God’s church is called “the family of God”. We are God’s children – His adopted sons and daughters.
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” – Romans 8:14
We are told to treat other believers like brothers and sisters. But does this mean we are really brothers and sisters?
“You shall have but one kind of clothing, and your garments shall be of wool. And the firstborn male you shall sanctify, and you shall redeem all that is firstborn of a beast, and all that is firstborn of your flock. . . .
“‘No slave shall be sold, for the slave is the property of his owner. Only an Israelite who has been sold may be redeemed.” – Exodus 22:28-29, 21:7
When Jesus was born, he was the firstborn male in his family. In addition, God chose the firstborn sons of all his people to be priests.
“In the fourth month, in the same year, on the first day of the month, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, distinct;” “But the Levites were not enrolled among the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses. And the sons of Levi were enrolled by clans, by their ancestral houses, like those of Israel, and every male was enrolled distinctly, from a month old and upward. But Moses recorded the Levites as males from a month old and upward. So he recorded them by clans, and the total of them, as recorded, was 22,000.” – Numbers 1:1-2; 1:46-53
The nation of Israel was divided up between 12 tribes. The tribe of Levi was dedicated to God. Their job was to serve God at the temple in Jerusalem.
So what happened to the rest of the tribes? In the wilderness of Sinai, the rest of the men from the twelve tribes made the first mistake. They all wanted to serve God. This sounds like a good thing, right? Everyone loves God and wants to serve Him. But the problem was that they all wanted to do the same exact thing. They all wanted to be a priest.
“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” – Exodus 25:8
“They are to make for me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.” – Exodus 25:8
“They are to make for me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.” – Exodus 25:8
“They are to make for me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.” – Exodus 25:8
“They are to make for me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.” – Exodus 25:8
But God wanted to dwell on earth. Not with all of the tribes. He wanted to dwell with the Levites. Not all 700,000 tribesmen. One Tribe.
It is important to realize that Moses made this decision. He was God’s representative on earth. You could say that Moses was God’s “brother”. And Moses decided that the Levites were his “family” and he wanted to dwell with them. So it is clear that Moses had a large role in determining who his “family” was.
This is the mistake we all make. We think that God’s family is everyone. But it is not. God’s family is only a few people.
God’s family is only the Levites. And now our family has grown to include the saints, those who have already died, and those who will die in the future.
“Now I am not saying that God’s gift is not good. What I am saying is that God’s gift can be turned into a trapfall. We could fall into the trapfall of unbelief, and think that all has been accomplished. But you can’t think that this good gift is one-sided. God does not just favor one family over another. There is one father and one gift, for one family. If this gift has come to be a trapfall for you, you know that you are going to fall into the trapfall of unbelief. The way you can avoid this is to talk with God and ask Him for his wisdom, to look at Him in His light.” – John Wesley
The Levites are the ones who are called by God. To think that they can serve God on their own accord is a trap. The Levites are called by God to be a part of the family of God, and it is their job to serve God in the temple in Jerusalem.
In addition to serving God in the temple in Jerusalem, the Levites are also called by God to serve the community as priests.
“And the whole community of the Levites was listed by their ancestral houses, from thirty years old and upward. The company of the Kohathites, 32,200; the company of the Gershonites, 7,500. The company of the Merarites, 6,200. These are the companies of the Levites, listed by their ancestral houses.” – Numbers 3:27-29
“These also are the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And these are the names of Gershon’s sons: Shebu’el, and Ikesh, and Zichri, and Shaul, the son of Kish, son of Kohath, the son of Levi; and the names of Kohath’s sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uz’ziel, son of Am’ram, son of Kohath, son of Levi. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites, listed according to their ancestral houses.” – 1 Chronicles 6:17-19
The Levites are the only people who have been called by God to be His priest.
“Behold, to the LORD belongs the earth and everything in it, the world, and those who live in it;” – 1 Chronicles 29:15
“Likewise the priest’s and the Levite’s, which have the oversight of the holy things, and are used to the holy things, they also wait for a greater fullness of the Holy Ghost” – Acts 6:3
The Levites were called by God to be the priests of His temple.
“Priests, who offer gifts according to the law.” – Hebrews 9:9
God’s family is only the Levites.
“Let him not eat from the holy sacrifices, nor drink from the Lord’s drink, for he is not his father or his brother. Because he did an outrage in the land of Israel, he has defiled the holy sanctuary by eating the donated sacrifices of the God of Israel. Therefore, the sons of Levi are to eat from the holy sacrifices, because they are the descendants of Aaron. They have a right to eat from the sacrifices and the Lord’s drink, because these are holy. But those who are foreigners to it may eat from the sacrifices which are left over after the priests have consecrated the holy sacrifices with a fire from the Lord’s altar, whether they are from Aaron’s son or from his sons’ sons. The law continues eternally in Israel: “Everyone that does not eat the holy sacrifices is to be cut off from his people.” – Leviticus 10:10
“Who gave us as a type of our brethren, and that we might be a model to other families, that, as he also showed mercy to the Levi family, so he might show mercy to us, as in truth he has done.” – Hebrews 7:7
God has a plan for us. He wants to help us grow.
“I will not leave you as fatherless, I will not make you fatherless. For I will establish my covenant, the covenant which I made with you, between me and you and your descendants forever. I will give my servants in your hand and all the nations for you to subdue. I will give you the power to execute judgment and justice everywhere in the earth” – Genesis 17:6-7
“You will make your name great, so that it will be feared throughout all the earth, even from all the nations they have to fear and dread you. I will give you power over all the people of Israel. They will be your servants, and you will