And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Christ loved His people and washed them from their sins in His own blood, and on that ground exalted them to be kings and priests to God and His Father. That royal standing makes those who receive Him children of God and joint heirs with Christ, clothed in the white robes of His righteousness, with a kingdom marked by holy character and not by earthly rank or force. Those made kings and priests will reign with Christ during the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, judging the wicked dead with Him by the Bible according to deeds. Glory and dominion belong to Him forever and ever for this redemption, leaving no room for self-glory, since people cannot save or regenerate themselves. Being thus exalted lays the obligation to reveal His character, to present their own case and the cases of others to the Father, and to prove worthy by faithfulness with entrusted goods as channels of compassion and love.
Revelation's Setting and Message
Christ Himself came in person to give this word to John on the rocky isle of Patmos, appearing to him in glorified humanity. John was the aged apostle, the oldest of the first disciples and brother and companion in tribulation, banished there by wicked men to silence his testimony and left to die discouraged. Instead he communed with God daily in praise and was favored with the presence of Jesus Christ. What he received there were solemn matters of deep importance, signified by God's angel under inspiration.
It belongs to John's greeting to the seven churches in Asia, carrying grace and peace from Him which is and was and is to come, from the seven Spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ as the faithful witness, the first begotten or first risen from the dead, and the prince or ruler of the kings of the earth. The number seven denotes a perfect whole, so those seven represent all the churches in the world and the people of God throughout the world. The same Christ who speaks appeared to John as the first and the last, who lives and was dead and is alive forevermore and holds the keys of hell and of death. He is the One who came to this world able to heal every sickness as the divine Healer.
The words were not for John alone on Patmos nor for the seven churches alone, but through those churches the inspired message was to come to God's people with powerful impression in every age to the close of earth's history. It tells the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter, concerning the last days of earth's history. The whole revelation, chapters 1 to 22, presents great light with solemn truths about events before Christ's second coming. That whole revelation was rehearsed beforehand by Moses in the Exodus and in the plagues brought upon Egypt.
The revelation is to be read, heard, kept in practice, understood, appreciated, studied, believed, and preached today. Its light is not to be hidden under a bushel but to be taught in camp-meetings to those unacquainted with the truth. Its lessons are to shape character as believers follow the Lamb. Hearing the messages to the churches moves God's people to share the invitation to come and receive the water of life.
The first three chapters warn people to prepare to meet the Lord coming in the clouds with power and great glory. That message confronts indifference to the signs foretold and gives evidence that the end is right upon us. Those chapters also give the history of Satan's effort to bring dissension into the church, a difficulty that must still be met today. So it was at Ephesus, where through subtlety he destroyed much of the good accomplished despite its excellent qualifications.
Christ's Redeeming Love
The verse reveals a close and decided connection between God and His people, for Jesus Christ loved them and washed and cleansed them from their sins in His own blood. On that cleansing He made and exalted them to be kings and priests unto God and His Father, which is a great exaltation. Because He redeemed them in this way, glory and dominion belong to Him forever and ever.
He made this standing possible by taking the position of a servant, laying off His kingly crown and laying aside His royal robe, clothing His divinity with humanity and coming as a little child to grow up among men and share the common duties of family life. In that humanity He set a perfect example of obedience to the law, without sin in word or deed. His death on the cross and the suffering He endured to save the race from eternal death are the pledge of salvation that brings people near to God and reconciles them to Him, so that through His righteousness God accepts believers in the Beloved and exalts fallen people to be heirs of an incorruptible inheritance.
The Jews claimed this promise of royal standing, but they expected Christ to come with force of arms to break their yoke of bondage and exalt their nation to earthly power and rule over other peoples. Therefore they rejected Him because He came in humility. The verse does not support those ambitions, for Christ's kingdom is marked by holy character, not by earthly rank or political dominion, and His triumph came through love, not force.
Kings and Priests Identity
Those who love God and keep His commandments, who receive Christ and reveal His character in this life, are made members of the royal family of the heavenly King and children of God, given the dignity of His name. They are made kings and priests unto God, joint heirs with Christ to an immortal and eternal inheritance, partakers of the divine nature, allied with angels, who will reign with Him and share His glory and a place with Him on His throne if they share His humiliation and suffer with His people rather than enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin. That royal standing is clothed in the precious white robes of Christ's righteousness, a wondrous garment purchased for them by His blood.
