The word of God is not a suggestion
The prophecy told us what was coming—two priesthoods that would run side by side until the very end. But the pronouncement is something else. The pronouncement is the sentence being handed down. The unnamed prophet did not come to Eli to start a conversation; he came to declare what God had already decided about a compromising priesthood.
Every so-called minister who is of the seed of Eli—compromising, soft on sin, concerned only for himself—will know three judgments. And then comes a word so tragic that it nearly takes my breath away: this dead priesthood will not be cut off from God’s altars. It will keep standing, keep ministering, keep weeping its way to the very end.
Yet now I want to show you another kind of priesthood—the faithful priest God promised. This is where the darkness meets its answer.
Judgment one: a loss of all spiritual power and authority
“Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age.” — 1 Samuel 2:30–31, NIV
To be “lightly esteemed” by the Lord meant a loss of God’s favor and blessing. It literally meant to be cursed. It meant no impact against Satan’s kingdom. Understand what this is saying: such a minister may be esteemed by others, but in God’s eyes he is a lightweight—someone in whom God puts no trust.
God said, “You despise me by not preaching my whole counsel. You’re not a man of prayer. You’re not concerned about my people, but only about your success and your reputation—building your own empire off the hard-earned works and finances of precious people. You just want to make sure there’s a crowd.”
“You have lightly esteemed my Word, and now I am going to lightly esteem you! Go your way, do your own works. You are lightly esteemed in my eyes!”
This cutting off of God’s anointing leads the Eli priesthood to programs, concerts, and practically anything they can do to stay busy and look the part. It all sounds like important kingdom work. But God refuses to touch it. It is simply busy activity—lightly esteemed ministries undertaken by lightly esteemed ministers.
Let that settle in your spirit. There are churches and ministries all over this land that are running full speed on activity—and the Lord of glory has withdrawn His touch. The crowd is there, the lights are there, the programs are there. But the anointing is gone, because the men who despised the Word of the Lord have been despised in return.
Judgment two: they will be bypassed by the true anointing
“You will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age.” — 1 Samuel 2:32, NIV
In other words: “When I choose the time to pour out my Spirit, you’ll be standing in ruins.” And that’s exactly what is happening today: preachers are standing in churches that are dead, dry, and ruined. God has said to them, “I will pass you by.”
This priesthood will be standing there among the ruins as God blesses and anoints another priesthood—men of God who have paid the price. Right now, in these last days, His anointing is falling on those who have given their lives to Him. The Spirit is laying hold of these praying, fearless men. But those of Eli’s seed are being bypassed—left to play their church games.
God is saying, in essence, “In spite of all I do, you will not see the good. You will not be part of my last-day, holy remnant. You are lightly esteemed, and you will go about your ministry with no real spiritual authority.”
God is still doing good for His people. Yet a priesthood that despised Him can stand in the very hour of visitation and see it all from the outside.
I want you to hear the grief of heaven in that word. God is still pouring out His Spirit. God is still doing good for His people. But a priesthood that despised Him will watch God bless men who paid a price they were never willing to pay.
Judgment three: they will lose God’s touch in the prime of their life
“All your descendants will die in the prime of life.” — 1 Samuel 2:33, NIV
This verse is taken two ways. First, it was fulfilled literally when Saul sent Doeg to Nob to slay eighty-five priests who were of the seed of Eli.
But the verse also has a spiritual application: it is saying that this priesthood will look good up to a certain point. The ministers will be very active and busy. But just at the point when they ought to be at their best—full of energy, power, wisdom, and holiness, ready to be used the most—a spiritual death will take place. God is going to leave them. They’ll be left standing before the people as dead men, while in the very prime of their lives.
Another example of this is Samson. He was blessed with great strength and appointed by God to destroy the works of the enemy. But he, like Eli’s sons, treated the holy things of God as common. And as a result, he ended up trying to rise up and defeat the enemy—only to find he was bound hand and foot, his eyes gouged out, no longer effective as a warrior in the kingdom of God.
Judges 16:20 tells us that after toying with Delilah and revealing his secret, he shook himself as before—and did not know the Lord had left him. His strength was gone without his even knowing it.
He lightly esteemed the gift of his strength, and God lightly esteemed him. He was cut off in the prime of his life. That is the pattern: a man can be gifted, anointed, called—and still end up cut off in the prime of his life because he treated the holy things of God as common.
Yet the most tragic word of all
Perhaps the most tragic of all the prophecies given by this prophet of God is that this backslidden, compromised priesthood would never be cut off from God’s altars. The evil ministry would continue to the very end.
“Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength.” — 1 Samuel 2:33, NIV
God will not cut them off. Compromising, spiritless, dead men are going to exist until the last day, when the Lord returns. But God says, “What a grief they’re going to be. They will be a cause for weeping.”
Understand the mercy hidden inside this terrible word. God leaves a remnant of that dead priesthood standing so that the difference between the two ministries will be seen by all. The faithful will weep over them—“your eyes may fail from weeping and your soul grieve”—because they can see what the compromise is costing.
But no one who has eyes to see will confuse the two priesthoods again. The dead one will stand in its deadness until the end. The faithful one will shine in its faithfulness.
Yet now—another kind of priesthood
Yet now I want to show you another kind of priesthood. It is the other ministry that the prophet said God was raising up:
“I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.” — 1 Samuel 2:35, NIV
This holy ministry is the Zadok priesthood. It is made up of faithful, holy ministers of God who walk and live according to His desire. And such priesthood remains to this very day.
Everything that this unnamed prophet prophesied is fully illustrated in David’s kingdom. David is a type of Christ, and Israel is a type of the church. And David had two priests who fulfilled these two prophetic priesthoods to the letter: Abiathar and Zadok.
“Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you?” — 2 Samuel 15:35, NIV
Side by side in the same kingdom—just as the prophecy said the two priesthoods would stand side by side in the church.
A closing word
The pronouncement was handed down at Shiloh, but it has not been lifted. It stands today. One priesthood is losing its power, being bypassed by the anointing, and dying in its prime—and God, in His terrible mercy, is letting it stand so the whole world can see the difference.
The question is no longer what the prophecy says. The question is which priesthood you will belong to. Will you be lightly esteemed—esteemed by men but a lightweight in God’s eyes? Or will you be raised up for God Himself, doing according to what is in His heart and His mind, ministering before His Anointed forever?
There is a priesthood after God’s own heart, and it remains to this very day.
Come near. Come holy.