Creator, Father, King #337

You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.

ABOUT EIGHT WEEKS AFTER escaping Egyptian bondage, the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai. God summoned Moses up Mount Sinai and gave him an incredible message for the people:

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.

Wow!

This was sovereign, elective grace in action. After all, the Israelites were nobody special. They were a ragtag collection of former slaves who had to be rescued from four hundred years of captivity. They were weak and helpless—homeless wanderers with no true purpose or identity.

God powerfully changed that with his gracious elective decree.

Some 1,300 to 1,500 years later (depending on when you date the Exodus), the apostle Peter recalled Exodus 19:4-6 as he wrote a letter to a network of churches in the Roman Empire:

You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

This good word is also for us today!

What’s It Mean?

If you have placed your faith in Christ, you are part of God’s “chosen people.” You are one of his “royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.” There is no greater honor!

Like the Israelites, God has elected you, not because of anything special you’ve done, but despite your many faults. Now, he has empowered you through his Spirit to become part of a “holy nation”—his worldwide church.

Why?

Peter also answered that: so “you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” God wants you to testify about his life-changing power to others.

What are you waiting for?

Now What?

Do you know someone in spiritual darkness? Lovingly encourage them to come into God’s “wonderful light”!

Did You Know?

To be God’s “holy nation” means to be set apart from the world for the Lord’s Kingdom purposes.