Priest-judge

A priest-judge is a temple guardian

Commissioned by the Lord to guard His holy presence from evil

And execute judgment on anything unclean that would defile His holy temple

Adam was a priest-judge

Adam was a priest-judge

Adam was a priest-judge, he was

Put in Eden to keep it from anything unclean cause

It was a temple, God with His people

So Adam's job was to guard it from evil

Genesis 2, turn to the part

Verse 15 and observe this remark

For 'keep, ' the Hebrew verb is 'shamar'

And in its context yo, the word means 'to guard'

And this is seen in chapter 3: 24

Where Adam's no longer priest anymore

Cause of his arrogance ensnared in sin

Now shamar's used for the guards--the cherubim

Cause of what happened back a few verses

An intruder in the garden, that was the serpent

Was it an accident? No, it happened on purpose

For Adam to image God and smash him for certain

And since Adam fell

Yahweh chose a new priestly race in Genesis chapter 12

Though Abraham's from a pagan fam

The Great I AM called him to Canaan and

It's a new Eden, new creation land

Flowing with milk and honey where His holy place would stand

In the midst of this nation clan

For them to be priest to every race of man

Seen in Abraham's desperate plea

Full of intercession to rescue please

His nephew Lot before he's wrecked to cease

But they're not just ancients of blessed peace

Israel is His collective priest

To judge those who sin incessantly

Genesis 15, the text it reads

The sin of the Amorites is not yet complete

In other words, this double purpose

To rescue His precious kids in Exodus was to show abundant mercies

Plus for his judging servants to bring justice curses

On Canaanites for disgusting worship

And they must deserve it

Cause they're really the offspring of that ugly serpent

Be convinced as I teach

Exodus 19, Israel's a kingdom of priests

True indeed, but do you see

The Levites are priest-judges within the community

Yahweh's holy wrath is intense

Beholding the golden calf incident

So Moses boldly asks of his men

Who love the Lord, it don't matter the sin

The Levites as a whole gather to him

To hear the holy task that he gives

Take your sword from your thigh cause the Lord was despised

Killed 3, 000 who abhorred Adonai

A strange form of praise and worship

Maybe these verses make you nervous?

But Exodus 32:29, that day was the Levites' ordination service

Jump with me to Numbers 3

The Levites were to kill anyone unclean

Their priestly charge was to keep and guard

The tabernacle, several times we see shamar

Leviticus, since Yahweh is in the midst

Purge sin and get rid of this

But the illest is Phineas

Who saw the insidious worship of Baal hideous

He went in the tent

Where an Israelite laid with the woman from Midian

Then he stabbed them in their abdomen

With a javelin so God's wrath was spent

He was a priest-judge

The Promised Land was blessed and precious

The place of Yahweh's special temple presence

So the wicked yes, best be put to death

Intruders in the land, they should be dispossessed (yarash!)

Driven out, given now into the hand of Joshua who quickly rout

Stricken and hit, no doubt

Then slain by the edge of the sword with a shout, listen pal

Priest-judgment was what the Canaanite conquest is about

Foreshadowed by Abram who slaughtered kings

Devoted to destruction, his offerings

But this is rowdy, right?

When Saul failed to kill Agag the Amalekite

Samuel shows what an actual priest is

With his sword, he hacks Agag to pieces (rowdy!)

Crushing the head of Goliath with a rock

Cause that serpent defied the living God

In David's killing spree of Philistines

A priest-judge king is really seen

So it's not limited to a specific office

Elijah smitten all the wicked, it's the prophets

After God's fire consumed the entire offering, Elijah slaughtered them (Shachat!)

All these priest judges were incomplete

But there's a final Prophet-Judge-Kingly-Priest

Yeah, I'm talking about Jesus the Lord

The One who came not to bring peace, but a sword

The first Adam should've did what's essential

So the second Adam was cleansing the temple

Of the wicked and unlawful

Then washing the feet of His twelve new Israel apostles

Cause He's the Lamb and the Priest and the Temple

Judged in our place for our deeds that are sinful

So the living God has raised Him

To destroy that false temple, that synagogue of Satan

70 AD, now His holy discipline does steadily spank me

His true temple, He's changing His nation

Tearing down our idols and sanctification

His grace is aflaming, cleansing His peeps

His church is His end-time kingdom of priests

So in church discipline

Now the elders are priest-judges to purge sinful men

Though Josh in the Land routs heathens

The greater Joshua was casting out demons

When He returns, he'll physically, spiritually

Cleanse the land of all who displease Him

In the Greek text follow

Matthew 12, to cast out demons, we see 'ekballo'

Revelation 12 says in its pages

He casts out Satan from the heavenly places

Along with his henchmen

Already at the cross and resurrection, accomplished at ascension

But at the Second Coming

You'll the perfect picture of the Priest-Judge executing judgment

Revelation 19 demonstrates what I mean

See His robes, He's arrayed as High Priest

Watch the Son of God unleash

Millions of saints and angels, His squad is deep

Bronze His feet, when in His sovereign seat

He returns to squash the beef

Christ the cosmic Priest when at the perfect season

Will come to do His earthly cleaning

It will be purged of heathens

Thrown into the eternal furnace heated

With the fury of the wrath of the Almighty

Then we'll worship God rightly

Since the Son's faithful

We'll fulfill our second Adam's status as we judge angels

Since the Son's faithful

We'll fulfill our second Adam's status as we judge angels

Christian, you a priest-judge because He was

Now we crush deeds of greed, lust

So that Jesus' deep love is seen much

He was double Priest-Judge so clean up, clean up!

He kills sin