Royal Priesthood

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

The above verse describes the position of Christians in the eyes of God. How does God see us as Christians? If you are dumb enough to ask a theologian, you will get the impression that God sees Christians to be like mindless drones.

According to the theologians, Christians are not supposed to have our own thoughts and desires. Our role as Christians is to obey everything God says (through the theologians of course) without question. So, if God (through the theologians) says sickness is good for us then we must believe that sickness is good for us. If God (through the theologians) says poverty is good for us then we must believe that poverty is good for us. In short, there is no limit on how perverse God can get. He can sink to any level of perversion. That is the “God” according to theology.

Yet, the Bible tells us a different God. The above passage that God values us very highly. 1 Peter 2:9 begins with the truth that we believers are a chosen people. Chosen for what? The subsequent part describes us as a royal priesthood. Let us look deeper into this phrase.

The phase “royal priesthood” has 2 components:
1. Royalty
2. Priesthood.

The first component tells us that we are kings. We have royal status. As believers, we are entitled to the power and prosperity like the kings of the past. This is another proof that God wants us Christians to be powerful and rich. I am sure if the theologians were there at the time this verse was written, they must have accused Apostle Peter a prosperity preacher. However, it appears that Peter and his colleagues were not really bothered of being accused as prosperity preachers. They were only interested in preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a good example for us Christians. God has made it clear in the Bible that all Christians are supposed to be rich and powerful. This truth must be very dangerous to Satan that he created theologians to poison the minds of Christians to reject it. As a result, true Christians are being persecuted throughout the world for our faith. If you happen to be one of them, you have to decide on whose side are you on, God or the Theologian.

If you want to be on God’s side, then you must be bold to believe in the truth including truths that are not politically correct like health and wealth. You will face persecution from the theologians but you must always remember that God who is in you is greater than the Theologian who is in this world. We are called to battle but you are also destined to win. As long as we hold on to our faith and never give up, we will win. Our victory is certain.

However, if you are afraid of persecutions, then you will have to surrender to the Theologian. You can still believe in what the Bible says as long as those things cannot be proven objectively. Try to focus on things like joy, peace, treasure in heaven and other stuff that cannot be proven objectively. Don’t you dare to tell people that you believe God for anything that can be proven objectively like health and wealth. If you do, you will face condemnation, insults and other form of persecutions.

The second component is priesthood. A priest is the middleman between God and the people. In the Old Testament, the Israelites had priest to pray on their behalf. The public could not have direct access to God. That was why they had priest to pass their message to God.

This situation had changed after Jesus had died at the Cross, the position of priest was made obsolete. Since all Christians have receive royal priesthood, why do we need the services of any specialist priests? However, there are still churches that have the position of “priest” in their payroll. Why is that so? The answer is they have blasphemed against Jesus and what he had done at the Cross. Those churches’ acts of appointing some people as “priests” despite knowing that all Christians are called to royal priesthood is clear act of rebellion against God. Therefore, it is wise to stay away from churches that have “priests” in them.

The truth is, if you are a believer you are a priest. You have direct access to God at any time and place. There is nothing wrong with asking others to pray for you but you must always remember that no one can have better access to God than you. God is no respecter of persons. If some other Christians can get what they prayed for so can you.

God is not interested in the identity, race, skin color, culture, citizenship, education level or profession of the person who is praying. He is only interested in the faith of the person who is praying. As long as you believe you will receive whatever you ask when you pray, you will certainly get whatever you have asked in your prayer. In the eyes of God, we are the royal priesthood. So, get rid of all other “priests”. They are counterfeits.

Next, believers are described as a holy nation and people belonging to God. This is the foundation we stand on. A nation is a group of people. When a nation is holy, it has a clear and unblocked channel to receive all the blessings of God. This nation is prosperous in every area (including areas that can be proven objectively like health and wealth.) I am sure you will agree with me that this is a good thing.

Next, as the people belonging to God, we have someone to rely on when things go wrong. Since we belong to God, everything we have must also belong to him too both good and bad. Our poverty is his poverty. Our prosperity is his prosperity. Our sickness is his sickness. Our health is his health.

In case there are still people who are not convinced that God wants us to have health and wealth, ask yourself this question. Is God such a pervert that he wants to be sick and poor? If God is not a pervert, he must desire to be rich and healthy. Therefore, he must want all his people to be the same.

The last part of the verse tells us the reason why God gave us the above benefits. He wants us to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. In short, God expects us to be the living proof of his goodness.

So, when we live by faith and suffer persecution, we are not just doing it for our health and wealth. The lifestyle of health and wealth is also meant to be the testimony to draw people to God. I call this lifestyle evangelism. As opposed to “words evangelism” which are just words, in lifestyle evangelism we show clearly how great our God is based on the lifestyles we live.

This is the will of God for believers. Welcome to the royal priesthood.