A Kingdom of Priests

When the children of Israel arrive at Mount Sinai, the Lord tells them "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself.  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:4-6)

Did this happen to the House of Israel in the Old Testament?  In a way it did, but in a limited scale.  In Exodus 19 the Lord told Moses to bring the people to the bottom of the mountain so they could hear his voice. The people came, and they saw the lightning and thunder on the mountain, and heard the voice of the Lord but it sounded to them like a trumpet. (v 18-19)  Then in Exodus 24, Moses, Aaron, and 72 others were admitted onto the mountain where "They saw the God of Israel...And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand; also they saw God and did eat and drink." (v 9-11) These experiences distinguished these people as witnesses of God. They were singled out as a special group of people, or "treasure" because they had this experience and entered into a covenant with God.

Most of the House of Israel, however, refused to receive the full blessing the God wanted to give them. When Moses came down from the mountain with the Law, "All the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off." (Exodus 20: 18-21)  The people were too afraid to listen to the Lord directly and enter his presence. Then, soon after they feared because Moses had been the in Mountain talking to the Lord for a long time.  They made a golden calf and worshiped it when God had expressly commanded them not to make any images. (Exodus 32) They are not ready to become a "nation of priests", so the Lord creates a subset of priests to serve them. 

The Lord commands the people to build the tabernacle, and then consecrates Aaron and his sons to be priests to serve in the Tabernacle (Exodus 28).  The Levites and descendants of Aaron continued to server in the Tabernacle, and then in the Temple, for hundreds of years until Herod's Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.  In that way, the House of Israel partially fulfills the command to be "kingdom of priests, and a holy nation," but the priesthood was limited to a select few who officiated in the temple. The other tribes of Israel depended on the temple workers to help them perform ordinances and make covenants.

So what about today?  Is there a "kingdom of priests" today?  I only know of one church that invites all members to become priests and priestesses. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invites all worthy young men to be ordained as priests beginning at age 16. All worthy adults are washed and anointed to become priests and priestesses in holy temples.  In the ancient temple, only the high priest may enter the Holy of Holies once a year. In modern temples all worthy adults are invited to symbolically pass through the temple veil and enter the Lord's presence when they receive their temple endowment. In a very real way the members of the LDS church fulfill the Lord's request to be a "kingdom of priests".

So if members are part of this "kingdom of priests" what are our responsibilities? In ancient days the priests made it so that all the house of Israel could perform the ordinances required by the Judaic Law. That is what the modern LDS church is offering to the whole world today. They recognize that all peoples and cultures have truth and their own kinds of relationships with God, but only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can people recieve and perform the ordinances, and make the ritualistic covenants they need to fulfill God's plan for them.  That is why we build so many temples.  That is why we send our young people and older people to serve as missionaries.  We are the kingdom of priests that the Lord is sending out serve the entire world.