So it is today. It is not God's purpose to remove from the presiding elders their authority over God's household. When God intervenes in spiritual matters it is that His Divine purpose in Christ may be accomplished, not that government be overthrown.

Jewish elders and Christian elders often kill the prophets. Yet, a true, experienced prophet does not seek to overthrow the office of the elders. The role of the apostle and prophet (these two ministries often go together in the Scripture) is to keep the Church in line with the program of God. The role of the elder is to respond to the Divine direction and to oversee the implementation of it in the churches.

There were elders in the Christian churches from the beginning.

Instead of the chief priests and elders we have the apostles and elders.

And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. (Acts 15:4)

Peter was both an apostle and an elder.

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: (I Peter 5:1)

We notice the importance of elders in both the old covenant and the new covenant. We see also that there is a difference between the priesthood and the elders, and between the apostles and the elders.

The priesthood of the old covenant, and the ministries and gifts of the new, are different in kind from eldership. The eldership is the same under both covenants, but the priesthood of the old, and the ministries and gifts of the new, are not the same.

As we stated previously, the eldership tends to be occupied with earthly, visible matters, while the priesthood of the old covenant, and the ministries and gifts of the new, tend to be occupied with invisible, heavenly matters.

When God ordained the priesthood of the old covenant (Aaron and his sons and the lesser rank of Levites) the accent was on holiness. Emphasis was placed on the ordination of Aaron and his sons as being holy to the Lord.

And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. (Numbers 1:51)

And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. (Exodus 29:9)

And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office. (Exodus 29:44)

No elder at any time was set apart as holy in this manner. An elder always is chosen on the basis of his proven experience and wisdom. He is appointed by someone such as Moses or the Apostle Paul who has a Divine commission.

A gift or ministry, by contrast, may be given by the Holy Spirit to a novice. Eldership is not a gift, it is a product of experience. But the gift of discernment or the ministry of a prophet may be given to a young, inexperienced believer, as in the case of Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 1:6)

To be continued.