Priesthood: God appoints His Priests and He also equips them...
From the chapters 5 and 6 of Hebrews we learn about the priesthood of Christ, the house of Levi, but also about the priesthood of Christians. In chapter 6 we know, that a Christian -once equipped with the Gifts of the Spirit- wandering of his or her Faith can never return to Christ again (read Hebrews 6:4-6). This person has become a partaker of the Spirit and yet wanders of has eternally chosen against God and His Kingdom.

'For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to open shame' (Hebr 6:4-6)

But Hebrews 6:1-2 also tells us, that a person -before receiving the heavenly Gifts- should learn and know the foundations of Christian Faith. Of course in this Hebrews chapter we are told the people already knew the foundation of Christian Faith and shouldnot be going over them again, but they ought to go beyond their knowledge. But from this chapter we do know, that we should establish a foundation before going any further.

A number of 'foundations' of the Christian doctrine have been written down; amongst them: 'laying on of hands'.

Churches and the laying on of hands
Funny enough most churches do not mention or teach about the laying on of hands at all. The application of the laying on of hands is only very rarely executed in church.Sometimes executed by 'an educated priest' as 'the homegoing blessing'(without touching) or during baptising-ceremony.

In the last example the Spirit cannot be given says our Holy Bible, because Hebrews and Acts tell us the heavenly Gifts can only be received after the baptising-ceremony with a special prayer with laying on of hands.

We also know from Hebrews, that:

• God himself chooses and equips His Priests
• The laying on of hands is meant for everyone that believes in God and knows the Christian foundations (so: not only for priests, 'educated preachers' or elders!)
• Every Christian can be and needs to be partaker in the Spirit in this way (only)

The receiving of the Spirit according to the Bible
'Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. (For as yet, He had fallen upon none of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.' (Acts 8:14-17)

From this Acts-passage we know, that some people had already been baptised in the name of Lord Jesus, but hadnot received the Spirit. And of course: all Christians do need to receive the Gifts of the Spirit and therefore Peter and John visited their village. A special prayer for the receiving of the Gifts and the laying on of their hands took care of the deficit.

Clearly baptising people in the Name of Jesus was not enough to receive the Spirit; not then and not enough now !

Why it is important that we receive the Spirit?!
The Holy Spirit is the Will of God on Earth. His Spirit enables us to do Gods Will. The Spirit also provides us with the Gifts we need in order to serve the people around us in the way God wants us to.

With the laying on of hands we can all truly receive these Gifts of the Spirit. In doing so we lay down our own will and we put our lives in the hands of God. And we also become partakers of the Spirit according to the Hebrews-text. Together with the baptism this receiving of the Spirit is of utmost importance to ALL Christians.

About 10 virgins, oil and trying to gain for God with the Gifts received
'Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.' (Matthew 25:1-4)

From this story of Jesus in Matthew we learn, that we need 'extra oil' during our waiting for the return of the Bridegroom and when we are going forth to meet Him.

The Bridegroom in this story is Jesus; He will return to us. And this story tells us, that we need extra oil in our lamps to keep our lamps burning in the dark.

A burning light in the dark is very important! With the light you can see where you are walking, it keeps wild animals and bandits away; it keeps you save. But how can one obtain the oil in order to keep the fire burning from within? How do we keep the Spirit active from the inside?

Keeping the flame burning from the inside: using the Gifts of the Spirit
'For the Kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey.' (Matthew 25:14-16)

In this part of the story -directly connected with the story of the 10 virgins- Jesus tells of a man that is going to travel to a far country, giving his servants talents during his absence. All servants knew they received their talents to multiply them for their master.

And after their master returned all servants were rewarded for their fruit; only one servant didnot take action to multiply the little the master had trusted him with and this servant was punished and trown out by the master. The master is Jesus; the servants are all those that receive the Gifts of the Spirit and use it well and bear fruit for the Heavenly Master.

The man who was given little to multiply is the same as the foolish virgins; all people that receive the Gifts and do nothing to the Honour of God and for the people around them. They neither bear fruit the Heavenly Master can harvest, nor are they fruit that can be harvested themselves. They are trown out and kept out of Heaven.

Being ready for the coming of Jesus means we have to be ready to go with Him to Heaven where Jesus prepared a place for us to stay there.

Being ready for that event means, that you:

1. Know the foundations of Christian Faith and acknowledge them by being baptised
2. Believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the other foundations
3. Have received the Gifts of the Spirit by the laying on of hands
4. Use the Gifts to Gods Honour (evangelise, teach, baptise, heal etc.) for the people around you and in doing so keeping your own flame -the Spirit of God in you- a life