God's First Mention Of "Priests" In The Scriptures

Today's Word of Encouragement from Wayne:

"Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel’"

Exodus 19: 3-6

Yesterday I shared with you concerning the first time the word "priest" appears in scripture which, we saw, was in reference to Melchizedek, who was entirely representative of Jesus Christ, our High Priest of a New Covenant, Who presented Abba Father with the "bread and wine" (Genesis 14:18) of His Own body and blood, procuring our salvation through establishing His eternal New Covenant (see Hebrews 9: 11-15).

Today, in this passage from Exodus, we behold the first time God spoke the word "Priests" in scripture, and we see God’s first use of this word was in His call for all of His covenant people to, as I have been sharing for a number of weeks now, "be to Me a kingdom of priests." God has always been clear, ever since the beginning, that His will is for all of His people to be in covenant with Him as a kingdom of priests.

So, in this present day we see in the book of Revelation that we, the body of Christ, in a New Covenant through the blood of our Savior, have been created through Jesus Christ to be this exact kingdom of priests to our God. "To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood - and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father" (Revelation 1: 5-6). This is what God has always wanted, from all of His covenant people, and today we are the ones blessed to say "Yes" to our Father God, concerning His call for us, His church, to be this kingdom of priests.

O let us please our God by stepping into our priesthood, and let us awaken the body of Christ to God’s call to become "My own possession." The apostle Peter wrote of us, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s Own possession" (1st Peter 2:9), directly referencing God’s words in Exodus 19 to His present will for us now, so that we would say yes to being His "kingdom of priests" and, in so doing, become His "own possession" which literally means "special treasure."

Ministering to the Lord as a priest is a special treasure for us and when we do minister to our Lord, we are graced to realize that we have become our Abba Father’s "special treasure." Ministering to the Lord is like stepping into God’s treasure house and realizing that, to your Heavenly Father, you’re the treasure. Hallelujah!