Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times we're living in. Today's lesson is part three of the mini-series Lessons from the Levitical Calling, and today's lesson is who are the Levites and why were they chosen?

Guest (Male): Jacob or Israel as he was renamed by God had 12 sons. One of them was Levi, the third-born son of Jacob and Leah. You'll find the whole story in Genesis 29. Leah had given Jacob two sons already, Reuben and Simeon, but she was grieved because she knew her husband still preferred his other wife, Rachel, who was at this point in time childless.

God was merciful to Leah. Genesis 29 records, "Again she conceived and bore a son and said, 'Now this time my husband will be joined unto me because I have borne him three sons.' Therefore was his name called Levi." The name Levi means a joining. Leah desired to be joined in a special unalterable way to her husband. So in application, at its core, a Levite's commissioning has to do with joining the people of the congregation, the bride, to the Lord, our husband.

In this series, we'll be looking at the three families that make up what we know as the Levites. They are the Kohathites, descended from Kohath, the Gershonites, descended from Gershon, and the Merarites who were descended from Merari. By the end of this series, you'll be able to remember these three groups because if you are called as a Levite, you'll be able to see to which family you belong. They were assigned very different places around God's presence as well as three separate duties or responsibilities.

The Kohathites are always listed first because from this family came all of the priests. Some of the names you may recognize from this family are Moses, Aaron, and his sons as well as Korah, who has an entire Torah portion devoted to him. I need to say that my book, The Levitical Calling, does not focus so much on the priesthood itself but on the Levites in general since that is the revelation that was first given me.

You do need to know, however, that the priesthood was made up of descendants of Aaron, which is why it is called the Aaronic Priesthood. Even today in Israel, devout Jews are making preparations for the building of the Third Temple. They've kept careful records over the centuries of the descendants of Aaron and are training them according to the ceremonial rituals and sacrifices specified by God in the Torah.

How and when did God separate the Levites? Let me abbreviate Numbers 8. We read and pay special attention to this first verse, "Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. And you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. When you present the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the Lord.

The Levites shall be mine. Instead of all the firstborn of all of the people of Israel, I have taken the Levites for myself as a gift to Aaron and his sons to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting that there may be no plague." I want you to note several things, and what we're going to do is look at these things in the natural as found in the Torah and then let this teach us what is required of the Levitical people that the Lord is calling out today.

Lesson number one: This was no ordinary cleansing. The cleansing of the Levites involved a whole lot more than a bath. Rather, it involved five steps specifically ordered by the Lord. Step one: Sprinkle the water of expiation upon them. This is a ceremony used to cleanse somebody if they've been exposed to death, thereby causing them to be unclean. Step two was to shave their whole body with a razor.

In Leviticus 14, this ceremony was done when examining a person for leprosy, which not only threatened the person himself but could spread and wipe out an entire people group. Step three: Wash their clothes. Step four: Cleanse them in a ritual bath. And step five: Prepare sacrificial offerings. In other words, something had to die and give its life for this separation to be possible.

Now when we look too closely at the details, we can miss the heart of the tavnit. I believe this picture is teaching that when God separated this Levitical people, it required tremendous effort, bodily scrutiny, cleansing inside and out, and sacrificial actions. They had to take definite steps away from what had been death and leprous to them. Lesson number two is separation from the familiar.

I want you to see that these Levites would never be the same again once they were cleansed and separated by God. There was not a place on their being that was not exposed before the all-consuming fire of the Lord. Now we have to understand that God is completely holy. His presence knows no sin, no darkness, no filth. So if he is calling someone to approach and minister on behalf of others in his presence, he or she has to be cleansed and refined in a purifying fire that is not pleasant.

This kind of removal from the filth of the world is often violent, and I want you to consider these examples. I recently heard about an acquaintance that had been in a painful separation from his wife. The two were not equally yoked. He longed to serve the Lord, but his wife wanted no part of it. The torment that he experienced day in and day out was wearing on him. He could not make the break no matter how hard he tried.

One day she threw him out, and there finally he was separated unto God, although hardly the way he had wanted. What he wanted was a helpmate who shared his commitment to the Lord. He was lonely and begged friends if he could stay with them, and when the loneliness became unbearable, he begged his wife if he could come home. So when I last heard about him, his separation has not yet been fully realized.

