years while she recovered. Meanwhile, my parents rented the house in the Dominican Republic. I have a few memories from that time in New Jersey, but one that repeats is me standing with my brother and father out in a garden while we looked up toward a balcony far away where my mother stood. We waved. What happened then was a prolepsis of what is happening now. As a very young child, I lost connections with my mother and my home and lost control of my life and my belongings. These are the difficulties we endured while the house remained.

In what does Solomon find comfort?  “People can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God” (Eccl 2:23-24 NIV). These conclusions end: “Also this is breath.” While we lived in this house, we ate and drank and enjoyed our work. These daily activities are all from God. God provides the food and the labor to the person who pleases God. These activities have not been “meaningless,” but rather they bring a pattern or routine to one’s life amidst change. Change, like a breeze, comes constantly, but it also brings changes to the environment.

We have “eternity in our hearts” (Eccl 3:11) and thus we feel lost in the midst of change. We were meant to live forever, and our labors to last forever. But we all will die (Heb 9:27), even though we look forward to the resurrection. In the meantime, Solomon cautions, enjoy God’s gifts, to eat and drink daily and be satisfied with our work (Eccl 3:13). He repeats this important refrain many times (Eccl 5:18; 8:15; 9:7).[3] God’s work endures forever, but ours endures only as it is tied to God’s (Eccl 3:14).

All is fleeting, but not “meaningless” for us humans (Eccl 3:19). In the meantime, God wants us to enjoy our work (Eccl 3:27) because we cannot control what will happen with our work and our property, after we pass on (Eccl 3:22).

Solomon also reminds us that “Two are better than one, …if they fall down, they can help each other up” (Eccl 4:9-10 NIV). My parental house is passing on to banks who may have little regard for the past, but my companion and husband Bill continues on as we help each other, keeping each other warm in cold Massachusetts and defending each other. We enjoy life together (Eccl 4:9-12).

Having money in itself never brings satisfaction (Eccl 5:10). Rather, “the sleep of laborers is sweet” (Eccl 5:12). Solomon also cautions us not to bother muttering the fruitless refrain: “Why were the old days better than these?” (Eccl 7:10). That’s not a wise question. The old days will never return.

What did my mother gain from her labors? Our family returned to Ciudad Trujillo, our house, our home, when she was well, before I was ready for kindergarten, which they called, “Fun-to-Learn.” We enjoyed that house for almost sixty years. As a youth, I climbed the low trees, creating elvish homes in the sky. I tried to play tennis on a crooked, earthquake-cracked cement court. I climbed its balconies and imagined I could fly through the Flamboyan trees. I watched the chickens flutter up a tree next to my bedroom balcony every night. I learned to roller skate by careening around the cement path that surrounded the house. I realize now it was not just a house. It had become a citadel of memories.

My parents retired there. As they aged, my father’s coworker, his son, his wife and her sister, then their sons and daughter took care of them (and, eventually, us). The doctors among them even slept over, when necessary, for caretaking my parents’ health. After my parents died, we then sold the house to the family, especially to my mother’s friend and dentist. That was in 2006. But now she too must sell the house after twenty years. Her children were young when she purchased the house, but now they are grown, married and single, but all adults. Her children and grandchildren enjoyed the ample yard, as we had. But now their mother and grandmother remains alone, taking care of an aging house, too expensive for her to pay her bills. The house and the property have now been bought by the bank.

The land remains, while the wind blows over it creating the breeze: “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course” (Eccl 1:6 NIV). Who else but Solomon was king in Jerusalem and experienced in wisdom and knowledge? (Eccl 1:16). Solomon is Qoheleth. He is exasperated when he wonders what will become of all his property. We too wonder if our house, although considered by the government a national heritage for its Spanish architecture and age, will be knocked down for a set of high-rise condominiums.

The property had already been subdivided many times. When my mother was hospitalized, some of her family claimed half of it for themselves. My mother herself sold a small part. My brother and I subdivided the property into three parts. The property may again be subdivided. Possibly the house will be revitalized. Will these new owners be wise or foolish? (Eccl 2:11).

Is Solomon’s refrain really appropriate for us who fear God? Yes, Solomon repeats: “It is appropriate for people to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toils…labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot” (Eccl 5:15 NIV).

Solomon’s words are relevant to New Testament Christians as well. Jesus adds some cautionary boundaries, not to worry about what one eats or drinks or wears. While we enjoy our daily work, our focus is on each day. In the same way, Jesus does not want us to worry about tomorrow, “for Tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matt 6:34). Jesus’s brother James also warns us not to plan for the future without qualifying our plans by “If the Lord might will…” (James 4:15). Our very lives are a breath: “You are a mist, the one for a little appearing, then also disappearing” (James 4:14).[4] James applies to his day what has been repeated frequently in the Old Testament: “My life is but a breath” (Job 7:7);

“Everyone is but a breath” (Psalm 39:5);

“My days vanish like smoke” (Psalm 102:3);

“Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow” (Psalm 144:3-4 NIV). Instead, God is our “Rock,” firm and secure, a stronghold or fortress (Ps 144:1-2),

So, what have I learned from Ecclesiastes as I prepare to lose all connection to my familial home in Santo Domingo?

1.One’s life and one’s belonging within life are all transitory, like the Caribbean Tradewinds, that blow, especially in the winter.

2.The land itself stays on, despite its many uses by humans.

3.We enjoyed use of our property for many generations. Now it is time for others to take its ownership. As owners, we will be forgotten in time, as even we ourselves never knew the previous owners.

4.The property itself went through many changes and subdivisions. This latest change is nothing new. We cannot control its use once it is sold. And, sadly, we may not retain all our connections.

5. Our own satisfaction should come from our own labors and daily enjoyment of God’s gifts to us of meaningful work and healthy nutrition[5]: the daily routine of eating and drinking; the daily production of labor. We can find meaning in the fleeting nature of life.

6. I am thankful for having a spouse like Bill who can accompany me in times of change.

7. We cling, as breaths ourselves, living within the changing winds of life, on the Rock of our lives, the living God who never dies.

Aída

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[1] Karl Feyerabend, Langenscheidt Pocket Hebrew Dictionary to the Old Testament Hebrew-English (Berlin: McGraw-Hill Book, 1969), 74. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs define hebel as “vapour,” figuratively, “vanity.” A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1968), 210. What is transitory may be evil, as the idols in Isa 57:13, but it may simply be mortal.

[2] Feyerabend, Langenscheidt, 296.

[3] The theme is the circulatory nature of life. Thus, Solomon structures the book in a circulatory manner, repeating its main theme. It is not a book by a person without faith as some consider. Rather, it is Solomon considering what matters over time.

[4] See further on James in my commentary: Aida Besancon Spencer, A Commentary on James, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2020), 237.

[5] Paul reiterates that all foods that God created are to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Tim 4:3-4). See also Aída Besançon Spencer, 1 Timothy, NCCS (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013), 104-107.