the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Music For the Soul
THE ROYALTY OF THE REDEEMED
He made us to be a kingdom, to be kings and priests unto His God and Father. - Revelation 1:6
" HE loveth us "; that is the eternal act that lies at the foundation of the Universe. He hath loosed us from our sins in His own blood "; that is the great fact in Time, done once and needing no repetition, and capable of no repetition, into which all the fulness and sweetness and pathos and power of that infinite love has been gathered and condensed.
And then there follows, in the words of this text, the ultimate consequence and lofty development, at once, of that eternal, timeless love, and of that redeeming act which "hath loosed us from our sins," and, yet more wonderful, " hath made us kings and priests to God."
Every Christian man is a king and priest. Those who have been loosed from their sins by the blood of Christ have thereby become members of that Kingdom of God which consists of all whose wills bow to His for His dear love’s sake. But, inasmuch as such submission to His sway gives authority and mastership over all beside, that kingdom is a kingdom all whose subjects are royal; and in this sense, too, Christ is King of kings. It would appear that the phrase in the old law was so used to express the double idea of a Kingdom of Kings, in other places of the New Testament, and probably, therefore, here. For instance, we have it quoted again in this book (verse 10), with a clause added which distinctly shows that there "kingdom" is, in the writer’s mind, equivalent to "kings" - namely, "and they shall reign (or "they reign") upon the earth." Again, Peter gives it in the form of "a royal priesthood," where the original force of " kingdom " has disappeared altogether, and the idea of the royalty of believers alone remains. It seems probable, then, that in the words before us, we are to see the same idea predominant, though no doubt the other must also be taken into account.
It is also to be remembered that both these high titles originally and properly belong to Christ, and are bestowed on believers by deviation or transference from Him. The wholesome usage of ancient times forbade the blending of these two offices in one person, but He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He wears the mitre and the crown, and, as the prophet Zechariah foretold, " shall be a priest upon His throne "; what He is. He, in His love, raises all His servants to be.
'Music For The Soul' daily readings for a year from the writings of the Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D., selected and arranged by the Rev. Geo. Coates, published by A.C. Armstrong and Son, 51 East Tenth Street, (1897). The original text is in the Public Domain and this electronic version is free for anyone without cost or obligation. This a year long daily devotional was written by the Rev. Alexander Maclaren over 100 years ago. This Scottish pastor had a heart to follow Jesus and a love for souls.