The qualities that exalted Christ place the scepter in the hands of His followers when they obtain them and prepare them for this exalted royal and priestly role. Those qualities are self-denial, patience, love, forgiveness, and faithful obedience and keeping of God's law, which qualified Him as King and Judge and showed the law to be faultless and not arbitrary and able to be kept. His triumph came through love and not force, and His followers are likewise called to share in judgment. Disobedience and transgression and making void God's law bring the very evils and harms the law's restrictions seek to prevent and lead to degrading captivity, in contrast to the royal and priestly standing of those who obey all His commandments, made possible by Christ's death.
God promises to exalt His faithful, obedient servants as priests and kings, and love itself ennobles and refines even humble lives to this priestly and kingly life. They must remain true in every place and circumstance rather than trade eternal good for human honor or temporary advantage. Children are placed in parental care to be trained very young for this destiny, with instruction and training directed while very young to the end that they may become Christians who share it. They are to be trained not as heirs to the throne of an earthly empire but as Christians made kings unto God who will reign as eternal kings through unending ages.
The verse shows a people called out from the world to be kings and priests unto God. They are gathered by human instrumentalities filled and sanctified by the promised power of the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, with human lips touched with holy fire proclaiming saving and sanctifying truth to the ends of the earth. That truth is proclaimed with God's power behind the human instrument, convincing the world of sin, converting sinners, and bringing them the righteousness of Christ, with thousands converted in a day as the result.
Future Reign and Judgment
Those made kings and priests will reign with Christ during the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, seated with Him on thrones to share His glory because they shared His humiliation and suffered with His people rather than enjoying the temporary pleasures of sin. That reign is a place with Him on His throne as joint heirs with Him to an immortal inheritance.
Their kingly authority is joined to judging the world, for with Christ they will judge the wicked dead and also Satan and the evil angels. They judge by comparing lives with the Bible and deciding each case according to deeds, with punishment assigned according to works and recorded in the book of death. Satan receives a greater and longer punishment than those he deceived. The qualities that exalted Christ — patience, love, self-denial, forgiveness, and obedience showing God's law to be faultless and keepable — qualified Him as King and Judge, and as His followers gain those qualities they are prepared for this exalted role and called to share in judgment, while disobedience brings the very harms the law's restrictions seek to prevent.
The overcomers who are made kings and priests are those who on earth were partakers of the divine nature. Christ took human nature for no other purpose than to place man on vantage ground before the world and the whole heavenly universe, and He carries sanctified humanity to heaven to retain it forever as it would have been if man had never violated God's law.
Before they enter the city of God they receive from Jesus the emblems of victory and the insignia of their royal state, including crowns, palms, and harps. An unfading crown is reserved for them in heaven, and this hope calls them to be ready for Christ's coming and to overcome.
The tried, tempted yet faithful remnant are pardoned and accepted through Christ's righteousness and honored by being made kings and priests in God's presence. After iniquity is caused to pass from them and their sins are transferred to the originator of sin, they are clothed in glorious apparel with the spotless robe never more to be defiled by the corruptions of the world, and a fair mitre is set upon their heads. Their names are retained in the Lamb's book of life among the faithful of all ages, they are sealed by holy angels with the seal of the living God while Satan accuses them, and their appointment means they are not only forgiven but honored and made eternally secure from the tempter's devices. They stand upon Mount Zion with the Lamb having the Father's name in their foreheads as the hundred and forty-four thousand redeemed from the earth who follow the Lamb and are without fault before the throne of God.
Those Christ has made kings and priests must not be on the wailing side when He comes, for nothing that defiles enters heaven and those who enter must be without spot or wrinkle. When He comes to His people, if they are obedient and keep His commandments they will stand as kings and priests unto God.
Worship Due to Christ
Glory and dominion belong to Christ forever and ever because He redeemed the fallen by loving them and washing them from their sins in His own blood. On that cleansing He has made those He redeemed a people serving God and His Father as kings and priests, and this new standing and service rest entirely on His cleansing work. The ransomed praise Him for this salvation, and their song honoring Him for loving and washing them continues throughout the ages.
That praise points to God and not to the redeemed themselves, for people cannot save or regenerate themselves and salvation leaves no room for self-glory. None but God can subdue the pride of the human heart. The song sung in the heavenly courts gives glory and honor and blessing and praise to the One who loved and washed and redeemed, never to self. It stands against the proud song sung on earth that exalts self for loving and washing and redeeming self.
The verse belongs to justification by faith, which lays human glory in the dust and does for people what they have no power to do for themselves. When people see their own nothingness and worthlessness they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. When they praise and exalt God all the day long, by beholding they become changed into the same image. The whole gospel is learning from Christ His meekness and lowliness of heart.
