Today there are so many people who claim to be the people of God. However, Jesus says that not all of them are the true people of God. Then how can we distinguish who the people that belongs to God are and those who are not?
The High Priest with the Urim and Thummim
In the old covenant, among the people who came back from the Babylonian captivity in the time of Ezra, there were many who could not prove their own genealogy. And the God teaches that only the high priest with Urim and Thummim can decide whether they belong to the people of God or not.
It is the same with us today. As believers of God we must have the high priest with Urim and Thummim who can declare that we are the true people of God. Then who is the high priest with Urim and Thummim?
First, let us think about the meaning of Urim and Thummim? In the Law of Moses, the high priest should wear a breastpiece with two gem stones, which represent Urim and Thummim, in the time of making decisions.
Exodus 28:30 Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord.
And the meaning of Urim is “light” and Thummim “perfection,” which means the perfect light or truth since light means “truth.” Therefore, the high priest with perfect light signifies that the high priest who comes with the perfect truth.
The Order of Aaron and the Order of Melchizedek
Then what is the perfect truth? In the old covenant or the Law of Moses, the priesthood was following the Order of Aaron, and the bible teaches that this priesthood was imperfect. And later it was changed into the perfect one.
Hebrews 7:11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.
The Levitical priesthood or the Order of Aaron in the old covenant was not the perfect light or truth. And the bible teaches that the Levitical priesthood has changed into the priesthood in the Order of Mechizedek. This means the imperfect priesthood (the Order of Aaron in the old covenant) changed into the perfect priesthood (the Order of Melchizedek in the new covenant).
Hebrews 7:18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
The former regulation (the Order of Aaron and the Law of Moses following the priesthood of the Order of Aaron) was not perfect for the salvation. And for this reason, a better hope (the priesthood in the Order of Melchizedek and the Law of Christ) was introduced to give us salvation.
God’s People Through the Passover
The Law of Moses which was the imperfect light or truth changed into the Law of Christ, which is the perfect truth. Therefore, the high priest in the Urim and Thummim means the high priest following the Order of Melchizedek. Then who is the high priest in the Order of Melchizedek? And what was the perfect truth that he brought for the salvation?
Hebrews 5:8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Son, that is Jesus Christ, was the high priest in the Order of Melchizedek. And the perfect truth that he brought for salvation was the new covenant Passover, which is the symbol of Mechizedek. As Mechizedek the high priest of God blessed Abraham with bread and wine, Jesus as the reality of the high priest in the Order of Melchizedek blessed us with the bread and wine of the Passover.
Even though we were not God’s people once, through the Passover new covenant we became the people of God.
John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
Through the Passover we can remain in God, which means we can belongs to God and be God’s people.
Jeremiah 31:31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Christ Ahnsahnghong, the High Priest with the Urim and Thummim
Truly Jesus is Our God who came as high priest in the Order of Melchizedek and through the Passover we can be the people of God. Also for the same reason, Christ Ahnsahnghong who restored the new covenant Passover, the perfect truth is the high priest with the Urim and Thummim and he is the one who can give us salvation through the perfect light of the new covenant. We must accept Christ Ahnsahnghong and keep the new covenant Passover to the end.