A royal priest are we.
A Christian Guidebook: Why Has God Saved Us? (4)
“‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19.6
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2.9, 10
No lone rangers
For many Christians today, salvation is treated like a purely individual matter: God saved me; isn’t God great?
This notion is reflected in many of the praise songs we sing, in which the first-person personal pronoun features large: I, me, my, etc. We sing together about what Jesus has done for us as individuals, with very little sense of what we might have in common in the Lord or why that should matter.
Older hymns had a different view of salvation. The Church—and individual churches—are portrayed as faith soldiers on the march, a Kingdom of believers, a band of saints unified through space and time. That is, the older hymns expressed a unity of being and purpose for believers. We were saved together, and God saved us for a common purpose and endeavor. And even though churches long ago forsook any true visible sense of oneness or of a common body and vision, still, the idea persists in certain older hymns.
That idea seems almost lost in our day, shoved to the side by the celebration of an individualistic salvation.
But is this why God saved us?
A holy nation
Not according to God’s own Word. His intention was not to deliver His people from being lost individuals to saved ones. Like Israel, making their way to and finally occupying the land of promise, God has saved us to be a nation. A Kingdom of priests and a holy nation. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, and as such, God’s own special people.
People who are part of a nation share much in common. History, traditions, language, art and other forms of culture, national heroes and celebrations, and the bonhomie of shared citizenship. In this country—at least prior to the last couple of generations—Americans stood together proudly as “we the people” and found ways—despite our faults and differences—to live, work, play, and celebrate together.
The Church is a holy nation. That, at least, is why God has saved us. These days, except for a few common celebrations—such as Christmas and Easter—almost nothing identifies Christians and their churches as a nation, much less a holy nation. They tend to be more like the various German states prior to unification in the 19th century: Isolation, confrontation, competition, and posturing.
This is not what God intends. He has saved us to be one nation, spanning the globe, unimpeded by any boundaries of time, nationality, language, custom, or polity. One holy nation, identifiable by our common and exuberant proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Kingship of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. The Church of Jesus Christ has all the history, traditions, heroes, teaching, culture, and resources to identify us as one nation, under God, committed to holiness of word and deed.
That this world-spanning visible oneness of life, work, and celebration does not exist is a testimony to our failure to understand just why our God has saved us in the first place. That is, a testimony to our unbelief.
A kingdom of priests
God also intends us to be priests. Indeed, if there were something like a national character of the holy nation of the saved, or a common undertaking or language which marked us as citizens in this holy city, it would be priesthood. God saved us to serve Him in worship and praise and thanksgiving and offerings of our lives and all we possess to bring others with us into His Presence and under His rule.
We are not merely saved souls, bound for heaven when we die. We are priests of God, and as such we are called to a certain quality of life and a certain commonality of function. All believers are called to be holy, as God is holy—that is, to increase in Christlikeness day by day, that the perfect holiness of Jesus might increase in us and manifest itself in all the nooks, niches, crannies, relationships, roles, and responsibilities of everyday life.
And all that we do as a royal priesthood must be done—offered—as unto the Lord, for His honor and glory. No task, duty, or undertaking is outside the parameters of our priestly calling. Indeed, we must offer ourselves and all we have and are as living sacrifices to the Lord, that we may become the savor of Jesus to the world around. As the priests of ancient Israel constantly tended the holy fire in the Lord’s house, so we must keep the fire of faith stoked and burning in our souls, encouraging and joining and learning from one another to read and study the Scriptures and seek the Lord in prayer.
And our priesthood should be conspicuous among the lost. The priests wore special garments. Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Let us offer prayers for those in our Personal Mission Field, and let us invite their requests as the content of our offerings.
And let us depend entirely on the Lord for all our daily provision. We are His people. His holy people. His priests. It pleases God to save us to this nation and its priestly calling so that more people might be drawn in the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, to know the things freely given to them by the Father, and to join us as one nation and Kingdom of holy, worshiping citizens.
Search the Scriptures
1. Meditate on 1 Peter 2.9, 10. How would you explain the idea of a holy nation of priests to a new believer?
2. In what ways are you conscious of being a citizen in this Kingdom? How do others discern that this is your national identity?
3. Meditate on Romans 14.17, 18. How should this verse inform or shape your daily walk with and work for the Lord?
Next steps—Preparation: Make a list of areas of your life that need to be better marked as pertaining to your being a royal priest of the Lord. Offer that list to the Lord in prayer, seeking from Him guidance in how to proceed.
T. M. Moore
Additional Resources
If you have found this study helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
This segment of A Christian Guidebook is adapted from our book, Such a Great Salvation. To learn more about what it means to be saved, order your copy in book form by clicking here or in a free PDF by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
