Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #9 of Revelation, chapter 5, and we are going to be reading Revelation 5:10:
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Now, here, God is indicating that those that have been redeemed (as the previous verse explained) and those that have been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ are made unto God kings and priests. In a spiritual sense, in a spiritual manner, we become in God’s sight…and, of course, God is spirit and His is a spiritual kingdom and we become spiritual kings and priests while we are yet living in this world. And, perhaps, that is of no significance to the world. Actually, we know it is definitely of no significance to the people of the world. They do not recognize the child of God’s status as a spiritual king and priest. It means nothing to them. They do not hold it in high esteem at all.
As a matter of fact, the true believer is looked down upon and becomes someone that is considered to be “lowly,” due to their profession and their belief in the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. So the world does not recognize God’s kingdom; it does not think highly of it at all, but the true believer ought to, because we know there is a kingdom and we can see it with eyes of faith. We know the Bible is true. We know God’s word is faithful and we know that everything He tells us about things to come will come to pass.
Therefore, it is not a light thing at all for us to hear from the mouth of God – from the Lord Himself – that He has “made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” This is really an enormous statement that is revealing to us the grand and glorious eternal future that awaits the child of God.
Let us look into the Bible to see exactly what God means when He says that He has “made us unto our God kings and priests.” When we turn to Psalm 144, we find God making identification with something else. It says in Psalm 144:10:
It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
Now, here, the statement is made that God gives “salvation unto kings.” Is it true then that every king receives salvation – the King of Babylon or the King of Egypt or the kings that reign over the nations of the world? No. Actually it is very rare. It is very out of the ordinary that an earthly king of a nation becomes a child of God.
We know that David (who is mentioned here) was a true believer and he did rule as a king. We know there were a handful of other kings of Judah that were true believers, like Hezekiah and Josiah. Yet, for the most part, the kings we read about in the Bible and the kings that, perhaps, we have heard of in history outside of the Bible were not children of God. They were not saved individuals.
So, here, God is actually making the connection between salvation and someone being made a king in His sight. God is the king maker. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the one that selects certain individual sinners to become saved. And once they do become saved, then He considers them royalty; He considers them to be part of His family. And He is the great King and, therefore, they become kings in His sight. We see this kind of language also in Revelation 1:5-6:
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Now, once again, we first read of being “washed from our sins in his blood,” and the next statement tells us that we have been made “kings and priests unto God.” The two go together. Once God saves a sinner and once the blood of Christ has been applied and they have been redeemed (they have been bought), they enter the family of God as a son of God and are joint heirs with Christ and they reign with Him. This is why the Bible speaks of being lifted up into heavenly places to be seated in Christ Jesus. “To be seated” is language of ruling in the Bible; whenever a king is seated upon a throne, it has to do with dominion and ruling over his kingdom.
We see here, again, in Revelation 1:6 that Christ “hath made us kings and priests unto God.” We understand that we are spiritual kings and this is helpful in the Bible when we see references to kings in some places. But we are not only kings, but God also says that we are made priests. Let us turn to a Psalm that will give us the spiritual definition of a priest. We read in Psalm 132:9:
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.
Then also a little further down, it says in Psalm 132:16:
I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
Now, here, the spiritual definition is given and this is what we look for in the Bible when we are doing a search on a word or a verse; we are looking for another verse, as we compare Scripture with Scripture, that will explain the verse that is in front of us or define a term for us. And, here, a spiritual priest is defined: “I will also clothe her priests with salvation.”
And this means that once a person becomes saved (when God was saving during the salvation period) and when any individual became saved as God acted upon them, and blessed the word to their heart and created within them a new heart and a new spirit, at the point of salvation, they were immediately clothed with their “priestly garments,” because their salvation is their “priestly garments.” Their garment is righteousness, as it said earlier in Psalm 132:9:
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness…
And that relates to what we read in Revelation 19:8, speaking of the “bride of Christ,” which is comprised of all the elect, so this has application to everyone that God saved:
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
The fine linen is the “righteous of saints,” and that righteousness is the righteousness of Christ – that is our covering; that is our clothing; that is our priestly garment; that is our salvation that equips us and qualifies us to be a priest in the sight of God. This applies to male and female, old and young and to every child of God. Every child of God, once God has saved him or her, is qualified and called upon to be a spiritual priest and is made a priest in the sight of God.
Now there is something interesting in Ezekiel, chapter 44, concerning the clothing that priests were to wear. We read in Ezekiel 44:17:
And it shall come to pass, *that* when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them…
Now remember that we read in Revelation 19:8 that the fine linen is the “righteousness of saints,” and Psalm 42 told us the priests were “clothed with righteousness,” so we are clothed with fine linen, which is the “righteousness of saints.”
… and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
What an amazing thing the Bible is and what an incredible author God is, to write in such a way that all of these little details – these seemingly insignificant statements – that we could just “gloss over,” but God ties them perfectly together and brings everything into harmony. Why would He command that the priests that were to go about the ministry are to wear linen? Well, we understand; it is related to the righteousness of Christ in salvation.
And why would He command that “no wool shall come upon them” as they go about their ministry? It is because wool is a heavier material and God says that they are not to “gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.” Why is God concerned if they sweat, or not, while they go about their priestly duties? The answer is that the bible connects “sweating” with “work.” Even though this is a different word than in Genesis when God pronounced the curse upon mankind and told mankind that “by the sweat of the brow” they would have to till the earth in order to live. Even though it is a different word, it is the same idea – that God’s people that are made priests are not to sweat; that is, not to “work” concerning our priestly duties. We are to do no work of any kind to obtain the priesthood or continue in the priesthood. We are to realize and understand that it is all by the grace of God. It is all the work of Christ and not our work.
