The Voice of the Lord and His Word.

Oct. 23

Read: Luke 4:14-20, 1 Peter 2:1-12

The People of God;

A Holy and Royal Priesthood

The Voice of the Lord and His Word.

“…that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 1:9)

“And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.” (Luke 4:16)

As the holy and royal priesthood of Jesus, we are the ones who “proclaim the excellencies of him who called (us) out of darkness.” As priests, we tell others about how the Lord has called us out of darkness. This is not simply telling others about what God has done in the past for other people… but what he has done for YOU. We share our experience with the Lord… the coming into HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT. This message is a message of hope. The priesthood of Jesus brings hope to the hopeless.

Not only do “priests” share their stories, they also share the word of the Lord with God’s people. This includes both God’s written word as well as the words he delivers to us through his Spirit to share with others. We see this written word example in Jesus. (cf. Luke 4) Notice how he - as our High Priest - takes the scroll of the Lord and reads it to the people. As a priest of Jesus, we should be able to rightly handle the written word of God, reading and discussing it with others. There is no way around it, priests are facilitators of the study of God’s written word. But it goes beyond that.

Many people do not realize this, but Moses was a priest. (cf. Ps.99:6) Moses listened to what God told him, and he delivered to the people. God is not having us write anymore of the bible - but he IS STILL SPEAKING TO HIS PEOPLE. This means that as priests we are keen listeners to the voice of the Lord as well as bearing witness to the fact that the voice of the Lord CAN BE HEARD. Moses was a consistent reminder for the people that God was not hiding from them nor had he abandoned them. We do the same today. We are living proof that God knows and cares for his people, that he has not abandoned them nor has he “gone silent”. As a priesthood we tune our ears to His voice, and call others to the same.

The Lord is working uniquely through his holy and royal priesthood to bring a message of hope. The Lord is actively calling a people out of darkness and into marvelous light. The Lord has sent us - just like his Son Jesus - to “proclaim good news to the poor… to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

(and) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (cf. Is. 61:1,2 Luke 4) God has always spoken to his priests and he speaks to you and I. We are called to rightly handle not only his written word, but also his words that he delivers to us thorough His Spirit. This is what we proclaim to those around us. What a powerful and exciting assignment from the Lord! Love you guys. - JDP