There is a connection between our sonship and priesthood.

When Luke traces Jesus' lineage down to Adam, he bears witness to Adam’s priesthood by referring to Adam as "the son of God”, which is related to the way firstborn sons were set apart for God to be priests to Him.

“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

Exodus 13:2 (ESV)

In Numbers 3:40-51, the Levities replaced the firstborn sons and were dedicated to God, who in turn assigned the Levites to assist His priests in the holy Sanctuary. The priests served God and the tabernacle directly, and the Levites served the priests, under their direction, helping them (cf. 2 Chronicles 6:31-32, 48).

In Hebrews, Jesus is both the Son of God and the Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. We derive our “sonship” from His sonship, and we join in His priestly role by nature of our union with Him. We are a kingdom of New Testament priests who serves God with Christ, through Christ and by Christ.

Christians need to recover the New Testament understanding of worship which recognizes that the real agent in all true worship is Jesus Christ. Worship (as well as work and service) is not our activity for God, rather it is a participation in Christ’s self-gift to and worship of the Father. Since He lives and ministers through us and unites with us, our worship is taken up into Christ’s worship (work and service).

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)

In the New Covenant, Jesus is our perfect Great High Priest and ascended Lord and our physical bodies become God’s temple where God’s Spirit dwells. This means God’s dwelling place is no longer a building for God, but a people of God set apart for His glory. A physical place for worship, although important, is no longer called a “holy place”, but rather the entire body of believers in Christ are called to be a “holy people” who can worship in spirit and truth everywhere and every day.

The implication is huge.

We now have direct access to God through Jesus Christ and no longer require the services of a human priest. The Levites were the only ones allowed to carry the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament because they were granted the spiritual authority to do so. The ark represents Christ, but we now carry Christ within us as a New Testament kingdom of priests unto God (Revelation 5:10).