The Priesthood of Believers

“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. Amen.”

--Revelation 1:5b-6-ESV

The Book of Revelation is a book known for its grand eschatological themes and in-depth, difficult-at-times imagery and symbolism that has intrigued the faithful and driven them to understand and faithfully interpret this part of His holy Word for centuries upon centuries. And yet, contained within this last great book of God’s holy Word are some real gems of theology and practical application, one of which I wish to share with you now, for the purposes of encouraging your service to our great God and Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In this verse, we encounter a most wonderful truth of all those adopted into the family of God (Galatians 4:5-7): their priesthood in Christ Jesus. The NKJV translates the bolded phrase above as “kings and priests,” and the NIV translates it as “kingdom and priests.” Although (as these translations would allude to) we will reign with Christ during the “millennium” (see Revelation 20:6), I think the flavor captured here is what John MacArthur points out in his commentary on the whole Bible, that we are: 1) a kingdom, under God’s authority and in His sphere of control and blessing, and 2) we are a priesthood, “hav[ing] the right to enter God’s presence” (pg. 1993).

This passage brings to mind 1 Peter 2:4-12, where it is written:

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected had become the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

In this passage, the church is identified with Israel’s role as a “royal priesthood” (or, as Revelation 1:6a puts it, “a kingdom, priests”). And as is bolded above, this priesthood: 1) Offers up “spiritual sacrifices” (see also Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 4:18; Hebrews 13:15-16). According to these passages cited, spiritual sacrifices include:

a) Offering up your lives to holy living, fully given over to the Lord’s will, with your minds being transformed by His holy Word, no longer given over to carnality, which is sinful enslavement and has no part in a true believer, no longer given over to the wisdom of this sin-cursed and dying world system (Romans 12:1-2).
b) Offerings to our brethren according to the abundance of our resource and/or the depth of their need, with the glory of God in sight (Philippians 4:18).
c) Offerings of worshipful praise, which can include doxology (or “praise-giving”), thanksgiving (Hebrews13:15-16), but can also include supplications, confession of sin, and meditation upon God’s holy Word.

It must be noted that we are priests whose offerings are acceptable only because our High Priest Jesus Christ has provided our mediation and access to God the Father. This is seen in our description of our great God in vs. 5b of Revelation 1: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” O blessed freedom! Freedom from accursed sin! Freedom from the wages we justly deserve (Romans 3:23; 6:23)! Freedom from our natural spiritual father Satan, creation’s cruelest, most evil taskmaster! Freedom from all that would damn us to an eternity of hellfire! O can we ever drain our lungs of the proper amount of praise that the Lamb who was slain deserves for His suffering and sovereign plan? We are free to serve Him, worship Him as He truly is, and to enjoy the greatest good that ever has existed or ever will exist; glorifying His infinite majesty!

Not only are we to offer spiritual sacrifices, but: 2) we are to mediate God’s presence on earth, being those who show forth the glory of God in our faithful witness, speech, and actions, that He may receive all praise and honor for how awesome and good He is. As Steve Gregg, author of “Revelation: Four Views” puts it, “the church mediates to bring men to God, both by the priestly function of teaching the nations the ways of God (Leviticus 10:10-11; Matthew 28:19-20) and by the offering of spiritual sacrifices (Isaiah 66:20; Romans 15:16)” (pg. 56).

O Lord, I pray that you would make us faithful to accomplish all that you have given us to do as priests unto our great High Priest, the One who has made satisfaction for sin and has become our propitiation, the One who has absorbed all the wrath of God on our behalf, Jesus Christ. I pray that you would make us faithful in supplication, joyful in praise, passionate in thanksgiving, radiant in Your splendor, and faithfully proclaiming your mediation on behalf of all those who will call on Your Name and be saved from the hell they have earned. In Christ’s holy Name I pray, Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Firstborn is the Preeminent One

I have been working my way (incredibly slowly) through the Book of Revelation, attempting to come to an understanding of biblical eschatology. However, as I have been making my way through the text, I have come upon some real gems of theology that I hope and pray are both an encouragement and challenge to you. The one I would like to deal with today is located at the beginning of John’s letter to the seven churches of Asia, paying special attention to the bolded part of the verse:

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.”

