This is a revisit and update of an older post based on the increase in knowledge and revelation that the Lord has given to His little flock that He is moving onto maturity as we live out the Second Death and Lake of Fire in this age.
In the next series of studies, we, will Lord willing, cover the Old Testament types and shadows hidden in the stories of ancient Israel. We learn the spiritual significance and the application for us today (1Co 10:11) of the following terms and references.
- Who are the Levites?
- Who are the sons of Aaron?
- Who are the priesthood?
- Where and what is the Camp and Tabernacle?
Types and shadows always have a positive and a negative application. It is through this system of apparent contradictions that Christ keeps the seven seals on His Word for the “many called.” God’s Word uses one type to typify exact opposites. Examples of this principle in Scripture are:
- A lion is both Christ and the Adversary – (Rev 5:5 vs 1Pe 5:8)
- Christ is both a lamb and a lion (Rev 5:5 vs Rev 5:6)
- Adam is both the beast and false prophet within, a living soul, and Christ, a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
In studying the Scriptures, we look primarily look and apply the Word within ourselves because the Kingdom of God (Luk 17:21) is within us. It is within the Kingdom of God that the living Word (Christ) is being lived out (i.e. experienced) by His chosen people.
2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart (WITHIN).
Heb 4:12 ESV For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
But let’s also remember that the inward application of Scriptures never denies there will be an outward application also. So, both the inward and outward application of spiritual Levites and the sons of Aaron are applicable to us at our appointed times. All of God’s elect (Sons of Aaron), who are the true kings and priests of Christ, are drawn out of the gathering of spiritual Levites. We have seen this separation outwardly in recent events as the true church is sifted and only a remnant escapes and is brought onward to maturity.
2Ki 19:30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
What does the tribe of Levi, apart for the Aaronic priesthood, represent?
Who are the Levites in the OT SHADOW (being given the Law) and what did they do?
- Levites are appointed over the Tabernacle, bearing the vessels, camping around it
- Levites keep the charge of the Tabernacle
- Levites are given to Aaron and his sons as a gift to prepare us for our roles
Num 1:50 But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that [belong] to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.
Num 3:6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. Num 3:7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.
Num 3:9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.
These truths are repeated in Numbers 18. The Levites are joined together with the much smaller flock called the sons of Aaron for a time and a season. Only the sons of Aaron can witness to the Truth and handle (rightly divide the Word) the vessels of the sanctuary within us.
Num 18:2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee (sons of Aaron only) shall minister before the tabernacle of witness
Num 18:3 And they (the Levites) shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.
Num 18:4 And they shall be joined unto thee and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.
Num 18:5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
Num 18:6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Levi means “associated with him.” So, Levi is to be thought of as being associated with Christ and “His Christ “in the same sense as Leah was associated with Jacob.
Gen 29:34 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore, was his name called Levi.
Leah was Jacob’s first wife. She is the wife he was given deceitfully, for his seven years of his labor. Leah, thinking that her labors would win her husband’s love has now born Jacob three sons, and she names this 4th son Levi, thinking that because of all she has done for Jacob, surely, he will now be associated with her. And this is what Levi represents. Levi is “associated with Christ.” It is the spirit of the Pharisee and Sadducee within us, which are full of dead man’s bones, hearers only, having only the Law & the Prophets and not being able to walk it out because Christ has not come the second time to us yet.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
It is the spirit of hypocrisy where we say to do but we ourselves do not do, we sit in Moses’s seat (Mat 23:2). Being a Levite is our time having been given the Law & Prophets and raised up out of the sea, yet we are still a religious beast.
Rev 13:11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. Rev 13:12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. Rev 13:13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
This outward righteousness is insufficient for any man to enter the Kingdom of God. We remain in this state of disobedience, unable to overcome until Christ comes the second time with His baptism of fire when we begin our day of the Lord and dying to death (Second Death) in the Lake of Fire. To be a spiritual Levite, we, at this stage, have only what we have been given which is the righteousness of the law. But is that enough?
Mat 5:20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
Neither Levi nor “a stranger (gentile)” were ever to “come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar.” Only the priests, the sons of Aaron, those being made into doers of the Word through abiding in the lake of fire, are allowed to go into the sanctuary and handle the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar. Here is how Paul puts it in spiritual terms:
Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
The sons of Aaron are to be separated from the Levites and beware partaking of their strange fire, which is false doctrines as we have seen regarding the Lake of Fire and the First Resurrection. The spiritual Levites within us [hearing the Word only] are to serve the true priests but they themselves cannot eat of the hidden manna.
Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh [requires baptism in the lake of fire] will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Spiritual Levites within and those without us, are hearers only, still full of idols of the heart, divers and strange doctrines and are all that is not Christ. Spiritual Levites are us, before our Day of the Lord, before tried in the fire.
If we come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar at this stage, then both the Levites and the priests die. All of this is spiritually saying:
1Co 10:21 You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.
Those who “serve the Tabernacle” are those who are given to us for our benefit. We are the man of sin first before we become the last Adam, a quickening spirit, through a process of fiery judgment because judgment is now on our house for each of us, if we are His. At this stage, we say we are Jews but are not. We are spiritual Levites or uncircumcised Philistines.
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and [I know] the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but [are] the synagogue of Satan.
The true work of God is to believe on Him and dying to death in this age and seeking the spiritual food that raises up the new man. This does not deny our outward good works (Gal 6:1), but the true sons of Aaron unlike the Levites, labor (do the work of God) to die the Second Death with Christ.
Joh 6:27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Joh 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
The Levites are given to the priesthood, “the Lord, and His Christ,” to help minister to the priesthood, but they themselves cannot handle the vessels of service. Remember, Leah, was Jacob’s reward for his efforts just as her association with Jacob was the reward for her efforts. Neither typifies the true Christ. Listen to what Jacob says about Simeon and Levi:
Gen 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
Gen 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united : for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall.
