Friday, June 2, 2023

What it means to be 'Royal Priesthood'? How to operate in a higher level of authority?

Salient points:

  • The Melchizedekian priesthood is a combination of the offices of a king and a priest
  • It is the highest authority of the believer
  • This anointing is not something that can be claimed by faith
  • We need to be yielded to God and allow Him to mould and transform us to be a Melchizedekian priest
  • We have to grow up (mature) into the image of Christ to bear that kind of authority and power
  • God is preparing us for His end-time move and harvest


Notes from Ps Yang Tuck Yoong’s sermon on July 3, 2022 (Cornerstone Community Church Singapore)


One of the privileges a priest has is he gets to come close to God.

When the Apostle Peter gave us a vision of what the church is called to be, he said, you are a “royal priesthood”. You're not just any priesthood you're a royal priesthood.

We have to grow into this and we have to have a revelation of what entails a priesthood.

One of the greatest revelations that's going to be released upon the church in the last days is the revelation of the Melchizedekian priesthood – highest authority of the believer on planet earth. It's a combination of both the priestly anointing and the kingly ministry.

God is going to bring these two key ministries together in the last days. There's going to be a marriage of the offices of the priests and the king, and when this happens, we're going to see cataclysmic results.


Pray that God will do something in our hearts and that we will not be dull of hearing today. The dullness of the Hebrew believers prevented one of the greatest revelations from being released to the Body of Christ. When we don't understand a revelation, when it's released, Satan comes and he steals the word.

Satan will fight tooth and nail to prevent the church from receiving this revelation (Melchizedekian priesthood), so we must contend for this.

This is one of the most powerful revelations that awaits the church in these last days.

This obscure King Melchizedek is mentioned in three portions of scripture in the bible:

  1. Genesis 14 - when Abraham meets him and gives a tithe to him;
  2. Psalm 110:4 - speaking of the Messiah it says the Lord has sworn and will not relent; You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek; and
  3. Hebrews 7 - where the writer explains a few things about this very mysterious person.


*Melchizedekian priesthood > Levitical priesthood

Hebrews 7:1-3:
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of all [the spoil]. He is, first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, which means king of peace. Without [[a]any record of] father or mother, nor ancestral line, without [any record of] beginning of days (birth) nor ending of life (death), but having been made like the Son of God, he remains a priest without interruption and without successor.

Historically, Melchizedek was the king of Salem, the original ancient name for Jerusalem.
Not only was Melchizedek a king, he was also a priest.

This is important because our priesthood in the new covenant is not after the order of Levi, but after the order of Melchizedek. In other words, in the New Testament, God takes the functions of a priest and marries it to the kingly office, making us kings and priests.

When the bible talks about us being kings and priests, it's a vision God is offering to everyone.

It’s not an automatic thing. It has to be qualified. You have to qualify for it.

Old Testament: the priesthood went to the tribe of Levi, the scepter (the rulership) went to the tribe of Judah.

Jesus is not from the tribe of Levi. He's from the tribe of Judah, coming from a long line of kings.

This is the will of God: He has made us kings and priests (Melchizedekian priesthood).

It involves a process of transformation. This is not something we claim it by faith.

You've got to be moulded and shaped by God for your destiny.

Melchizedek was a king and a priest not by genealogy but by election. His ministry continued into eternity and did not consummate at his death. He remains a priest forever.


Psalm 110: 1-4
The Lord (Father) says to my Lord (the Messiah, His Son), “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet [subjugating them into complete submission].
The Lord will send the scepter of Your strength from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
Your people will offer themselves willingly [to participate in Your battle] in the day of Your power; In the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, Your young men are to You as the dew.
The Lord has sworn [an oath] and will not change His mind: “[a]You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110 was a David, who was not just a great king, but also a great prophet.

The position of the Melchizedekian priesthood - they sit in heavenly places at the Lord's right hand, which is a place of “supreme power”, not just any kind of power. The Melchizedekian priesthood is a reigning priesthood that rules from heaven, and not from earth. It is the highest place of authority for the believer. Whatever we have witnessed in the past is going to be insignificant in comparison to what is coming.

What we have right now is so limited in its capacity. When the Lord said the works that I do, greater works shall you do.

But why aren't we seeing this yet?

It's because we are operating in an authority that is far inferior to the alternative that's presented to us in Scripture. Although it's been given to us, we are not operating in it, and the reason for that is because that kind of authority and power can only be given to a mature people.

Too many things come out from our mouths, too many things come out from our hearts, that if we are given this kind of authority, the results would be catastrophic. Like James and John, we all have the tendency to call fire at the slightest provocation.

So, we have to grow up into the image of Christ to bear that kind of authority and power, and grow into the mantle that the Lord has promised to the Church.

Ask the Holy Spirit to fast-track you to growth, because we don't have much time left. The Glory is coming.

*Jesus is returning for a Bride without spot and wrinkle.*

He's returning for a beautiful Bride with the Melchizedekian priesthood and garments on her.

We need to grow up, we need to mature.

Start thinking about your vocation - your true vocation, which is a priest unto the Lord.

You must function in the office of a priest.

How do you do that? The first thing you got to do is to stand before God every morning and give Him praise and thanksgiving.

*The first duty of the priest is to offer praise to Him, the sacrifice of praise.*

Rev 3:21
He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne

Jesus wasn't referring to after we have died. He's offering this to anyone who will overcome in this life and reign in his life - right now. Right now, we can be seated in heavenly thrones and walk with great authority in this lifetime.

We’re operating at a level so far short of His true glory. We cannot fully represent Him until He brings us up higher to that place of glory.

Psalm 110:2: There is an authority and power that is coming to the church where the enemy will always be under our feet.

This is the Lord’s desire, the expressed will of the Father for His Church of Jesus Christ - the Ecclesia, the ruling governing authority on this planet.

Psalm 110:3: When this mantle is poured out upon the Church, the hearts of the Christians will rise in an unprecedented faith and they will be willing. The day is coming when the Church is going to rise up, they're not going to enter into battle with fear, they're going to rise up with a willing heart.

The Melchizedekian church is going to be a holy church, with a holy aura. Our garments will be the garments of warfare - the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, girding the loins with truth, wearing the sandals of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit. That bridal gown is the Armor of God - it's devastatingly powerful.

Psalm 110:4 - Jesus is not just king over the church, He's king over the whole earth.

A priest carries a sensor, a king wields a scepter. The scepter symbolises authority, the sensor symbolises worship. One releases power, one releases fragrance, and we need both.


1 Peter 2:9:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

That word royal makes all the difference - we're not just a priesthood of believers, we are a royal priesthood. One of the functions of the priest is to proclaim praise, if you're not proclaiming the praises of him who called you out of darkness into light every day, then I question your role as your understanding of a praise, and I question your faithfulness in being a priest.

As a royal priesthood, we're called to proclaim the superiority of God over darkness every day.

The Lord's prayer has both kingly elements and priestly elements.

God is preparing His church for this end-time harvest. He is also preparing the church for the coming power and authority.


VIDEO LINK: 3 July | Kings and Priests | Ps. Yang | Cornerstone Community Church | CSCC Online - YouTube


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