As a Kingdom of Priests, we are Both a Holy Priesthood and a Royal Priesthood

God’s desire is to have a kingdom of priests, and we as the church today are both a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). This is very meaningful.

First of all, as believers in Christ, we are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, a coordinated body of priests. In particular, we are holy – we are set apart, separated unto God, and sanctified unto the divine things.

As holy priests, we are those who daily spend time with God and offer up our body for His use, being sanctified unto Him for His purpose. As holy priests, we need to be those separated from any worldly things unto God, going to God to represent God’s people and bear God’s people before God.

Our going to God is in holiness and sanctification; for us to contact the Lord in our spirit and be holy priests, we need to be separated from the things of the world and be sanctified unto the Lord for His use. As holy priests we offer sacrifices to God, something that is pleasant and reasonable and acceptable to Him: we offer Christ as the reality of the offerings, we offer the believers we care for before the Lord, and we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.

On the other hand, we are also a royal priesthood, that is, we are those of the order of Melchizedek who bring God to man and minister God into man. After contacting God and bringing man to God, we come with God to man to minister God into man as man’s life and enjoyment. Just as Melchizedek first prayed for Abraham and then came to meet him with bread and wine, so we first pray for others and contact God, then we bring God as food to them.

Hallelujah, our Christian life is a two-way traffic: going to God to contact God and bring God’s people before God, and then going to man to bring God to man and represent God before man. May we realize what our position and function is as priests, and may we give ourselves to the Lord to be those sanctified unto Him, those who bring man to God and God to man today!

We are a Holy Priesthood, those Sanctified to God offering up Spiritual Sacrifices to Him

In the Bible there are two orders of priesthood: one is the order of Melchizedek and the other is the order of Aaron. The holy priesthood is typified by the order of Aaron, and the royal priesthood is typified by the order of Melchizedek (Exo. 29:1, 4; Gen. 14:18; Heb. 2:17; 6:20).

Peter tells us that we are holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5), that is, we are a holy nation, a spiritual house that is being built up in holiness to God. We are a “hood”, a priest-hood, a people living the spiritual life in a corporate way that can fulfill God’s purpose and satisfy His desire.

The fact that we are a holy priesthood denotes the capacity of the divine nature to separate us unto God and sanctify us for God. As a holy priesthood, we need to be separated from the common things, the worldly things, unto the Lord and unto His use. We need to be built up together as holy priests, those who are separated from the world.

To be holy means to be sanctified, to be separated unto God for His use (1 Pet. 1:16). The holy order is an order separated from common things unto the divine things and unto the use of the Lord. The holy priests are those who are separated to go to God to represent God’s people. If we are not separated unto God, we can’t serve Him as priests.

We have to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto the Lord’s use to serve Him as priests, and this is our reasonable service (Rom. 12:2). For us to serve God as priests we first need to be sanctified and separated unto the divine things.

We, however, spend too much time in the secular things, especially the internet, and thus are unable to serve God since we’re defiled and compromised in our service.

We need to be sanctified unto God and offer up spiritual sacrifices to Him; we offer Christ as the reality of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament types (such as the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace-offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering, see Lev. 1-5); we also offer up to God the sinners saved by our gospel preaching, offered as members of Christ (Rom. 15:16), and we offer up our body, our praises, and the things that we do for God (see Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15-16; Phil. 4:18).

Lord Jesus, we separate ourselves from anything common to You for Your use and purpose. Save us from being defiled with the worldly things or people. We offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice to You to be in the word of God, in the meetings with the saints, and in many times of prayer throughout the day. Lord, we want to experience You and offer You up to God as the reality of all the offerings. We bring the ones we shepherd and minister to before God as spiritual sacrifices. Oh Lord, thank You for making us a holy priesthood, those sanctified to You offering up spiritual sacrifices to God!

We are a Royal Priesthood, those Bringing God to Man and Caring for God’s People

As a kingdom of priests, we are a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9). The royal priesthood is the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18), who was a king and a priest – he was a kingly priest. The kingly priests come from God to care for God’s people, just as Melchizedek came from God to meet Abraham to minister bread and wine to him (see Gen. 14:18-19).

As believers in Christ, we are kingly priests, those who bring God to man and minister God into man to care for God’s people.

First we contact God and spend time with God, being sanctified unto Him, and then we bring God to man in the form of food to care for God’s people and minister God to them. After we are infused with God and enjoy God in our time with Him, we go to man and bring God to man, proclaiming abroad the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).

First, we are born anew, grow in life, are built up together, and serve corporately; then, we tell out the virtues and excellencies of God. To serve corporately is to satisfy God by offering up Christ as spiritual sacrifices; to tell out is to benefit others by telling out as the gospel the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

When we meet others, we can tell out the excellencies, the excellent and glorious virtues of God we have enjoyed, realized, and experienced. We need to spend less time in ourselves, caring for our own needs and for “me, me, me”, and spend more time with the Lord to be infused with Him, then care for man.

The Lord wants to make us a royal priesthood, those who have His heart for His lambs, the saints with their needs, the young ones, and the needy ones. When we meet man, we have God’s authority as kings and we minister God to man as priests.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us a royal priesthood, those who bring God to others, care for others according to God, and represent God before others. Lord, give us Your heart for Your people that we may care for Your lambs, Your saints, Your young ones, and Your needy ones. We give ourselves to You to spend time with You and be infused with You so that we may be filled with You and bring You to man, minister You into man, and care for Your people.

Staying in the Two-Way Traffic: bringing man to God and bringing God to man

As a kingdom of priest, we are both a holy priesthood bringing man to God and a royal priesthood bringing God to man. This is a two-way traffic: we go to God bearing God’s people on our heart, and we go to man coming with God to represent God and bring God to man.

We need to live a normal Christian life in this two-way traffic of bringing man to God and God to man; this is the priesthood. As holy priests, we offer spiritual sacrifices to God and bring man to God; as royal priests, we tell out the virtues of God, bring God to man, and care for man according to God. Hallelujah, we are the holy priests and the kingly priests, going and coming in two directions.

This is our full-time job: going to God with man and coming to man with God! In this two-way traffic man is brought into God and God is brought into man, we are mingled with God and God is mingled with us.

When we give up the world and go to the Lord to pray for sinners, we are holy priests; when we go to man with God’s presence after much prayer, we minister the Lord as life in a powerful way with the heavenly authority and function as royal priests. Praise the Lord!

Lord, keep us in this two-way traffic between God and man. We sanctify ourselves to You to be holy to You and bring man before You, and we go out to man to bring You to man and minister You into man. Lord, fill us with Yourself, saturate us with Your element, and flow out of us toward others to care for them, minister to their needs, and declare the things of God to people. Praise You, Lord, for making us a kingdom of priests: holy priests and royal priests!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, To Serve in Human Spirit (by Witness Lee, see ch. 6), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 12 / msg 12, A Kingdom of Priests.
• Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
  # The priest’s position holy is; / He sacrifices e’er to God, / Beholds His beauty, incense burns / Of prayer before the Lord. (Hymns #791)
  # What a blessing, what a priv’lege! / Called of God a royal priest, / That this glorious, holy office / I should bear, though last and least. / All the building of the Body / On the priesthood doth depend; / Ever praying in the spirit / I this office would attend. (Hymns #848)
  # Grant us grace, O Lord, that we / Treasure dear the priestly call; / In the spirit serve and pray, / That Thy church be built withal. (Hymns #849)