Levites of the Living Christ

God reveals himself as the generous provider for the tribe of Levi, for they were called to consecrated, lifelong service to the Lord. From that time on, the Lord decreed that the Levites would belong entirely to him.

Since the time of Moses, God had commanded that the Levites be assigned cities and land for their families. God’s promise to the Levites was fulfilled, and from the inheritance received by the other tribes of Israel, they received a total of 48 cities scattered throughout the conquered territory.

Who were the Levites? The descendants of the tribe of Levi, appointed to carry out many forms of service for the Lord since the time of Moses: responsible for carrying the pieces of the tabernacle and transporting the Ark of the Covenant wherever the people moved, and entrusted with the practice of the priesthood. They were truly the “apostles” of their day: those charged with recording and preserving the historical memory of significant events so that the tradition would continue in later generations; the teachers, the preachers of the Word, the theologians and the counselors of God’s people. The Levites were the last to receive lands and cities, yet by divine design the first to guide the people according to God’s will. The last were first. The Lord decreed: “I myself have chosen the Levites… The Levites are mine” (Numbers 3:12).

What is the church today if not the “royal priesthood and a people acquired to be God’s possession”? (1 Peter 2:9). The church has inherited from its founder, the Lord Jesus Christ, the attributes once ascribed only to Israel: “a holy nation, a chosen people” (1 Peter 2:9), to bear witness to the one who brought us out of darkness into his light.

As members of the Christian community within the church of the Lord of Lords, we all have something of the Levites in us within the body of Christ. The gifts of the Spirit were granted to us so that, in Christ, we might be a mere reflection of his grace. Levites, heirs of the promise, who carry the Ark in the middle of their chest; a temple, still corruptible, but already blessed by the eternal life that began to become a reality in us when the Spirit acquired us to be the possession of the Most High God. In God’s faithfulness lies our hope, the certainty that everything he promised will come to pass in His time. It is for us to be faithful, to live and proclaim the gospel, to be authentic representatives of the Kingdom in a fallen world that is, moreover, a puppet of the enemy, who “disguises himself as an angel of light” so that the foot of the righteous may slip on the slippery slope and fall.

The church of Christ has a mission that transcends cultures, nations and ethnicities and is the foundation of its existence, as well as an educational role with a global reach, though the world denies it.

Through his obedience and faithfulness, Joshua was able to experience the rest God granted his people after the Levites received their cities and lands from the allotted inheritance. “The Lord gave them rest throughout the land, thus fulfilling the promise made years before to their ancestors.” (Joshua 21:44a). Emphasis added by the author.

We Christians today have attained the promise of his rest, and we cherish faith and hope in all God’s promises. The letter to the Hebrews warns us: “…, let us fear lest, while the promise of entering His rest still remains, any of you should seem to have failed to reach it” (Heb. 4:1). The promise of rest is the gospel of reconciliation; it is Jesus himself, in whom we have permanent “city and land” for the fulfillment of his eternal purposes. Today’s Levites—missionaries, worshipers, preachers, psalmists, teachers, ushers and humble people who serve the Lord anonymously and joyfully—have the privilege of having entered the Lord’s rest and of waiting in faith for the fulfillment of all his promises.

When the church breaks free of the molds of customary traditionalism and empty religion to encounter its Lord once and for all, it inherits promise. When the believer breathes in the sweet fragrance of salvation while looking to the cross as a symbol of atonement for all the evil in the world through the blood of the one who bore it in his flesh, the believer inherits promise. Let us live as though “seeing him who is invisible,” in the rest of Christ, living his Word of eternal life and holding hope as the certainty of his coming in glory.

May God bless his Word!

Suggested reading: Joshua 21