1:5-6. Kings and Priests: “And hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” RSV: “And made us
a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.”
1 Pet. 2:9-10: “But you
[Christians] are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.
Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people,” (RSV).
In context of
verse 5, then, Jesus is not only the “Prince of the Kings of the
Earth,” the natural Israel, but also of the New Israel, the Christians, who
have been made into a kingdom, “Kings and
priests unto his God and Father,” the Israel of God.
“The kings of the earth/land” refers to the Jews, for all those
descended from Isaac were sometimes mentioned as kings because of God’s promise to
Abraham and Sarah that she would be the
mother of “kings,” (Gen. 17:6, 16;
35:11). The “kings of the earth” are those claiming fleshly descent from Abraham; the “kings and priests unto God” are those who through Christ have become the children of God through the
faith of Abraham and the blood of Christ.
It is important to understand the phrase“Kings of the earth” as they are also
mentioned in Revelation 6:15; 17:2, 18; 18:3, 9; 21:24.
In most ancient
cultures only the kings and priests were educated and all literature was
written by and for this group. But it is notable that every Christian is a King and Priest restoring
God’s original plan to give Mankind dominion. This is not the distorted view of
kingship and priesthood as Man dominating Man, however. God’s original plan was
for Man to rule over “The Flesh,” “everything that creeps upon
the earth,” and subdue, not only the animal kingdom in general, but the
passions and lusts of his own fleshly nature as well.
Even in his fallen
estate, there is this need in Man for power.
In its proper order, this need is fulfilled in self-discipline. When a
society is made up of self-disciplined
men, then there can be freedom, but when self-discipline
fails, laws must be enacted and restrictions must be imposed by outside force
in an effort to maintain order. The less self-discipline, the less freedom and
the more chaotic the society. As the failure of law and order progresses, the
power of brute force becomes the dominant force. Ultimately, the failure of self-discipline leads to the law of the
jungle, “survival of the fittest,” the rule of tooth and claw and the
disintegration of civilization.
Man’s God-given need
for power, misused, becomes power-lust.
Like other lusts, it is insatiable; the more it is fed, the greater its
appetite. A taste of power often makes the man ravenous as a wild beast that
gets a taste of blood. The history of the world is replete with accounts of men
who became maniacal tyrants through their lust for power. Power-lust is also
manifest in other forms than military and political; popularity, fame, and
wealth are some of the variations in its form. It may even be found in
religious systems. Indeed, there is no power so strong as the power of
superstition.
The Flesh must be ruled; the Spirit must
be free. Only the man who can rule his own flesh can be free from the coercion
of laws necessary to living in a society. Government, therefore, must not be
seen as merely the objective, rational science of politics and law. This is
only one of the more conspicuous manifestations of it. The body of laws enacted
by legislative bodies is a manifestation of the governing force but not the
essence. Toynbee has wisely noted that codification of laws reaches its peak
when the ungovernable forces are about to bring down the structure of
civilization.
This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context.
My Book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and is also available online at www.amazon.com or www.xulonpress.com
Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net .