Urim and Thummim

Through Urim and Thummim the priests were able to in­quire of the Lord. Urim and Thummim mean light and perfec­tion. Because of sin, people have come into many difficult problems. They’re in great need and they feel that they have been taken captive in the snares of Satan. Many people long to find a person who can help them, someone they can turn to who can show them the way to liberty.

In our practical daily life it’s easy to understand this if we think of a common man who wants to build a house. He often meets situations where he doesn’t know exactly what to do. If he’s humble, he will inquire of a builder, and he will take to heart and follow the advice he gets. That makes his job simple because he understands what to do so that he can build a good, solid house. He will experience that it was wise to fol­low the counsel of the builder. As a result, he will personally get more understanding and insight. If he continues to be humble and learn by seeking counsel, one day he can become a builder himself!

“Yes, his soul draws near the pit and his life to the execu­tioners. ‘If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand to show man his uprightness, then he is gracious to him and says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom.”’” Job 33:22-24. It has always been difficult to find such people. “And of Levi he said: ‘Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, whom You tested at Massah, and with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah, who says of his father and mother, “I have not seen them”; nor did he acknowledge his brothers, or know his own children; for they have observed Your word and kept Your covenant.’” Deut. 33:8-9.

Because he loved God’s law and kept the Word of God, Levi was circumcised and was free to serve the most high God. How many people love God’s Word so much that they have, in spirit and truth, come to this love? We understand that there are not many! Urim and Thummim belong to those who are God-fearing—it is a prophecy about Jesus Christ. It is clear that if God sent Jesus from heaven with all the wisdom and power He had when He was the master builder with His Father, we would have been able to understand that. But Jesus had to receive an entirely different training in order to carry out His work as a High Priest.

“For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also beset by weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” Heb. 5:1-5.

Jesus did not become a High Priest because He was the Son of God. There was a way He had to go. He, like the children, had to partake of flesh and blood and be obedient through sufferings. Here the way became narrow as we read in verses 7 through 10: “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek.’”

Melchizedek was like the son of God in that he had no fa­ther or mother. There was no one who had any hold on him—no relative, no friend, no one. When we read about Jesus’ training to be High Priest—and that we are also called to be a royal priesthood and to follow Him—the author of Hebrews writes “Of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.” The Hebrews had become dull of hearing the things that God had spoken earlier through the high priest. Therefore, they had not made progress, and they remained in the elementary principles of the Word of God. They needed milk and could not bear solid food. They should have grown up so that they were able to learn obedience through the things they suffered and through use of the Word of God, to have their senses exercised be­tween good and evil. In this we are called to follow Jesus as priests in the order of Melchizedek. When I give up every­thing, I become a disciple, and then nothing can hinder me any longer. Then God is able to lead me, and I also come unto Urim and Thummim so that I become a sacrificial priest of Jesus Christ in the same way as Paul. The sacrifices that were required of the Gentiles had been required a long time before­hand in Paul’s life, so that he had come to light and perfection and, as a result, was able to be a priestly minister of the gospel of God. Through his words, he was able to lead the Gentiles to become well-pleasing sacrifices, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. All such people have their glory in Christ Jesus in their minis­try for God. They have Urim and Thummim and are able to help liberate people. They personally suffer death according to the flesh and are made alive in the Spirit. In other words, they have light and perfection so they are able to lead people to God.

In carrying out this work, Jesus Himself had to make sacri­fices for sins, not only for the people but also for Himself. Heb. 5:3. Obviously, to always remain in love, there had to be a sacrifice in His body. Sin had to meet its death so that He could do this work for us. If Jesus had come out of love and become evil toward those whom He was to serve, He would not have been able to lead them to God, and He Himself would not have been able to complete His work as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Then we all would have died in our sins.

“They shall teach Jacob Your judgments, and Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You, and a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar. Bless his substance, Lord, and accept the work of his hands; strike the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise not again.” Deut. 33:10-11.

It is only those who truly are circumcised and sanctified and who have such a longing and such a disciple’s heart who are able to do this work: to teach Jacob God’s judgments and Israel God’s laws. We see that such people have an especially powerful blessing over them, and we would have to say: May the works of such men be blessed forever—so that their power can be blessed and their works can please You, Oh God! We see also that it is horrible to become an enemy of such men. “Strike the loins of those who rise against him and of those who hate him. They shall not rise again.” If there’s anyone who you would not want to be your enemy, this is pre­cisely such people. It goes very badly for those who become enemies of such men of God.

Through faithfully following and obeying the Spirit, Jesus as High Priest is able to show us sacrifices so that we also learn obedience through the things that we suffer. And we also realize that this is a very narrow way. We get fellowship with Him who with loud cries and tears prayed to Him who was able to save Him—even though there will always be a dif­ference between Him who opened the way and us who are following Him on the same way.