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“And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen“

 

We now conclude the first of many doxologies of the Book of Revelation.

and has made us kings and priests

A king has the right to rule. Christians have the right to rule under God. God gives Christians spiritual authority. We have rights before God because Christ died for our sins. We have the right to share those rights with others.

A priest is one who offers sacrifice and worship to God. The New Testament depicts Christians as “a kingdom of priests” (Revelation 1:6) and “a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5), and “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). Christians are to offer sacrifices (Romans 12:1; Philippians 2:17; 4:18; Hebrews 13:15, 16).

Only as we own Jesus’ kingly authority can we fulfill our priestly functions. The more we enter into His authority, the more we can worship as priests. A priest’s role is to mediate between man and God. Witnessing is a priestly function.

to His God and Father,

Jesus made us kings and priests to function toward God.

to Him be glory

We glorify Jesus because He made us kings and priests. The statements of this doxology are of such magnitude that John magnifies God with great glory.

and dominion

The idea of dominion is force, strength, might, and more especially manifested power. Jesus has the power to rule or control. This word especially occurs in doxologies (1 Peter 4:11; 5:11; Jude 25; Revelation 1:6; 5:13).

forever and ever.

We give Jesus “glory” and “dominion” “forever and ever” because He loves us, forgives us, and has “made” us kings and priests (Re 1:5-6).

Finite people cannot think outside of time. We use terms such as “forever and ever” to refer to the eternal state, to something that transcends time. Time has a beginning point and an ending point. Eternity has neither; it has no succession of time.

Amen

The word “amen” means so be it. It is a term of faith. John affirms his faith in the glory of Christ. His “amen” places a stamp of approval on this doxology.

Principle:

All Christians are both kings and priests.

Application:

Christians function as both kings and priests. As “kings,” we have a right to rule. We have authority because of our position in Christ.

As priests, we have the right to represent others and ourselves to God. We also have the right to represent God to men. We do this when we share our faith.

Each believer represents Jesus Christ on earth. We are believer-priests. We operate as priests to God and toward each other. No one has special privileges of prayer before God. We all operate on equal ground in prayer. We all get God’s ear as quickly as any other Christian.

The full display of our kingship and priesthood is yet to come. We will reign with Christ. By virtue of our position in Christ, we can exercise our priesthood continually.

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