--Revelation 1:4-5a-ESV

In this greeting of John’s to the seven churches, we have a very clear demarcation of the Trinitarian nature of our God. First, we have the Father, the One “who is and who was and who is to come” (v.4b), which is also a clear reference to the Son who is going to come with the Father’s glory to judge all of humanity and restore perfection in the new (or remade) heavens and earth, the Father operating through His Son (see Matthew 26:62-64; Revelation 1:7-8, 17-18; 19:11-16; 21:1-8). Next we see the Holy Spirit, referred to as “the seven spirits that are before his throne” (see Revelation 4:5; 5:6). And finally, we come to the Son, “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3a). But the phrase I wish to focus in on here is the phrase, “the firstborn of the dead” (v.5a). Now, upon cursory look (and with an understanding of the Resurrection of our Lord and its implication for the resurrection of all the saints bodily) we can see the reference to our Lord’s conquering death by rising from the grave and thereby being the firstborn to rise and procure bodily resurrection for all of His people. However, this also brings to mind a certain passage in the book of Colossians that is cross-referenced in the ESV Study Bible and known to all who are familiar to Paul’s letter to those in Colossae. In it, he writes:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

--Colossians 1:15-20-ESV

As you can see, I’ve bolded the reference to Christ Jesus being the firstborn from the dead like in our main passage in Revelation 1. However, my desire is to focus on this first reference, “the firstborn of all creation” (v.15b). Beloved, this is one verse cults like the LDS Church (a.k.a. Mormons) and the Russellites (a.k.a. “Jehovah’s” Witnesses) point to in order to deny the very thing it so clearly screams: the deity of our Lord and Savior, the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, the Judge of nations, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. They would assert that since Jesus is referred to as the “firstborn” that he cannot be God, for God cannot be born and thereby created. In one sense their assertion is true; God cannot be created. But their application is fatally flawed, for this verse does not teach the “creation” of Christ but rather what is asserted later on in the passage: the preeminence of Christ.

According to Genesis 1:27, we as human beings are all created imago Dei: in the very image of God Himself. That is to say, we hold some of God’s very attributes: rationality, emotion, will, intellect, reason, etc. However, if any of us ever were to assert that we were the image of the invisible God, containing the attributes of Christ alone written in Colossians 1:15-20, we would be guilty of the vilest blasphemy. This is because only Christ is given the preeminence as being the image of God invisible, the visible manifestation of that whom we cannot see. “Firstborn” here does not mean, as the late-great heretic Arius asserted and the Mormons and Russellites have rebelliously followed, that Jesus was created. Rather, it is a title of preeminence, and as the ESV Study Bible points out, Paul was writing with the rights and privileges of a firstborn son in mind, “especially the son of a monarch who would inherit ruling sovereignty” (note on Colossians 1:15). This theme is seen as far back as Psalm 89:27, where the Lord says of David, “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” When applied to David, the firstborn meant the king of all earthly kings. When applied to the Son of God in the context of this passage, it can only mean His lordship over all creation, being its sovereign Ruler and God. And following this theme, the Son “inheriting” the rule of the Father is established in the rest of the passage:

1) By Christ, all things (visible/invisible) were created (v.16).
2) By Christ, all things are held together, Himself being before all things (v.17).
3) By Christ, the church has its Head, its ruling Authority (v.18a).
4) By Christ, all who believe will be raised and resurrected to eternal life as He is “the firstborn from the dead,” the preeminent one if terms of mastery over death (in v.15 over life as well—v.18b).
5) By Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (what created being, man or angel, could EVER say this?—v.19).
6) By Christ, all things will be reconciled to Him on earth or heaven (that is, all things fallen, with believers reconciled to eternal life and unbelievers consigned to hell and eternal death, perfecting the order of all things either in righteous redemption or righteous judgment), making this ASTORNOMICAL peace by His own blood, the perfect atonement for the all-destructive consequences of sin (v.20).

By all proper understanding and interpretation of God’s holy and awesome Word, no created being could ever even dream to do this in order to perform the eternal task of everlasting redemption of sinful humanity ever. Jesus Christ alone is Lord, second Person of the Trinity, and one day He will be worshipped by all as such (Philippians 2:11). Beloved, let us look to our firstborn ruler with awe and wonder at His wonderful redemption and trust in the work that only a perfect God could perform; perfect adherence to a perfect law by a perfect Savior in a perfect atonement on behalf of imperfect rebels. May our lives increasingly reflect His glorious lordship over all!

Soli Deo Gloria

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From Babe to King

“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

-Revelation 5:11-14-ESV


I shall begin this post with a paraphrase of a thought from my pastor, Jimmy Caraway (with my own thoughts added):

As we come into the final week of anticipation before we celebrate the day of our Savior’s birth, we can see that the world does not have a problem with out Lord remaining in a manger, but only when He comes to establish His rule as King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is precisely the reality of the lowly Babe in a manger now resurrected as the King of glory that must be etched in the corridors of our minds and bolted to the motives of our hearts if we truly desire to honor Him for who He now is and not to sentimentalize over what He then was.

