And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar.
1 Kings 2:35 KJV

Several weeks ago in prayer and meditation in Belmont Abbey the words “Hilkiah” came out of my mouth. I knew I needed to go and see who was Hilkiah. I was astounded because God began to construct a lineage. It is a priestly lineage which comes into authority through the prophetic word in 1 Samuel 2.

The Lord was to execute upon the house of Eli, and remove him and cut short his house. The removal would mean that God was about to switch down 2 generations the priesthood from Abiathar to Zadok.

The Lord this weekend caused me to go to 1 Samuel 2 verse 30 where God uses this phrase to describe the sons of Eli.

“And they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”

I marvelled how restrained the Lord was in describing two men who desecrated the Tabernacle and brought in prostitutes to desecrate the Threshold, where Thanksgiving and recognition of God was the practice there.

I went into the Hebrew and saw the heaviness of what being lightly esteemed really means. It means what every priest must dread and must avoid arriving at. It means that his approach to the priestly function before the Glory is no longer regarded.

It means the nation is no longer receiving any redemptive benefit from their service and that eventually brings the “Ichabod” to be birthed in the House. When the enemy rose up when the spiritual leadership was weak, lacking standing in God then the enemy will rise up and snatch the Ark and kill off the priests.

Does that not sound familiar to you? Is that not also abroad in so many places today?

How many so called “priests” have contempt for the sacrifices of God’s people when they have an interest financially of their giving? Then instead of there being devotion and Thanksgiving they have prostituted their ministry with other motivations.

The timing of the switch from Abiathar to Zadok is crucial in the seasons of God. Solomon is the king instead of David. And the Temple is not yet built. The same Zadok anointed Solomon to be king is now given the authority over the priesthood.

It seems to me that Zadok stood loyal to David throughout and a devout man. Trusted in God’s purpose through David and revealed purpose in Solomon. And as Zadok did not partake in the breaking off of Adonijah and rebellion as Abiathar did, so God cut off Eli’s house in response to the decadent house and rebellion. Abiathar is sent home in disgrace. Zadok is given part of the new thing of God, the Temple as he stayed loyal to God’s chosen vessels.

It speaks to the times when rebellion and church splits occur. We must always stay with the people who God anointed and never with those who break rank or rebel. Adonijah was anointed and proclaimed king, and many today take that route. Proclaiming their own authority. We need great discernment at those times to discern out God’s anointed servant because in “confirming his legitimacy” we will be given part of the new things God will do generationally. Zadok was present in the building up of the Temple, and was prostrate when the fire came down from heaven and the glory filled the house.

When I looked down the lineage of Zadok I was struck by the people in it. Particularly the ones God highlighted to me. They were Hilkiah and Ezra.

In the reign of Josiah we read that Hilkiah found the Book of the Law in the Temple and saw the decadence of the spiritual leadership of the nation.

He gave the Book to the king who saw the way the nation was breaking covenant and via Hilkiah set about a great reform of the Temple and ratified a covenant with God and celebrated a new Passover.

We see Hilkiah as a reformer of the Word in the priesthood. We see the effects of his discernment about the Book of the Law. The same Book that Joshua was to meditate night and day.

Then we come to Ezra. Great reformer and restorer of the Temple. The great foundation layer of the new Temple. The great builder and restorer of priesthood and its order.

All this is to lightly show you the kind of study I have undertaken. Today as I woke up from a small afternoon rest i heard the words ” I am changing the priesthood ” I knew what He meant. The line of Eli exists in the Church today. God is going to bring in Zadok.

The reason why God will raise up Zadok because he will discern out the anointed leaders and kings of our day. The “Temple of the Holy Spirit” must be built so that in understanding the order and design of God so fire shall fall on its altars and glory shall fill the House. Zadok must be revealed so that glory returns to the Corporate Habitation of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2.22.

Hilkiah must be revealed because he brings to the fore the covenant expressed in the Word.

Ezra must be revealed because he brings us a new foundation when sin destroyed all. The Scripture does ask; if the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?

So many foundations in society which revivals of faith brought in as first principles of any constitution are today being eroded away by a priesthood that God deems as being “lightly esteemed” .

The High Priest Jesus fulfilled His priesthood bringing us into kingship first and then a corporate priesthood that springs up from our kingly position. It seems that those who God does not esteem have not come into that nor activated that priesthood because they have yet to recognise Jesus.

God is going to change leadership. He has written over it “lightly esteemed” because it does not esteem His Glory, nor His Word.

Let us recognise the kings that God is bringing forth for this hour of change, because the great temple not made with hands shall be revealed in our time.

I just published this message when I just remembered the most important part that God communicated with me. Whilst between Zadok in 1000BC and Ezra in 517 BC span almost 500 years, where 3 of these I have highlighted signal a long term process the Lord indicated to me that in this next Kairos He will bring the Builder of Zadok, the Reformer of Hilkiah, and the Rebuilder of Ezra in one season. How wonderful that will be.

Shalom.