Royal Priesthood
Disciples reign with Jesus as “priests” who render service in his Tabernacle by mediating his light in the world.
Priestly service IS what it means to reign with Christ, and this call echoes the
original mission given by Yahweh to Israel at Mount Sinai - “You will be for me a kingdom of priests, and a holy
nation” - (Exodus 19:6).
- (Revelation 1:5-6) – “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him who loves us and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us a kingdom, priests for his God and Father.”
PRIESTLY SERVICE
In the Greek text, “kingdom” is set in apposition to “priests”
- the latter term defines the former. This is a priestly kingdom,
therefore, its members execute their royal duties AS “priests.”
There is one group in view, not two; “priestly kings,” not
“priests” and “kings.”
Jesus is the glorious “Son of Man,” a priestly figure who serves
in the sanctuary and stands among “seven golden lampstands.” This picture reflects
the ancient Tabernacle that featured a seven-branched lampstand. And in Revelation,
he is clothed with the full-length linen robe of the high priest that is held
together by a “golden girdle.”
In this sanctuary, Jesus tends the seven “lampstands,”
trimming their wicks and replenishing oil as needed. And the “golden
lampstands” represent the “seven churches of Asia” that he oversees
from the heavenly Tabernacle – (Revelation 1:12-20).
To the saint who “overcomes,” this same Son of Man promises to “grant him to sit down with me in my throne, just
as I also overcame and sat down with my Father in his throne.”
But to rise to such a high honor, his disciple must “overcome” in the same manner that he did; that is, just as he became the “faithful witness” who loved us and “loosed us from our sins by his blood.”
Saints do not
attain regal status by conquering their persecutors or enslaving other men, but
by overcoming sin, Satan, persevering through tribulations and bearing faithful
testimony to the larger world – (Revelation 3:21).
REIGNING LAMB
In the vision of the throne at the center of
the universe, only the “slain Lamb” is found “worthy” to open the
“sealed scroll.” Though he is the “lion of the tribe of Judah,”
the Messiah destined to “rule the nations of the earth with a rod of iron,”
he fulfills that role as the sacrificial “Lamb.” This understanding is
confirmed by the myriad of voices raised in praise of him:
- “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and purchased unto God with your blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth…Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” – (Revelation 5:9-12).
Once again, the call of ancient
Israel is applied to the people redeemed by the “Lamb,” the men and
women redeemed by his lifeblood who have been constituted a “kingdom and
priests,” and therefore, “they are reigning on the earth.” And as priestly
kings, they bear testimony and mediate his light on the earth.
In the vision of the “innumerable
multitude,” John sees men “clothed in white robes” coming out of the “Great Tribulation” who have washed their
robes and made them white “in the blood of the Lamb.” They are standing before the “Lamb”
in the sanctuary, and “He that sits on the throne shall spread his
tabernacle over them.”
PRIESTLY ASSEMBLY
The “white robes” worn by the saints are based on the garments
worn by Aaron and his sons when they were installed as priests. Thus, once
more, overcoming saints are pictured as priests at worship in the Tabernacle –
(Leviticus 8:6-7, Revelation 7:9-17).
And this priestly company is “rendering divine service” before
the Throne. This translates the Greek verb latreuô, the same verb
applied to the service of the Levitical priests in the ancient Greek version of
Leviticus, the Septuagint. And here, present-tense verbs are used,
“they ARE SERVING him day and night” in the sanctuary.
The priestly role of the saints
becomes clearer when John “measures” the “sanctuary,” the “altar,”
and “those who were rendering divine service” in it (latreuô), that
is, the priests conducting their duties before the “altar.” After he “measures”
the “sanctuary,” the entire “holy city” is handed over to the
nations and “trampled underfoot forty-two months” – (Revelation
11:1-2).
This same reality is found in the vision of
the “beast ascending from the sea.” The “beast” was given a “mouth
speaking great things” with which it “slandered the tabernacle, those that dwell in the heaven.” In the Greek clause,
there is no conjunction between “tabernacle” and “they who tabernacle.”
The two terms are in apposition and the latter defines the former.
This understanding is confirmed by the next verse - “it was given to it to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them.” The “beast” wages war on the
priestly company that stands “rendering divine service” (latreuô)
to the “Lamb.” This is in deliberate contrast to the “inhabitants of
the earth” that “render homage” (proskeneô) to the “beast”
– (Revelation 13:4-7).
The “kingdom of priests” is
presented once more at the start of the “thousand years.” After Satan was
bound in the “Abyss,” judgment was given for the martyrs who had died
for the “testimony of Jesus and the word of God, and such as did not render
homage to the beast.”
They “lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years… Over these, the second death
has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and reign with him
a thousand years,” and they qualified to reign with him because they
willingly gave their lives in service to Jesus.
In the book of Revelation,
Jesus is a priestly figure. His sacrifice redeemed men and women to God, and he
now reigns as their high priest. In turn, his lifeblood consecrated his saints as
“priests” who now reign with him. And they are summoned to reign in the precise
same manner that he does – through sacrificial priestly service.
The “priests of God”
overcome their enemies by the “blood of the Lamb, the word of their
testimony, and because they love not their life unto death” – through service
on behalf of their high priest, the “Lamb,” who also summons them to
reign with him on the earth.
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