A Kingdom of Priests
By: Apostle Skhumbuzo Sangweni
“And ye shall be unto Me A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS.” The full text reads, “Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, and an holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)
Turning to our text, the first thing that we notice is the injunction to obedience. “If ye will hearken to My voice indeed, and keep My covenant.” We could not think of a disobedient people being for God – “a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” The apostle Peter speaks of the saints as “children of obedience”; they are begotten of that nature, and characterized by it. He speaks of “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living and abiding Word of God” (I Pet. 1:14, 23). Man after the flesh is born of corruptible seed, but there is another generation born of incorruptible seed, who desire earnestly the pure milk of the Word, and then the strong meat of the Word, and who grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ by it. They become “a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a purpose” (I Pet. 2:9). Just what the Lord proposed in Exodus chapter 19.
As one has written: “In the sovereign operation of the Spirit of God upon mankind, there is the apprehending of those whom He chooses to become a part of His specific workings for this day. In every age He has selected those whom He wills, drawing them out and beyond the normal course of this world’s living, and placing within them a Divine Call, a sense of destiny which must be fulfilled. This inworking of His grace results in the formation of a ‘new creation species’ which becomes part of that ‘first fruits’ for the demonstration of His love and salvation for all mankind. It is clearly written, ‘And it was of His own will that He gave us birth as sons by His Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures – A SAMPLE of what He created to be consecrated to Himself’ (James 1:18, Amplified). Hence this divine selectivity is a vital part of the outworking of His own purpose, not for the excluding of all men from His salvation, but rather for the consummation of that plan, as they become instruments through whom His grace and mercy are revealed to others.”
To these the word of promise is given: “Ye shall be a PECULIAR TREASURE unto Me above all people.” Many of us know all too well that this word “peculiar” has often been used to cloak religious conduct both strange and irrational. People have been known to dress in outmoded or unusual styles of clothing, to act in wild and curious ways, and to do rather weird things and then grin a self-conscious grin and justify it all by saying, “Well, we are called to be God’s peculiar people!” The English word “peculiar” in the language of A.D. 1611 (when the King James Bible was published) had no connotation of queerness, oddness, ridiculousness nor foolishness. It translates the Hebrew word GULLA meaning “to shut up wealth – to put the jewels, treasures, etc. belonging to a king in a safe, protected place because of their extraordinary value.” It was God’s way of emphasizing that His special people would be of great importance, value, and purpose to Him – a treasure above all other treasures.