Another friend of mine was well known many years ago in the entertainment industry. Her Levitical separation involved being fired, tormented by gossip, and blackballed in a community she once loved. Still other friends watched their successful business go down in flames. They were forced to move and spent years not knowing where their next job was coming from.

Another couple lost everything they owned in a financial venture. I watched helplessly as the bank foreclosed on their home in a prestigious neighborhood. They were barely able to sustain themselves and they had to live separately. The wife returned home to care for her ailing mother and the Lord continued to discipline the husband. His unlawful business dealings finally landed him in jail. The marriage ended and he died several years later.

One acquaintance, a strong woman of God who is very gifted in the arts, suffered a brain tumor which left her visually impaired. She became totally dependent on others in ways she never had to be before. I'm telling you these examples because I have found the experiences I've told you about are the norm rather than the exception. Now having lost almost everything myself, I can attest to the painful process known as being separated unto God.

I lost husband number one in a painful divorce, husband number two in sudden death, followed by the loss of everything I had worked for in my business life. If you are going through a similar trial, what I want to assure you of is that you are not being punished. You have not failed. Rather, you are likely being called closer to God because of your faithfulness. Lesson number three is that Levites are given a new place to dwell.

I want you to do an internet search for the encampment in the wilderness. You can see for yourself the way that God arranged the Levites and the tribes around the Tabernacle. I especially want you to notice that God had a very specific place for the Levites to live in the wilderness. Now let me stop here a minute. The wilderness period as you may recall is a tavnit for our journey through life to the kingdom. It's a picture that teaches us many things.

The Tabernacle or the tent of meeting is where the Lord chose to dwell. It was in the very middle of the 12 tribes. And right next to the Tabernacle were the Levites who had a specific arrangement. To the east, which was the direction of their journey, were Moses and Aaron and their families. South of the Tabernacle were the Kohathites, those closest to enter and tend to everything within the holy place itself. They were the only Levites allowed inside the holy place.

To the west were the Gershonites who served as the rear guard. And to the north were the Merarites who especially guarded God's presence from enemy attack since most attacks came from the north. The rest of the tribes had their unique places as well. You'll notice in all the pictures that the encampment faced east, the same direction both the First and Second Temples faced toward the golden gate from which Messiah will walk through when he comes to rule during the Messianic Kingdom still to come.

Lesson number four is that Levites guard God's presence. Let me read you Rabbi Ariel's introduction in the book The Odyssey of the Third Temple, "The structure of the camp of Israel as it traveled through the desert was the superlative symbol of the manner in which God's glory, the Shekinah, dwells in the world. Closer to the center, the dwellings of the various families of the tribe of Levi are located. They are completely dedicated to the divine work of the Tabernacle, musically accompanying the sacrificial service and carrying the Tabernacle itself whenever the signal to move is given.

The center of the camp is the abode of the tent of meeting, covered by the cloud of glory. Each Jew rising in the morning can plainly see this cloud. It was the sign that the divine presence is resting in the camp of Israel. In the innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, stands the Ark of the Testimony containing the word of God, the tablets of the law given at Mount Sinai. The nation is literally concentrated around the Torah like an army who awaits its commander's orders.

A whole nation in obedience to God's will. The routine of life in the camp centers around the service of the Tabernacle. And this people, fresh out of Egyptian bondage and en route to the land of Israel, has an announcement to make, a message for all of the peoples of the earth: Look, there is a nation who has God in its midst." As we read in Leviticus 26, "And I will set my dwelling among you and I will be your God and you shall be my people."

The Levites were to be the royal guard of the presence of the Lord. In Numbers 4:3, we read that the Levites appointed to service were to be from 30 years old to age 50. The word that is translated service is also rendered warfare. This is the Levite's primary function, to guard and protect the holiness of the presence of the Almighty. This is an awesome responsibility, but before a Levite can guard his presence, we must understand how the Lord manifests himself today.

My observation is that the majority of people do not understand someone with a Levitical calling. I remember one time being taken to the Atlanta airport by the husband of a family I was very close to so I could attend a conference hosted by one of my mentors at the time, Dr. Barbara Wentroble. While we were driving, my friend, who was a reformed Jew, said, "I don't understand all these women gathering together just to talk about God. Are they all like you?"