Of course what I mean by this must be explained, but in my explanation I hope you see the majesty of the One we see the angels heralding that eventful and long-awaited night in the then-insignificant town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). By way of explanation, this post is in no way an attempt at demeaning the celebration of the human birth of our eternal Lord, the only Son of God, second Person of the blessed Trinity. I believe this time of year would be well-spent if we contemplated humanity’s hope born in a stable north of the Pharisaical, self-righteous hotbed of Jerusalem instead of facing the temptations of the anxiety of not giving enough gifts and falling short of family expectations, feasting ourselves to way too much food and giving into the sin of gluttony, and worshipping at the altars of consumerism and humanism, all the while singing the praises of a now-mythologized Saint Nicholas and a red-nosed reindeer that may be able to lead a magical sleigh through a snow squall, but is completely powerless to rescue fallen man as the Lamb of God (John 1:29).

It is of utmost importance to remember that our Lord came as a man, born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-23), in the lowliest and most unlikely of places: the stall of a manger, complete with the sights and smells one can expect from a filthy barn house (Luke 2:6-7). He did not receive a royal procession with lavish surroundings; this small town of Bethlehem could not house the King of kings even in a lowly inn (Luke 2:7b)! And yet here we find the newborn Lord of all creation, seemingly at the mercy of Joseph and Mary, not counting equality with God something to be considered (see Philippians 2:5-8). This Babe, this sinless, spotless Lamb would grow, be revered and hated, then mostly hated, suffer the sinful wrath of man and the righteous wrath of God on a cross, and then rise again from the grave to defeat death and return to heaven with the glory due Him as the Son of man.

Now, we can see from our passage John being blessed by God to be able to peer into the throne room of Almighty God, with the Lamb being given the same homage and glory as the Father Himself. Our text shows that all of creation, from the glorious, mighty angels above, to every creature in heaven and earth proclaiming that the Lamb is worthy to receive all worship and everything that comes with bowing down before God eternal. Why? Because He is the One who is worthy to rule over all creation, having subjected Himself to the insults, slings, stones, and bludgeonings our fallen humanness had to offer (by the way, He still endures blasphemy, slander, and all manners of sin against Him billions of times over day after day after sin-soaked day) in order to redeem us from: 1) the wrath of God the Father, Yahweh the Almighty, and 2) the bondage to sin and all of its most vile and wicked corruptions. No man born in any estate deserves such adoration, glory, blessing, and might! Our Lord Jesus stooped down as low as anyone could go and took on the form of weakened man, being completely divine and yet also completely human in a wonderful mystery we will not even come close to understanding this side of the veil of mortality, and will even spend all eternity contemplating its wonder, that God omnipotent would become flesh and blood and redeem His elect from before the foundation of the world, humbly beginning as the peasant Son of peasant parents born in a forgotten manger in an unknown town in an oppressed Israel to a people awaiting Messiah!

And Messiah they did receive, though not as they had expected. Like us today, we long for a Messiah that will fulfill our expectations, deliver to us our desires, and be fashioned after our own likeness. This is seen perfectly this time of year, when the very word “Christmas” is censored in order to worship the winter season and all of its fesitivities, and Santa Claus is granted the omniscience of God Almighty, when the popular secular hymn says of him, “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.” And unfortunately, this goodness can only be what Martin Luther accurately called in his commentary on the book of Galatians “active righteousness,” the righteousness we all-too-easily expect a reward for because our own standards gave been appeased (for instance, I wonder how many children this Christmas will give themselves a sack of coal for breaking all of God’s commandments this past year?).

So then, how ought we to live this day? Like we ought live every day, in the reality of the imminence of our Lord’s coming, not counting time as we count it, knowing that a day is a s a thousand years and a thousand years as a day (2 Peter 3:8-10). And as verse 10 states in the passage above, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (ESV). Let us rejoice that our Savior has indeed come and let us receive our King this Christmas, not as a tender Child alone, but also as our consuming Fire, the One who drives us to be holy as He is holy, prompting us to walk as He walked (1 John 2:6). Let us worship Him and then strive even more so to be repentant, refusing to allow sins of the heart, mind, or hands to bring any more shame upon the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ. O Christian, let this reality pierce you to the core and drive you ever nearer to take up your cross and follow this One who is coming to reclaim His elect, His children, and bring His peace and goodwill to all upon whom His favor rests (Luke 2:14). Amen and Amen, come quickly Lord Jesus and find us faithful to Your Word, not desiring to be ashamed in Your presence, but casting our crowns down to You who alone is worthy!

Soli Deo Gloria

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