A NEW BREED

  (An excerpt from the book

  "The Powerof an Endless Life")

  Doug Fortune

"For the priesthood being CHANGED, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." (Hebrews 7:12)
"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth BREAD and WINE: and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he BLESSED him..." (Genesis 14:18-19)

There's a new breed of 'priest' arising in the earth today. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..." (1Peter 2:9) We are all called to be priests, not just a select few. This new breed of 'priest' understands CHANGE. This new breed of 'priest' understands that the LAW has changed. No longer is it about 'right and wrong'. Those who feed from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are concerned with 'right and wrong'. They are concerned with morality. Morality is a poor substitute for righteousness that is based in intimate relationship with the Father through Christ. It's NOT about 'right and wrong', it is all about LIFE and death, it is all about intimate relationship. I have LIFE through intimate relationship, because He IS my LIFE! There is no life without Him! Without intimate relationship, I begin to decay, death creeps in because relationship IS Life. "Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing." (John 15:5 Amplified Bible)

Recently my wife and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. On our anniversary morning I looked deep into my wife's eyes and I told her that we must DISCIPLINE ourselves to spend quality time together because we are REQUIRED to do so by our vow of holy wedLOCK. You know, I didn't see her for a couple days. By the third day, I could see her just a little bit out of one eye, as the swelling was going down. (smile) I hope you know that I'm joking. But who really wants that kind of relationship? Nobody does! Neither does our Lord. That kind of law-based relationship is not acceptable; "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a BODY hast Thou prepared Me... Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the LAW..." (Hebrews 10:5, 8)

So, what exactly IS an acceptable sacrifice? "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, ACCEPTABLE to God by Jesus Christ." (1Peter 2:5) The only acceptable sacrifice is Christ Himself. That's the only thing that really pleases the Father. Our spiritual sacrifice is to give back to Him the Life of Christ that is being revealed IN us. We just read in Hebrews 10:5 that He is looking for a BODY to inhabit, or as 1Peter 2:5 states it, a spiritual HOUSE to inhabit. Jesus says it this way in Matthew 8:20, "And Jesus replied to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have lodging places, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." (Amplified Bible) Jesus Christ, the Head who has all preeminence (Colossians 1:18), looks for a place to lay His Headship, His authority. He is looking for a BODY. His DESIRE is to be joined in intimate union with a BODY, to find a 'place' to 'lay His Head'. I don't know about you, but I desire to be that 'place' fit for Him to 'lay His Head'.

Jesus our Head desires a BODY, and He speaks of this Body when He says, "This IS My BODY which is given for you: this do in re-MEMBER-ance of Me." (Luke 22:19) It is within the context of communion (common UNION) that He speaks of re-MEMBER-ing His many membered Body that He might be joined in intimate union with that Body. Jesus was "...an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Hebrews 6:20), and as a true priest after the order of Melchisedec, He brought forth BREAD and WINE. "And He said unto them, With DESIRE I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, UNTIL it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, UNTIL the Kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My BODY which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:15-20)

Notice that Jesus says, "With DESIRE I have desired to eat this passover with you." It was DESIRE that motivated Him. It was not according to the dictate of the LAW, but rather His DESIRE to commune with them. He still desires that true communion with us. You see, Jesus said that the BREAD and WINE were His Body and blood. Likewise, you and I are the Body of Christ and His we are now of His bloodline; "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God... Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]" (John 1:12-13 Amplified Bible) The BREAD and WINE, the Body and blood, are not only representative of Jesus Christ Himself, but also of a people through which the very Life of Christ is being lived.

We just read in Luke chapter 22 where Jesus said, "I will not any more eat thereof, UNTIL it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God... I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, UNTIL the Kingdom of God shall come." The question we must ask is, When and where is the Kingdom? "And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, WHEN the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU." (Luke 17:20-21) Here is our answer- the Kingdom of God is WITHIN us, and the Kingdom of God COMES when the Kingdom comes WITHIN US! Remember that Jesus said, "I will not any more eat thereof, UNTIL it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God... I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, UNTIL the Kingdom of God shall come." When the Kingdom of God COMES WITHIN US, then His DESIRE is fulfilled as He enters into true communion (common UNION) with us.

The Melchisedec 'priesthood' is a people of 'bread and wine', a people of true communion (common UNION) with Christ. The Melchisedec 'priesthood' is a people who partake of His flesh, the Bread of Life (John 6:48), and His blood, the cup of the New Covenant (Luke 22:20). "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." (John 6:53-56) The Melchisedec 'priesthood' brings forth 'bread and wine' as the very Life of Christ is manifested in their everyday life, His Life lived out in their body. It's really all about the 'appearing' of Christ in a people, it is the 'bread and wine' brought forth in a Melchisedec 'priesthood'. "When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory." (Col 3:4 Amplified Bible)

It is my personal belief that the first 'appearing' of Christ, or christophony as theologians would call it, that we read of in the Scripture is found in Genesis 14:18 as "...Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the Most High God." I realize that there are some who believe that the Melchizedek we read of in Genesis was Shem, the son of Noah. However, I am drawn to the description we find of this One who was the first 'priest' mentioned in Scripture; "For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him... Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." (Hebrews 7:1, 3) That certainly sounds like Christ to me! I also find the context in which we find this 'appearing' of Christ of great significance- Abram's slaughter of the kings.