And all I can answer was there are many people who have a very strong sense of destiny to serve the Lord, I am one of them, and yes there are millions just like me who spend their time and money understanding what this calling is all about. So as you mentally picture this encampment, our God is awesome and powerful and has displayed his glory in various times and places in different ways over the years.

Whenever there appears to be an outpouring of God's presence, people inevitably pack their cars and head to that place. That flocking is not merely driven by curiosity. Rather, for many, it is a deep yearning to be in the presence of the Almighty. In that place is true worship and intimacy with the one who created us. Lesson number five is to show his presence to others.

During these many conferences and outpourings, the Lord is teaching his Levitical people how to dwell in his presence, how to minister to him, how to serve others. The Levitical call is above all a call to service. It is a call to humility and bowing before the Lord and serving those who dwell in our midst. When in the wilderness, it took a long time for the Levites to begin to understand all that they were to do.

The Lord is very exact about how he wants things done. Everything has a reason and a purpose and everything is a tavnit, a picture that instructs the world about who our God is. Lesson number six is to protect the people. A secondary and equally important purpose the Levites fulfilled was to protect the people from the wrath of God. When the Levites were doing their job properly, the people of Israel lived in safety.

In today's vocabulary, Levites are often referred to as watchmen. In Ezekiel 33, we find a perfect description of a watchman of the Lord. A watchman is one who is thus called by God and gifted with discernment to know when his people are in danger. The Old Testament prophets definitely performed a watchman's role and many lost their lives because of it. In this chapter, the Lord instructs Ezekiel, one of Israel's greatest prophets, concerning this important Levitical duty.

We read this, "If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet," in other words doesn't sound an alarm, "and the people are not warned and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand. Now as for you, son of man," talking to Ezekiel, "I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. So you will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning from me."

Now some may argue that this duty only belonged in the Old Testament, that there are no real prophets now. It is not within the scope here to argue the existence of prophets today. My understanding is Ephesians 4, which lists the five separate gifts that Jesus left with us when he ascended to glory. The gifts of evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, and apostle. Each to do the work of preparing his body.

I believe all five gifts are given to each generation so that the body of Messiah will be complete. Learning to walk in these respective giftings is a whole other teaching. But to conclude this section, just as he did in the Old Testament, God still uses prophets or those wired to hear him to sound a warning as to what is to come. We read in Amos 3, "Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it? For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."

In our day, many of God's servants heard that 9/11 was coming. That New Orleans would be flooded as a sign of judgment and purification. That a tsunami would soon display God's awesome power to those living in Southeast Asia. And especially now, we are living out the prophecies of the end of days. The Lord is revealing his plans or the enemy's to his watchmen so they can warn and protect his people and pray that his overarching purposes will be done.

That is his way. Jesus was a visible model of this. He took his disciples, his Levites, into his confidence. He prepared them for his death and resurrection and gave them specific signs that would precede his return. Countless Levites today hear from heaven as to what is going on and are on their faces before God in prayer and fasting over the direction our country is taking. Grieving over the rise in pornography, greed, godlessness, lasciviousness, spiritual apathy, homosexuality, abortions, racial hatred, injustice, the list goes on and on.

Today's watchmen are crying out for mercy, for revival, for the manifestation of the kingdom of God in all the earth. We are also crying out in warning for we sense in every part of our bodies that the day of the Lord, when God's wrath falls on the nations of the world, is at the door. And lesson number seven: Levites prepare the way for the judgment of God.

The final lessons we're going to look at today is that the Levites need to be in position before God's judgment falls. I believe it is this reason why it is so important to God that his Levites need to be called and identified today. We need to get in position and be trained so that we can minister properly to a frightened, insecure, terrified people in the throes of experiencing the wrath of God.

Scripture teaches that Levites are called to endure first what the people will soon undergo so that we can properly minister when judgment falls. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1 that the Lord is "the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

What good can we give to others who lose their homes to foreclosure or witness their children undergo sexual abuse, gang violence, drug addiction, and mental illness if we have nothing to offer them but empty platitudes? It is vitally important to the Lord that our message be one of: Yes, I know how badly you hurt. I went through the same thing, but I am here to testify that God saved me and restored me when there was no hope.

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long. I'll put a link to my book, The Levitical Calling, in the description notes to this episode, which is called Who are the Levites and Why Were They Chosen? You've been listening to Lessons in the Latter Days. God bless.