The Problem of King Uzziah
King Uzziah was descendant of King David who tried to merge the responsibilities of both the priests and the king. God responded to King Uzziah’s merger of the two offices by cursing him with leprosy, thus marking him unclean for the rest of his days. Uzziah is important, because he shows us the futility of man appointing himself as both priest and king. The job of king is obvious, but the job of a priest is to mediate between a sinful people and a holy God. This necessitates that God alone chooses who will mediate between himself and his people, and Hebrews 5 makes God’s choice clear. Christ is the only mediator between God and man.
Why Our Churches are Man Centered
The American Church loves to discuss how because Jesus is our mediator we are forever forgiven of our sins. While confessing our sins and turning to Jesus in repentance requires sacrifice, the emphasis in modern Evangelical circles is placed more on Jesus’ sacrificial atonement of our sins than how we will sacrifice ourselves for Christ. Is it any wonder that we have a church drawn to man centered worship? The emphasis is solely on Jesus’ work done for us, but this is only half of Christ’s priestly office.
Jesus is not from Levi
Christ didn’t come and die simply so that we could be saved. If all Jesus came to do was save sinners and make us acceptable to God, then he could have just been a priest in the line of Levi, who made a sacrifice for us, and now mediates for us before God. However, He is not from Levi, He is in the order of Melchizedek, a priest who is also a king. Christ died so that we could be saved, and then sent out into the world as His servants to build His kingdom. In Matthew 6, Christ tells His disciples to pray that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven, and that we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Christ came to do more than to simply save souls, in Hebrews 4, we see that the goal is to usher in a Sabbath rest on earth. We bring Sabbath rest by preaching the gospel, and by teaching the nations that the laws of King Jesus are the standard in all the land. We bring Sabbath rest to the United States, by making us a Christian nation.
Modern Uzziahs
Any government who thinks that they have the authority to atone for the sins of mankind is trying to be another Uzziah. Governments can mediate justice according to God’s word, but they cannot rid the world of sin, and they certainly cannot atone for our sins. When we look to the government to right all the past wrongs of history (i.e. CRT) rather than simply protect the innocent and punish criminals, then we are looking for a priest king like Uzziah, and the end result will bring us a curse, not a blessing. Why is Christ able to do what Uzziah was not, because God appointed Christ for the task. Uzziah was wicked, but Jesus was perfectly righteous and acceptable to God. We must abandon the American Church’s vision of Christ simply as high priest like the Levites, and instead see Him for who He is, a high priest in the order of Melchizedek, the messiah king from Judah.
Our Hope
When you see the chaos of the world around us, and the wicked agendas that they try to sneak into our communities through things like Twix candy bar commercials and public-school fieldtrips to gay bars, ask yourself, where is your hope? Our hope is in Jesus as both high priest and king. Because Jesus sits on the throne in heaven and mediates for us, let us as the church, repent of our idolatry of comfort and apathy, and pray that He would not overlook the evil around us. Just as Christ offered himself up as payment for our sins, let us in faith offer ourselves up to Him freely as obedient servants to His law, seeking first His kingdom by announcing that it has come to main street and city hall, and applying his word to both.
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