Living the Royal Calling
Being made kings and priests unto God lays an obligation to manifest the traits of Christ's character and to reveal the blessedness of the Redeemer's character by washing robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. As priests, believers present their own case and the cases of others to the Father and work diligently for the salvation of souls. Even those preaching the gospel need a new conversion for this priestly work, and unless converted they will dishonor their Redeemer.
Faithfulness with entrusted goods marks people as worthy to walk with Christ in white and to share this royal priesthood. All money, possessions, and favored circumstances are held in trust from God to develop a character like His, and poverty and adversity are permitted to test those entrusted with His goods. Those who do not lift themselves above their fellow men but regard their treasures as His gifts, value souls according to the price paid for their redemption, and manifest compassion, sympathy, and love as channels for God will be declared worthy to walk with Him in white and to become kings and priests unto God. Those who use the Lord's goods to set themselves above others prove unworthy of a place in the kingdom of God.
Glory must be given to God in the mind by the kind of food put into it, with temperance in reading just as in drink. Feeding the mind on trash flooding the world, such as love stories and disappointments in love, does not glorify God. Such unwholesome mental food benumbs the sensibilities and faculties like liquor benumbs the drunkard, so that righteousness and judgment and even the common duties of life are no longer appreciated.
Those Christ has made kings and priests must not be on the wailing side when He comes, for nothing that defiles enters the kingdom of heaven and those who enter must be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This readiness must be taught in the household, and households must be sanctified to God with no time to lose. Piercing Christ's servants by saying and doing things that cut off their hope and courage pierces Christ Himself and puts the doer among those who wail, and doing this profits nothing and shows an unconverted heart.
The verse brings freshness and comfort of hope in Christ as comforting praise to Jesus as Saviour, who loved believers and washed them from their sins by His own blood and made them kings and priests unto God His Father. He is the faithful witness and the first risen from the dead and ruler over earthly kings, from whom with Him who is and was and is to come and from the seven spirits before His throne come grace and peace, and He is the first and the last, who lives and was dead and is alive forevermore and holds the keys of hell and of death. He came to this world as one able to heal every sickness, the divine Healer, and those who serve as physicians under Him continue His work by healing bodily disease and restoring the moral image of God in people. That great light about events before Christ's second coming makes deliberate sexual impurity by people claiming to understand God's law especially culpable, for their consecrated powers are misused while God sees their hidden conduct.
Christ loved His people and washed them from their sins in His own blood, and on that ground exalted them to be kings and priests to God and His Father. That royal standing makes those who receive Him children of God and joint heirs with Christ, clothed in the white robes of His righteousness, with a kingdom marked by holy character and not by earthly rank or force. Those made kings and priests will reign with Christ during the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, judging the wicked dead with Him by the Bible according to deeds. Glory and dominion belong to Him forever and ever for this redemption, leaving no room for self-glory, since people cannot save or regenerate themselves. Being thus exalted lays the obligation to reveal His character, to present their own case and the cases of others to the Father, and to prove worthy by faithfulness with entrusted goods as channels of compassion and love.
Revelation's Setting and Message
Christ Himself came in person to give this word to John on the rocky isle of Patmos, appearing to him in glorified humanity. John was the aged apostle, the oldest of the first disciples and brother and companion in tribulation, banished there by wicked men to silence his testimony and left to die discouraged. Instead he communed with God daily in praise and was favored with the presence of Jesus Christ. What he received there were solemn matters of deep importance, signified by God's angel under inspiration.
It belongs to John's greeting to the seven churches in Asia, carrying grace and peace from Him which is and was and is to come, from the seven Spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ as the faithful witness, the first begotten or first risen from the dead, and the prince or ruler of the kings of the earth. The number seven denotes a perfect whole, so those seven represent all the churches in the world and the people of God throughout the world. The same Christ who speaks appeared to John as the first and the last, who lives and was dead and is alive forevermore and holds the keys of hell and of death. He is the One who came to this world able to heal every sickness as the divine Healer.
The words were not for John alone on Patmos nor for the seven churches alone, but through those churches the inspired message was to come to God's people with powerful impression in every age to the close of earth's history. It tells the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter, concerning the last days of earth's history. The whole revelation, chapters 1 to 22, presents great light with solemn truths about events before Christ's second coming. That whole revelation was rehearsed beforehand by Moses in the Exodus and in the plagues brought upon Egypt.
The revelation is to be read, heard, kept in practice, understood, appreciated, studied, believed, and preached today. Its light is not to be hidden under a bushel but to be taught in camp-meetings to those unacquainted with the truth. Its lessons are to shape character as believers follow the Lamb. Hearing the messages to the churches moves God's people to share the invitation to come and receive the water of life.
