The Israelites were camped at the
foot of Mount Sinai. There Moses climbed the mountain to appear
before God. God here reaffirms the promise He had made to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. He tells Moses:
"Now if you will obey Me and keep
My covenant, you will be My own special treasure from among all the
nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to Me. And you will
be My kingdom of priests, My holy nation." Exodus 19:5, 6
How lovely. If they will obey Him,
they will be His own special treasure and a kingdom of priests. All
of them, every single one. The problem is, we know that God later
instituted the Levitical priesthood in Israel, where not everyone
was priests, but only those who descended down from Levi. Why did
this happen? Well, simple really, the Israelites corrupted God's
plan and worshipped golden calves the minute Moses turned his back.
They didn't obey God, but rather made a god for themselves, a god
they could control. How sad! They all had the opportunity to be
priests, but they didn't want it.
But glory to Jesus! Due to His
coming, the Levitical priesthood has been made obsolete, and a new
kingdom of priests has risen. Us! How exciting! Listen to
Peter:
"You are a chosen people. You are a
kingdom of priests, God's Holy nation, His very own possession.
This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for He called
you out of the darkness into His wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9
Wonderful! We are priests of the
Most High. I wonder how often we think about it. We know we are
children of God, but we don't often think about being priests of
God. We have the ability now to approach God in His throne room and
actually talk to Him. We don't need to go to other people to get a
revelation for us, no, we can get a revelation on our own. We have
the authority to minister to the people of God, to help them on
their spiritual journey and to aid others that are new in Christ.
And as Peter says, we are priests to show others the goodness of
God. Live a life above reproach and draw people from the darkness
into the light. We need to be an example to them of God's loving
care.
We need to stand up as priests and
not wait for literal 'priests' to do the job we are called to! We
are a kingdom of priests, God's very own possession.
We praise You Father for the
position You have given us. Please help us and guide us on the
right path. Help us to be Your light to a world of darkness. In
Jesus Name. Amen