The High Priest

Notice the expression, "earnestly (zealously) repaired." Each member of the Body of Christ must serve Jesus with all the zeal of his or her personality. It is not an hour in which to sleep. Every talent is to be brought to the market place.

The churches in many instances are complacent, lethargic, unbelieving. They are in this condition for two reasons: first, in many countries the Christians are oppressed with material comforts. They are not girded for the battle. They are not ready to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ. They are entangled with the affairs of the present world.

Second, there is false doctrine in the churches concerning the coming of Christ. In spite of the teaching of Jesus and Paul, the elect are looking for a secret coming of Christ that will remove them from the glorious opportunities for growth and service that will be provided by the climactic events of the closing days of this age.

Economic and political revolutions are at hand. So great will be the tumult and the shaking that the peoples of the earth will faint with fear. This uproar and unsettledness will be the church's greatest opportunity in all history to present the life and light of Christ to the world (Isaiah 60:1-5).

The worldwide shaking is at our doors. Every member of the Body of Christ is to lay aside the concerns of the present life and enter the varied tasks at hand. Each Christian who will take the time to seek Jesus will be assigned a part to play in the end-time harvest. He then is to perform that part with all the zeal of his soul, not in a halfhearted manner as he attempts to engage in the world's corrupt pleasures.

The Christians who will not lay aside the concerns and business of this life will be caught by surprise by the Lord. All the judgments described in the Gospel accounts surely will come on them because they did not prepare themselves earnestly to serve the Lord. They would not help the Lord in the day of battle, in the time of judgment.

The "house of Eliashib the high priest" is mentioned because our High Priest, Christ will come to us in revival power as soon as we go into the armory of God, obtain our weapons, and begin to fight the battles of the Kingdom of God. The Lord will work with us, confirming the Word with signs following when we are doing His will and finishing the tasks set before us.

The fullness of the "high priest," of the Servant of the Lord (Isaiah, Chapter 42), of the Vine (John, Chapter 15), of the Anointed Deliverer who is to come and bring glory to Israel and justice and deliverance to the peoples of the earth, is Christ—Head and Body.

The Head of the High Priest is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Body of the High Priest is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is being brought to unity and maturity as the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit travail until Christ is formed in us.

To be continued.