The first three chapters warn people to prepare to meet the Lord coming in the clouds with power and great glory. That message confronts indifference to the signs foretold and gives evidence that the end is right upon us. Those chapters also give the history of Satan's effort to bring dissension into the church, a difficulty that must still be met today. So it was at Ephesus, where through subtlety he destroyed much of the good accomplished despite its excellent qualifications.
Christ's Redeeming Love
The verse reveals a close and decided connection between God and His people, for Jesus Christ loved them and washed and cleansed them from their sins in His own blood. On that cleansing He made and exalted them to be kings and priests unto God and His Father, which is a great exaltation. Because He redeemed them in this way, glory and dominion belong to Him forever and ever.
He made this standing possible by taking the position of a servant, laying off His kingly crown and laying aside His royal robe, clothing His divinity with humanity and coming as a little child to grow up among men and share the common duties of family life. In that humanity He set a perfect example of obedience to the law, without sin in word or deed. His death on the cross and the suffering He endured to save the race from eternal death are the pledge of salvation that brings people near to God and reconciles them to Him, so that through His righteousness God accepts believers in the Beloved and exalts fallen people to be heirs of an incorruptible inheritance.
The Jews claimed this promise of royal standing, but they expected Christ to come with force of arms to break their yoke of bondage and exalt their nation to earthly power and rule over other peoples. Therefore they rejected Him because He came in humility. The verse does not support those ambitions, for Christ's kingdom is marked by holy character, not by earthly rank or political dominion, and His triumph came through love, not force.
Kings and Priests Identity
Those who love God and keep His commandments, who receive Christ and reveal His character in this life, are made members of the royal family of the heavenly King and children of God, given the dignity of His name. They are made kings and priests unto God, joint heirs with Christ to an immortal and eternal inheritance, partakers of the divine nature, allied with angels, who will reign with Him and share His glory and a place with Him on His throne if they share His humiliation and suffer with His people rather than enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin. That royal standing is clothed in the precious white robes of Christ's righteousness, a wondrous garment purchased for them by His blood.
The qualities that exalted Christ place the scepter in the hands of His followers when they obtain them and prepare them for this exalted royal and priestly role. Those qualities are self-denial, patience, love, forgiveness, and faithful obedience and keeping of God's law, which qualified Him as King and Judge and showed the law to be faultless and not arbitrary and able to be kept. His triumph came through love and not force, and His followers are likewise called to share in judgment. Disobedience and transgression and making void God's law bring the very evils and harms the law's restrictions seek to prevent and lead to degrading captivity, in contrast to the royal and priestly standing of those who obey all His commandments, made possible by Christ's death.
God promises to exalt His faithful, obedient servants as priests and kings, and love itself ennobles and refines even humble lives to this priestly and kingly life. They must remain true in every place and circumstance rather than trade eternal good for human honor or temporary advantage. Children are placed in parental care to be trained very young for this destiny, with instruction and training directed while very young to the end that they may become Christians who share it. They are to be trained not as heirs to the throne of an earthly empire but as Christians made kings unto God who will reign as eternal kings through unending ages.
The verse shows a people called out from the world to be kings and priests unto God. They are gathered by human instrumentalities filled and sanctified by the promised power of the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, with human lips touched with holy fire proclaiming saving and sanctifying truth to the ends of the earth. That truth is proclaimed with God's power behind the human instrument, convincing the world of sin, converting sinners, and bringing them the righteousness of Christ, with thousands converted in a day as the result.
Future Reign and Judgment
Those made kings and priests will reign with Christ during the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, seated with Him on thrones to share His glory because they shared His humiliation and suffered with His people rather than enjoying the temporary pleasures of sin. That reign is a place with Him on His throne as joint heirs with Him to an immortal inheritance.
Their kingly authority is joined to judging the world, for with Christ they will judge the wicked dead and also Satan and the evil angels. They judge by comparing lives with the Bible and deciding each case according to deeds, with punishment assigned according to works and recorded in the book of death. Satan receives a greater and longer punishment than those he deceived. The qualities that exalted Christ — patience, love, self-denial, forgiveness, and obedience showing God's law to be faultless and keepable — qualified Him as King and Judge, and as His followers gain those qualities they are prepared for this exalted role and called to share in judgment, while disobedience brings the very harms the law's restrictions seek to prevent.
The overcomers who are made kings and priests are those who on earth were partakers of the divine nature. Christ took human nature for no other purpose than to place man on vantage ground before the world and the whole heavenly universe, and He carries sanctified humanity to heaven to retain it forever as it would have been if man had never violated God's law.
