Dear Friends,

Did you know that the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John taught that every believer is a priest! What does that entail? Today’s devotional will explain. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

• I Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:5-6

  1 Peter 2:9  English Standard Version (ESV)
  9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

  Revelation 1:5-6  English Standard Version (ESV)
  5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I Peter 2:9;  Revelation 1:5-6

“Being priests, they are, first of all, to offer themselves. What says the apostle? ‘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.’ Now, you will never do this unless you feed upon Christ. I shall never be myself a sacrifice to God unless my soul is nourished upon the true and living sacrifice, Christ Jesus my Lord. To attempt sanctification apart from justification, is to attempt an impossibility; and to endeavor to lead a holy life apart from the work of Christ, is an idle dream. You priests who offer yourselves unto God must take care that it is all done through Christ who is in you.

“Next, as priests, we are to intercede for others. A priest was chosen to offer prayer for others, and every Christian ought to pray for those who are round about him; but you will never be men of prayer unless you feed on Christ, I am sure of that. If Christ be not in your heart, intercessory prayer will not be in your mouths. You will never be true pleaders with God for men unless you are yourselves true feeders upon the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

“A true priest is, next, to be a teacher. The prophet Micah said, ‘The priest’s lips should keep knowledge;’ and so should it be with all Christians. They are to teach others. But you cannot teach others what you do not know yourselves; and unless you are first partakers of the fruits, you will never be able to sow the seed. You must feed upon Christ in your inmost soul, or else you will never speak of him with any power to others.

“Priests, again, were chosen from among men to have compassion on the ignorant, and on such as were out of the way. That is your duty, too, as Christians, to look after the weak ones and the wandering ones, and to have compassion upon them; but, unless you live by faith upon the compassionate Savior, you will never keep up the life of compassion in your own soul. If Christ be not in you, neither will you be in the spirit of Christ, full of love to such as need your help; but, coming fresh from communion with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, your words of consolation will sweetly drop into afflicted hearts, and will comfort them. You will have the tongue of an instructed one, and be able to speak words seasonable and sweet to such as are weary.”

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLIII, (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1897), p. 3656-367]