Getting Started

What comes to mind when you think of a priest? Clergy who wear collars and crosses and colorful robes on holy days? Perhaps you only picture a priest speaking and performing rituals during religious services—you have no idea what they do with the rest of time when people with “real” jobs go to work.

In the Old Testament system that God put in place on Mount Sinai, priests had a central role and were expected to serve his people by performing a variety of functions on a regular basis.

Let’s take a look at the requirements for priestly eligibility, behavior and duties and begin to ask what it meant not only for Israel to have such priests but for Israel to be a “royal priesthood.” We’ll also consider the significance of that calling as it relates to believers today who worship their true High Priest, Jesus Christ.