This is also why, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Bible says that “great drops of blood as sweat” fell from Him because He was demonstrating the work that He had done from the foundation of the world. The Lord Jesus, as the great High Priest of His people, offered up Himself for their sins and He did the work in paying for the sins of all the elect that were laden upon Him. He did the work of being the Lamb of God that was sacrificed and of being the High Priest that sacrificed that Lamb. He (and God is very jealous of this truth), and only He, is permitted to sweat. We are not. We are only to realize that we can do nothing; we have never been able to do anything as far as working to obtain salvation or to continue in salvation. It is all by the grace of God.
Let us go to Revelation, chapter 20, as we continue to look at the word priest and how it is related to God’s elect. We read in Revelation 20:6:
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection…
God has a two part or two stage resurrection plan. First He saves the sinner’s soul and then at the end He saves the sinner’s body by the resurrection from the dead. So when the Bible says, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,” it is really saying, “Blessed and holy is he that has become saved.” Then it goes on to say:
… on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Now, again, it says “they shall be priests,” and who are priests? It is everyone that has experienced the “first resurrection” and that is everyone that is saved, without exception. Everyone (saved) is considered a priest by God. And, also, notice again that they “shall reign with him a thousand years.” Who reigns but a king? So, here, once again, God is bringing the two offices together: the priesthood and reigning as a king. So when this verse says that they “shall reign with him a thousand years,” the thousand years has in view the completeness of eternity. That is how long all the elect will reign with Christ and that is how long we will be of the royal family of God. It is for evermore and there is no end to this wonderful blessing of God.
Let us go to one other place, concerning this priesthood. We are going to see something interesting in 1st Peter 2:4-5:
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Here, God is speaking again of His chosen, the elect, and He says, first of all, “You are as a living stone.” Whenever someone would become saved, it was as if God was building His house for His eternal habitation that He will dwell in into eternity future. Now, of course, we are living at the time when that “house” is complete and God has entered into every one of the elect whose names were in His Book and, therefore, He has “filled the house” and His glory has entered in.
But, right now, we are interested more in the next part of this verse:
… an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Okay, now God is, once again, calling true believers priests. We are a holy priesthood. But here He tells us something additional: He tells us we have a task to perform of “offering up spiritual sacrifices.” Now when we search the Bible to try to discover what this is, we find that there could be a few things in view. One is prayer for others. One is for us to utilize our resources of time and finances, but there is one thing in particular that really stands out and would include the other things I just mentioned and that is that we, as believers, are to offer up as a spiritual sacrifice our self.
Just as Jesus was the great High Priest and offered up Himself for the sake of His people, God commands us to offer up our self. Actually, He tells us to do this on a daily basis. Remember, we are told: “Take up your cross and follow me.” When Jesus took up His cross, He was demonstrating that He was the sacrificial Lamb of God. He was demonstrating the sacrifice of His very life and He commands us to take up our crosses. In one of the Gospel accounts we are told to do it daily; take up your cross; sacrifice yourself. We read this stated directly in Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
First of all, God lets us know that if you are able to do this to any degree and if you do follow through and you begin to live a sacrificial life (if you truly are able to submit yourself to the will of God; if you are able to turn away from sin and keep God’s commandments; if you are able to deny yourself and take up your cross spiritually; then you can only do it by the mercies of God), it is an evidence that God has saved you and He has already worked out that salvation within you in granting you salvation. And when He did so, remember the Psalms told us that you are “clothed with salvation” and, therefore, that is your priestly garment and now you are equipped; you have the fine linen (no wool) which is the “righteousness of saints” and the garment of a priest and now you may go about your priestly duties.
And what is your priestly duty? It is to sacrifice your very self, just as Jesus sacrificed Himself. It is to sacrifice our self. We start with us. God says we are to “present your bodies a living sacrifice,” to keep our body under, to bring it into submission, to mortify our members which are upon the earth, to turn from the things that have so easily beset us and to follow the Word of God. Now God gives us the wonderful and perfect example of Christ, in Hebrews 12:1-4:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Here, God is really showing us the way in which we are to go. He is telling us our priestly duty: to offer up our self as a living sacrifice. And this can only be done (to whatever degree it is done) by the moving of God’s Spirit within us “to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
Back in Revelation 5:10:
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
The phrase “kings of the earth” is found several times in the Book of Revelation and it has this in mind when talking of true believers: God has made us a king and He has made us to reign. But remember, as we read in Revelation 20, that we shall reign with Christ a thousand years; that is, for the completeness of eternity. We are seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus when we become a child of God. That is why we are kings and why we reign.
But the earth that we reign over is not this earth – it is the new earth that God will create at the end of the world, once He destroys this present sin-cursed earth. He will create a new heaven and a new earth and God’s people (which could number as many as 200 million) will all be kings and priests and they will all reign over the earth for evermore. They will all reign with Christ, with God, and it will be an everlasting reign that they will enjoy. It is a wonderful thing.
Now the Book of Revelation refers to “kings of the earth” in some places, where the context clearly indicates that it is unsaved individuals that identify with God through the churches and congregations (they profess to be believers) and, therefore, they are also considered to be “kings of the earth.” But, tragically, since they are not true believers, they are only kings of this earth. They are not kings of the new earth. That is the difference. That is the distinction. And how we can tell these references apart is to look at the context to see who is in view – the true believer or the unsaved – and that reveals which earth they are likened to be kings over.