Keep in mind that as we look at this, we are really painting a spiritual 'word picture' to be found in the symbolism contained in the account. We know that "...all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." (1Corinthians 10:11), so I believe there is spiritual truth to be gleaned. Jesus often taught with parables or 'word pictures', and I believe this to be one of the best ways to set forth spiritual truths that can otherwise be difficult to grasp. It gives us a natural picture of spiritual truth to help wrap our mind around. "And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit]." (1Corinthians 2:13 Amplified Bible)

We are joining Abram at an interesting juncture; "And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the EARTH: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." (Genesis 13:14-16) God promised Abram an EARTHLY blessing, as He said, I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth. Then within a couple chapters we see that the perspective has changed, as God now promises Abram a HEAVENLY blessing; "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward HEAVEN, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:5-6) I believe that Abram serves as a picture of those of us who are moving from an earthly perspective to a heavenly perspective. It is what happened between Genesis 13 and Genesis 15 that holds the key for this change to a higher perspective. You see, for most of us there are some 'kings' that need to be slaughtered. A 'king' determines the rule and conduct of the 'kingdom' just as our mentalities determine the rule and conduct of our lives, for "...as he THINKETH in his heart, so IS he." (Proverbs 23:7)

There is a vast difference between an earthly perspective and a heavenly perspective. "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My THRONE, and the earth is My footstool:" (Isaiah 66:1) You see, a heavenly perspective, a higher perspective, sees the sovereignty of God in all things and seeks to establish the Throne of God in all things, in order to bring restoration to all things. Allow me a moment to explain this. It seems as if most of Christianity sees the earth as a bad thing, this 'evil old world' that we can't wait to get out of. Interestingly enough, the kind of songs we sing give a good insight to the mentality of a culture. When you listen to the songs of the Christian 'culture', so many speak of escaping the hardship of this world and going on to the 'sweet by and by'. In fact, the primary emphasis of Christianity has been getting people ready to die and go to heaven. That is not a bad thing, but that is NOT a heavenly perspective! The Father's intention is not just for us to die and go to heaven, rather it is for us to 'die' to our selfish carnality and bring heaven to EARTH! As long as we are trying to get OUT of the earth, we will never have the mentality to bring 'heaven' to EARTH. We must begin to understand that the earth is His 'footstool'. In Biblical symbolism, when something is 'under the feet' it speaks of having subdued or of having dominion over that thing. Hebrews 2:8 explains it well; "Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left NOTHING that is not put under Him. But now we SEE NOT YET all things put under Him." When Jesus declared, "It is finished!", indeed it WAS finished and the 'prince' of this world and the kingdoms of this world were conquered... however we don't yet SEE the full manifestation of it. We are in the process of seeing the victory that was accomplished 'in the spirit' by means of the cross being worked out in this natural realm. Hence, "The kingdoms of this world ARE BECOME the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15) Friend, this world is not just an 'evil old thing' we must escape so we can GO to a 'better place', rather it belongs to the Lord and must be lovingly brought into subjection to make it a 'better place'!

About now someone is wondering how got from talking about intimate relationship in Christ to talking about eschatological worldview. Someone else is probably wondering what on earth they have to do with one another... the answer is, EVERYTHING! You see, an intimate relationship in Christ produces a character of compassion. Compassionate eyes see things that are wrong, whether in the lives of individuals or the world in general, and desires to bring RESTORATION, to help them be made whole and right through relationship, mercy, love. A 'law-based' mentality sees things that are wrong, whether in the lives of individuals or the world in general, and wants to PUNISH them. The LAW becomes more important than people. This was certainly not so in the life of Jesus. Matthew 14:14 tells us that Jesus had compassion on the multitude; "And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick." Jesus STILL has compassion on the multitude. He doesn't look at what a mess we make of our lives and say, Well it serves you right, you're getting what you deserve. No, Jesus has compassion, He seeks to bring RESTORATION. The question is, Will we allow Him to have compassion and bring restoration to the multitude THROUGH US? How else will He have compassion and bring restoration to the multitude, except THROUGH US? When our mentality changes through intimate relationship in Christ, certainly our worldview on the multitude will change also. Remember, this new breed of 'priest' understands CHANGE. This new breed of 'priest' understands that the LAW has changed. It's NOT about 'right and wrong', it is all about LIFE and death, it is all about intimate relationship.