The letter of the law kills; but the spirit gives life - two kinds of priesthoods. Levitical, the old covenant, Old Testament law; and then the New Testament, which is all to do with the spirit of life. We're called to be ministers of the spirit, and the spirit will always bring life. The interesting thing about the Levitical priesthood was, every now and then, the chief priest would die, and they would have to find another one, and that's when they ran into their troubles. With the Melchizedek priesthood, it comes from Jesus, who never dies - therefore it never changes. We've just got one guy in charge, and He's our high priest forever. So the Levitical priesthood has been replaced by the Melchizedek priesthood. We read that in Hebrews 7:11-13. That means it's taken over all their roles.
Why did it get replaced? Why did they let it go? Why did God change His mind about this group? There's always a reason. God appointed them initially, because Aaron was sent to work with Moses, in terms of delivering the people of God out of Egypt. Then after Aaron and his sons were supposed to be priests, their descendants were supposed to be priests. But at some point, someone really blew it big time, and as a result of what he did, and what his sons did, God said: I will take the priesthood off you, and give it to a faithful priesthood - and He's referring to Jesus Christ.
He's saying: the old covenant will come to an end. I'm going to introduce a new covenant. A new covenant will have a new priest. In order to see the transition from the old covenant (under the law) to the new covenant (of the spirit), you've got to look to some people. No picture in the Bible is perfect, but you'll see the transition. I want you to see is the why it took place, and there were many reasons, but I one reason is particularly important. Levi, and the priesthood of Levi, was replaced by Melchizedek, or by Zadok.
1 Samuel 2:35 – “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what's in My heart and My mind. I will build him a sure house; he will walk before My anointed forever.”
Eli was replaced by Eleazar. He was replaced by Abiatha; and then when it came to King Solomon, and the coming millennial rule, He replaced the priesthood, put another one in. So, the millennial rule has a different priesthood. So why did He put Zadok in there; and why is it that Levi forfeited there? It all goes back to a man called Eli, and he's found in the first Book of Samuel, in the first few chapters. Eli was the high priest, and God was planning a massive change, so He raised up Samuel, who became the prophet and priest to the nation.
This is in 1 Samuel 2:29-30, and I encourage you to read this story yourself. Eli was old, and blind - had no vision. Eli was very heavy, a big fat man; and what happened was that his sons, who were also the priests, were stealing the best offerings for themselves; and they were also being involved in sexual immorality with the women who came to worship. God spoke to Eli, and said this: Why do you kick at My sacrifice, and My offering, which I have commanded in My dwelling? You honour your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of the offerings! Then He said: “therefore the Lord God of Israel says: I said indeed your house and the house of your father would walk with Me forever.”
In other words, this was going to be a forever job - but now it's far from Me. Those who honour Me, I will honour; but those who despise Me, shall be lightly esteemed. He then lays out exactly what's going to happen. He puts a curse on them. He says: in your family no one will ever get old, they'll all die prematurely; and He said: here's a sign for you. On one day, both of your sons will die. So on one day, both of his sons died in battle; and when the news came back to Eli, it was such a shock for him that the sons had died, and the ark had been captured, that he fell over and broke his neck. There's symbolism in all of these things, but the key thing in here was: there was a lack of relationship with God.
Here's the reasons they forfeited the priesthood. The bottom line is: they dishonoured God; and they honoured themselves - that was why they forfeited their priesthood. In any priesthood, which includes us, in any leadership, any kind of ministry… if we dishonour God in our actions, and honour yourself - you will forfeit your priesthood in eternity! Very, very serious! It's a huge issue!
God called it: “they dishonoured Me”. He said to Eli: “you honour your sons more than Me. You make yourselves fat with all the best of the offerings”. So read the story, there were three things that were identified: 1) Lack of intimate relationship with the Lord. It says: “they were sons of Belial, they did not know the Lord”. Now that seems crazy! Here they are, they're serving in the tabernacle, all the things of God. They're fully involved in the religious system, yet there's no intimacy or relationship with the Lord. It's a very strong picture of people who have no ongoing personal relationship with the Lord - they're just fulfilling religious roles, religious duties. No relationship with the Lord, and as a result, they have no respect or honour for Him. No respect, no honour.