Part 1 - The Lens of Priesthood

Today, we’re going deep into priesthood.

I want us to look at it through two people: Joshua the High Priest and John the Baptist.

Their stories carry two separate messages, but at the same time, they connect in a powerful way.

Joshua’s story teaches us about obedience, generational responsibility, and the danger of compromise.

John’s story shows us something different: God disrupting the old picture of priesthood and preparing the way for the ultimate Priest—Jesus Christ.

And when you put both stories together, you begin to understand why we desperately needed a better priesthood.

Joshua the High Priest: Your Family’s Victory Doesn’t Replace Your Obedience

One of the first lessons we see through Joshua is simple but serious:

Obedience is still required to walk with God—even if the generation before you secured a victory.

Look at Joshua’s family line:

Joshua the High Priest — cleansed in Zechariah 3

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Joiakim ( His son)

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Eliashib ( His Grandson) — compromised through his association with Tobiah, he was also an Ammonite, from one of the nations Israel had historically been commanded to separate from (Nehemiah 13:4–9), an enemy who had opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem walls

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Joiada ( Great Grand Son)

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Joiada’s son ( Great Great Grand Son) — married Sanballat’s daughter (Nehemiah 13:28), another enemy who had opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem walls.

Now put Zechariah 3 beside Nehemiah 13.

The contrast is heavy.

In Zechariah 3:1–5, Joshua the high priest  stands before the Angel of the LORD wearing filthy garments while Satan stands there accusing him.

Then God steps in.

God rebukes Satan, removes Joshua’s filthy garments and declares:

“See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”

— Zechariah 3:4

Joshua received mercy and cleansing.

But notice what God tells him immediately afterward:

“If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house…”

— Zechariah 3:7

Joshua was cleansed, but Joshua was still required to obey.

Grace did not remove obedience.

Mercy did not remove responsibility.

And that responsibility to remain faithful to God did not disappear simply because his family belonged to the priesthood.

Now watch what happens generations later.

Eliashib, Joshua’s descendant, becomes associated with Tobiah and gives him a large room in the temple courts (Nehemiah 13:4–9).

This wasn’t just some random spare bedroom.

That room had been used for storing things connected to the worship of God—the grain offerings, frankincense, temple articles, tithes and offerings.

Something sacred was displaced to make room for an enemy of God’s work.

That is serious.

This makes Eliashib’s compromise even more serious: Tobiah was an Ammonite who did not worship the God of Israel and had actively opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem walls —yet Eliashib gave him sacred space inside the very house of God.

Then the compromise goes further.

Eliashib’s grandson marries Sanballat’s daughter (Nehemiah 13:28).

Sanballat was another major enemy who had fought against the rebuilding of Jerusalem walls.

Nehemiah words describes the severity of these actions:

“Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.”

— Nehemiah 13:29

Look at the progression.

Joshua:

God “I have removed your iniquity.”

“Walk in My ways and keep My command.”

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Eliashib (grandson of Joshua the High Priest)

Compromise with Tobiah—giving an enemy space connected to sacred things in God’s house.

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One of the sons of Joiada (Eliashib’s grandson and the great-great-grandson of Joshua the High Priest) :

Compromise through marriage into Sanballat’s family.

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Nehemiah:

“They have defiled the priesthood and the covenant.”

That is sobering.

Joshua’s cleansing did not automatically transfer to his descendants.

God’s mercy toward one generation did not eliminate the responsibility of the next generation to obey Him. Every generation still had to decide:

Will I walk in His ways?

• Your family’s victory cannot become your substitute for obedience.

• Your father’s obedience cannot become yours.

• Your mother’s encounter with God cannot become yours.

• Your grandparents may have walked with God deeply.

Wonderful.

You still have to choose God.

When Compromise Becomes Corruption

I believe the corruption we begin seeing within Joshua’s priestly descendants in Nehemiah continued to grow, and by the time we reach the book of Malachi, God is confronting corruption among the priests on a much broader level.

And think about how dangerous this is. If the high priestly family is compromised, what happens to the priests underneath them?

Priests were supposed to teach God’s Word, guard His instructions, intercede for the people and help lead Israel toward God.

So what happens when the people ordained to show others the way to God are themselves walking contrary to Him?

The impact becomes generational and national. By Malachi, God confronts the priests for:

• Despising God’s name — failing to give Him the honor due Him as Father and Master (Malachi 1:6).

• Offering defiled food — treating the LORD’s table as contemptible (Malachi 1:7).

• Offering unacceptable sacrifices — bringing blind, lame and sick animals contrary to God’s Law (Malachi 1:8, 13–14).

• Treating worship as a burden — saying, “Oh, what a weariness!” and sneering at their service (Malachi 1:13).

• Failing to honor God’s name — causing God to warn that their blessings would be cursed (Malachi 2:1–2).

• Corrupting the covenant of Levi instead of preserving it (Malachi 2:4–5, 8).

• Departing from God’s way (Malachi 2:8).

• Causing others to stumble at the Law through their teaching and conduct (Malachi 2:8).

• Showing partiality in applying God’s Law (Malachi 2:9).

And this is what makes it so serious. The people who were supposed to help others know God were now causing people to stumble.

Then Malachi ends. And approximately four centuries pass. But when the New Testament opens, priesthood hasn’t become healthier.

The problem has become even more complicated.

Four Hundred Years Later: The High Priesthood Is Entangled With Rome

By the time of John the Baptist, Israel is under Roman rule. And even the high-priestly office had become entangled with political power. Annas had been appointed high priest by the Roman governor Quirinius.

Later, Caiaphas, Annas’s son-in-law, was appointed.

Pause there.

When did pagan Rome start determining who occupied an office God established through Aaron?

That alone tells us something about how far the system had shifted.

The high priesthood had become deeply entangled with politics and power.

Luke gives us a statement that becomes incredibly powerful when you understand this background: “While Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” — Luke 3:2 NKJV

Don’t rush past that.

Annas and Caiaphas were connected to the high priesthood office.

Yet where did the Word of God come?

To John.

And where was John? In the wilderness.

Now the disruption begins.

Part 2 goes even deeper into the disruption—what happens when God challenges the patterns, traditions, and systems. Stay tuned. 👀🔥

🎶 Music Time

Diamond District Music — “Human Being, Not Human Race”