Gen 49:7 Cursed [be] their anger, for [it was] fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
“Come not into their assembly, be not united” with them, is our call to “come out of Babylon (state of death, state of disobedience, spiritually speaking) and be ye separate.” It is moving unto perfection leaving the milk behind (Heb 6) and not thinking above what is written.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her [last] plagues.
Christ is always calling His people out from the Levites who have been used to prepare us and by doing so perform a great service for the Lord.
Mat 26:12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Mat 26:13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman [the church of spiritual Levites] hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
The law and the Prophets which is the shadow of the true resurrection being the resurrection to damnation where sin begins to be imputed in our lives. The law is not able to make us perfect and is used to reveal our deep hidden sins and ultimately bring us to the living Christ seeing we are brute beasts and truly in need of a spiritual physician (a Saviour). Only the true sons of Aaron are being visited the second time by Christ in this age and given the faith which brings the true baptism by fire that is, was and will be sanctifying us within and without.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Christ coming the second time is what makes one a son of Aaron which is symbolism for God’s elect. When Christ comes the second time and brings in grace and truth, then begins our resurrection to life. This is when we are being taught to worship in Spirit and in truth and are moved onto maturity being remade into priests of God by the working of the Holy Spirit.
Heb 7:19 For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope [the better resurrection] through which we draw near to God.
Heb 7:20 This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath,
Heb 7:21 but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to Him, “The LORD has taken an oath and will not break His vow: ‘You are a priest forever.'”
Heb 7:22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the One who guarantees this better covenant with God.
The Spirit of God is what separates the spiritual priests from spiritual Levites within and without. The brethren we have recently been separated from are the outward spiritual Levites in this age. Those in orthodoxy are a mere shadow of the true Levites. The true sons of Aaron (the very elect), are brought out of the spiritual Levites that were used to prepare us to be made ministers of the Gospel. They have and are being cutoff off for our sakes.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
How the Levites serve the priesthood?
The Levites (the Pharisee within us) and those without keep the charge of all of the tabernacle and are used to teach us the Law and the Prophets, which is what brings us to Christ.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
They are the tutors and governors who help raise us up in Truth.
Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
It is by their fall from grace, within and without, that salvation comes to the little flock the Lord has chosen in every age.
Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Inwardly, it is leaving our first love and the multitudes within us that withstand God’s Word and our time walking with Christ yet betraying Him as Judas, that all serve to keep the Levites from eating before the golden altar. Yet they perform an incredible service [to] the tabernacle.
Mal 2:4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 2:5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
Mal 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
Mal 2:7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
There must be a great falling away before the Lord comes with His angels. So, our inward abandonment of sound principles in rightly dividing the Word (living by every word, one event for all, etc.) is leaving our first love and is required in preparing us for the second coming of Christ in our day of the Lord (2Th 2:3-4).
Malachi continues and confirms the Levites within and without ourselves corrupt the Word of God and cause many to stumble beginning with ourselves which has us perishing in our own doctrinal corruption.
Mal 2:8 But ye [Levi] are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 2:9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
Levi is those who have no right to eat at our altar because the altar is the cross and we cannot go there at this stage of our walk. Levi is the spirit who slew Christ and “His Christ”.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
It is so easy to just apply these truths outwardly in looking at our fallen brethren, yet we always have to look inside ourselves first. Who is serving the tabernacle and yet have no right to eat at the altar in the holy place? Where is it that the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest? Who is it who has “dealt shamefully with the servants of the man who planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen?” Who is it who has said “let’s slay His Son and seize His inheritance?” Our day of Pentecost, our Day of the Lord, is yet to come.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and [with] fire:
Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Levi is “another gospel, another spirit and another Jesus” which separates the Levites from the true priests. It is the leavening spirit of the Pharisee and the Sadducee.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
We first look within ourselves to find the spirit of Levi who is not obedient to the Word before we look outside. Unless our own logs are pulled from our eyes, we are in no position to help others come to the knowledge of the Truth.
Mat 7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye
We are blind before the Light (Christ, the Word) comes:
Mat 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Luk 9:45 But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not [Christ’s apostles]: and they feared to ask him of that saying.
The coming of the fire is what begins to teach us righteousness (Isa 26:9, Tit 2:11) and then we can see clearly and out understanding is enlightened.
Mar 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
We are in “the seven churches” before we become the seven angels in Christ’s right hand. We are joined to and associated with spiritual Babylon (aka the spiritual Levites) before we “come out of her.” The spirit of the Levites is exemplified in the attitude of the first workers in the vineyard and even the older son of the prodigal son (Luke 15). Here is the spirit of a Levite exemplified who believes their service in the Father’s house deserves extra pay.
Mat 20:11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, Mat 20:12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. Mat 20:13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
We are coming out of her, meaning we are all first the disgruntled “laborers in His vineyard” before we become “content with our wage knowing we our unworthy servants only doing what has been commanded us (Luk 17:10).
The spiritual Levite in us are being crafted in again in our day of the Lord. Those that served us in preparing us for our role as the true priests will also be grafted in again in the times appointed by the Father. Christ is dragging us to Himself now and all men in the ages to come. Think within first.
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Levites spiritually are our enemy within (trusting in the righteousness of the law) and without for a season.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
This separation and persecution is all being used to teach us to be mercifully knowing that whatever every man does is truly given them by the Lord. The gifts and calling of God will work righteousness in every man at the appointed times and transform all into the express image of the Lord. This truth should help us deal with the loss many still grieve over.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
So, when the “first” [the Levites] who are now “last” are eventually paid, this will be the final outcome of it all:
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.