Eternal Priesthood

"Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."  Exodus 19:6

Astounding!!! God takes his people out of Egypt and plops them down right in the middle of the desert...in the middle of nowhere...in the heat, the dirt, the grime, the wind, the desolation, the nothingness, and says to them...today you have become my Holy, Majestic, Royal, Divine, Mysterious, Eternal KINGDOM OF PRIESTS!!! TREASURED POSSESSION!!! HOLY NATION!!! Although the whole earth is mine...in fact, everything...in the entire universe!...from age to age, eternity to eternity is mine...YOU are my treasure...you have a Divine Destiny...you are Royalty!

THEN!!! The time had arrived. For the receiving of the covenant...the law...the 10 commandments! Read it when you get a chance...the dense cloud was to come on Moses...the mountain was to be roped off with orders not to touch! The fire was about to fall, the smoke was about to pour forth...another cataclysmic event was about to overtake them...a Divine Entrance...a mighty move of Almighty God, himself!  A glorious moment for these little people…

This....is where I live...plopped down in the middle of the desert, fighting the annoying dust and wind and grime and all the inconveniences of desert living and...along with it comes the chaos and confusion and stress of dealing with all these people in this camp in the middle of nowheresville!  I'm thirsty...and when I'm thirsty, I go to get a drink and there are those annoying needles...all over my cactus!!! Ugh!!!  There's all this sand!!! And rocks!!!

And in the midst of it all...even my immaturity...God moves majestically...and reminds me....although the whole earth is his, I and the amazing, beautiful, treasured people in my camp are part of His Eternal Enterprise! The Bride of Christ...destined for the throne, destined to wear royal garments and eternal badges of honor.

The work I currently do here in Tulsa...trauma consultant for a medical device company...brings me to very interesting situations in the operating room...situations you would never expect with a patient on the table under anesthesia. I have some very nice and professional surgeons to work with but I also have some very twisted individuals who enjoy berating every person in the OR...who with knife in hand and patient sliced open, enjoy toying with medical reps in the room...calling in extras to bring unneeded supplies, sending them on wild goose chases, “waving carrots in front of their faces” to entice them to do unethical things to get a sale...only to finally end up dumping implants into their patients supplied by a relative, a brother, a friend, a lover....whether the patient needs it or not...

I think day after day, what a slop house! What a graveyard of corrupted, arrogant little kings who rule their pathetic little kingdoms with insecurity, money and pseudo power! I have seen time and time again, the sanctity of the operating room violated and the welfare of the patient undermined and well… completely forgotten in my opinion. I have literally had to stand over the “back table” (inst. Table) face to face with a surgeon screaming every vulgarity at me only to be “kicked out” because I would not bow to his pressure or give in to his blasphemies! 

These surgeons remind me of Philippians 3; 19.  “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”

When I walk through these hospitals (their kingdoms) I pray for them…I am reminded of what their dark kingdoms (someday dungeons) represent and I’m moved to intercession…for them...the patients…and the hospitals…I think about the “wars” I have had with them, the financial loss from “doing the right thing” and the battles with my own pride of “losing the game”…and I do not doubt that I have been thrust into this fiery furnace…led into this desert by Him.   

But, in this desert...these difficult times, my God is still with me…whispering in my ear…Kingdom…priests…eternity…beloved…royal…majestic…holy nation…treasure…possession…rewards…of honor…of greatness…of holiness…sometimes he whispers…then sometimes he roars!...and like on Mount Sinai that day, the fire falls, the smoke billows, and the Divine Entrance of Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ!...penetrates this “realm” and shows himself to me!

It is somehow so good...when you're there...in the struggle...the desert...and you can look up and see Him, Jesus...you can look up and almost see forever!...you can almost see the "holy ecclesia" of God being pulled out of here!...and you keep looking and you can see the House of God, the Kingdom of Priests working, living, worshiping...in the new heaven and the new earth!!! 

This is what drives me...daily. My feet may be in hot sand but my heart is in His kingdom...and my eyes are fixed on my Lord, my Jesus, my King...for I know that I am a part of an Eternal Priesthood!

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15