To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. (Revelation 1:5,6 ESV)
Priests
The Biblical use of the word priest is slightly different than modern usage. A priest in Scripture is a person set aside by God to represent God’s people to God Himself. This is why Jesus is the best priest of all. He speaks on our behalf to God! In a way that no one else can…
But here at the beginning of the book of Revelation, as the Apostle John is about to see a vision of the future of God’s people, he makes an astonishing pronouncement. He says we are a kingdom of priests, now.
Because we have an exciting job. We can speak to God on behalf of God’s people! We do it when we pray. We do it when we worship. We do it when we love each other.
And that also means that each one of God’s individual people has a kingdom of priests speaking to God on our behalf! There is an army on our side, begging God for help. There is an army on our side, begging God for mercy and grace. There is an army on our side, praising God even when we, in our darkest moments, do not have it in us to praise, or thank, or worship.
We are peculiar, God’s people are priests.
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Friday