Before they enter the city of God they receive from Jesus the emblems of victory and the insignia of their royal state, including crowns, palms, and harps. An unfading crown is reserved for them in heaven, and this hope calls them to be ready for Christ's coming and to overcome.
The tried, tempted yet faithful remnant are pardoned and accepted through Christ's righteousness and honored by being made kings and priests in God's presence. After iniquity is caused to pass from them and their sins are transferred to the originator of sin, they are clothed in glorious apparel with the spotless robe never more to be defiled by the corruptions of the world, and a fair mitre is set upon their heads. Their names are retained in the Lamb's book of life among the faithful of all ages, they are sealed by holy angels with the seal of the living God while Satan accuses them, and their appointment means they are not only forgiven but honored and made eternally secure from the tempter's devices. They stand upon Mount Zion with the Lamb having the Father's name in their foreheads as the hundred and forty-four thousand redeemed from the earth who follow the Lamb and are without fault before the throne of God.
Those Christ has made kings and priests must not be on the wailing side when He comes, for nothing that defiles enters heaven and those who enter must be without spot or wrinkle. When He comes to His people, if they are obedient and keep His commandments they will stand as kings and priests unto God.
Worship Due to Christ
Glory and dominion belong to Christ forever and ever because He redeemed the fallen by loving them and washing them from their sins in His own blood. On that cleansing He has made those He redeemed a people serving God and His Father as kings and priests, and this new standing and service rest entirely on His cleansing work. The ransomed praise Him for this salvation, and their song honoring Him for loving and washing them continues throughout the ages.
That praise points to God and not to the redeemed themselves, for people cannot save or regenerate themselves and salvation leaves no room for self-glory. None but God can subdue the pride of the human heart. The song sung in the heavenly courts gives glory and honor and blessing and praise to the One who loved and washed and redeemed, never to self. It stands against the proud song sung on earth that exalts self for loving and washing and redeeming self.
The verse belongs to justification by faith, which lays human glory in the dust and does for people what they have no power to do for themselves. When people see their own nothingness and worthlessness they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. When they praise and exalt God all the day long, by beholding they become changed into the same image. The whole gospel is learning from Christ His meekness and lowliness of heart.
Living the Royal Calling
Being made kings and priests unto God lays an obligation to manifest the traits of Christ's character and to reveal the blessedness of the Redeemer's character by washing robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. As priests, believers present their own case and the cases of others to the Father and work diligently for the salvation of souls. Even those preaching the gospel need a new conversion for this priestly work, and unless converted they will dishonor their Redeemer.
Faithfulness with entrusted goods marks people as worthy to walk with Christ in white and to share this royal priesthood. All money, possessions, and favored circumstances are held in trust from God to develop a character like His, and poverty and adversity are permitted to test those entrusted with His goods. Those who do not lift themselves above their fellow men but regard their treasures as His gifts, value souls according to the price paid for their redemption, and manifest compassion, sympathy, and love as channels for God will be declared worthy to walk with Him in white and to become kings and priests unto God. Those who use the Lord's goods to set themselves above others prove unworthy of a place in the kingdom of God.
Glory must be given to God in the mind by the kind of food put into it, with temperance in reading just as in drink. Feeding the mind on trash flooding the world, such as love stories and disappointments in love, does not glorify God. Such unwholesome mental food benumbs the sensibilities and faculties like liquor benumbs the drunkard, so that righteousness and judgment and even the common duties of life are no longer appreciated.
Those Christ has made kings and priests must not be on the wailing side when He comes, for nothing that defiles enters the kingdom of heaven and those who enter must be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This readiness must be taught in the household, and households must be sanctified to God with no time to lose. Piercing Christ's servants by saying and doing things that cut off their hope and courage pierces Christ Himself and puts the doer among those who wail, and doing this profits nothing and shows an unconverted heart.
The verse brings freshness and comfort of hope in Christ as comforting praise to Jesus as Saviour, who loved believers and washed them from their sins by His own blood and made them kings and priests unto God His Father. He is the faithful witness and the first risen from the dead and ruler over earthly kings, from whom with Him who is and was and is to come and from the seven spirits before His throne come grace and peace, and He is the first and the last, who lives and was dead and is alive forevermore and holds the keys of hell and of death. He came to this world as one able to heal every sickness, the divine Healer, and those who serve as physicians under Him continue His work by healing bodily disease and restoring the moral image of God in people. That great light about events before Christ's second coming makes deliberate sexual impurity by people claiming to understand God's law especially culpable, for their consecrated powers are misused while God sees their hidden conduct.