"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." - Revelation 1:6
From Omega Frequency: Episode 6 (1:47):
Some translations translate the term kings and priests as a kingdom of priests. As we saw in verse 5, Jesus is "the prince of the kings of the earth." The word prince in the Greek is the word archon and means the first in rank or power. If you combine the two descriptions in verses 5 and 6, you could say it this way, 'we are a kingdom of priests and Jesus is the ruler of that kingdom.'
The term priest refers to a minister who is set apart from the rest of the community in order to carry out the functions associated with worship and sacrifice. As ministers of the Lord priests functions as the mediators of God's presence, and were responsible for day to day operations of the temple. The priests were chosen and set apart from the tribe of Levi who were the descendants of Moses' brother Aaron.
In 1 Peter 2:9 we read, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;"
Now we are the set apart people and like the generations of Aaron we are a chosen generation of worshipers. We are the ones who were once in darkness, but that darkness has been shattered by God's marvelous light. Here is what people often miss: If you look at the word light in the original Greek, it means fire. It is the fire of God that lights the darkness.
Keep that in mind as we look at Leviticus 9:5-7 "And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do: and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you. And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself, and for the people: and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the Lord commanded."
We see that the priests were going to make blood sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people and they did so because they were promised that when they did the glory of the Lord would appear to them. The glory of the Lord is the physical manifestation of God's presence, and that presence displays all of his awesome power.
We see what happens next in Leviticus 9:23-24 "And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces."
The glory of God was shown in the fire of God. This is the same fire that Moses first saw in the burning bush. The fire God covered that burning bush with did not burn or consume the bush. This is the same glory God covered the naked bodies of Adam and Eve with, and it did not burn them either. The presence of God was with them as they walked with Him in the garden but Adam traded in the glory of God for sin, and we became clothed in death. That left only Satan to walk with them in the garden.
God loved mankind and he wasn't going to let mankind be without his presence because he still desired to walk with them in the earthly realm. How did He breakthrough the earthly realm? He did it through worship because God has ordained worship to connect the heavenly realm to the earthly realm. To connect the spiritual real to the realm of flesh. To connect you to God.
We see early on how God was going to invade earth with His presence. Adam's son Able committed an act of worship. Able was a shepherd and he had a flock of sheep and he took the first born lamb of the flock and and brought it before God and made a blood sacrifice atoning for his sins. That blood sacrifice represented Jesus, the only begotten son of God, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That act of worship was the connection point for God to fellowship with him in the garden again.
We see the opposite in Cain. He was a farmer, so he brought an offering of fruit to the Lord, but it was a bloodless offering. It was symbolic of the curse that fell on Adam because Adam came from the ground and Adam was now in sin. Because he didn't properly worship God, the devil had access to him. God even told Cain, there is evil and it is waiting at the doorstep of your heart and it is ready to overtake you. Because Cain did not properly worship the Lord, Satan inspired the first murder.
Do you see how powerful your worship really is? We don't offer the blood of animals anymore because Jesus is the only sacrifice that will ever save us from sin. However, we can still make a priestly offering. Hebrews 13:15 says, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."
Do you want to see the power of God show up again on earth? Do you want to walk in the power and presence of God? The pathway to that power and dominion is through the halls of worship. That is why Revelation 1:6 ends this way, "...to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
In Christ Alone!
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