Being Part of a Radical, Holy Priesthood

“Come to Him [the risen Lord] as to a living Stone which men rejected and threw away, but which is choice and precious in the sight of God. You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5, AMP)

If you think about it, 1 Peter had to be a very revolutionary letter to the church. Peter, a jew and disciple of Jesus, repeatedly asserts how Christ’s work on the cross put Jews and Gentiles on the same playing field. Until the cross, there was a clear line between the two groups because the Jews were God’s chosen people under His covenant with Abraham.

But Jesus’ spilt blood on the cross meant that not only Jews but Gentiles as well could be brought into the family of God and enjoy the same inheritance, grace, and spirituality that was reserved for Jews only up to that point. 

So when Peter tells both Jew and Gentile that they can come to the Lord and not only be grafted into the spiritual house God is building, but also serve as a holy priesthood unto God– that most likely upset a lot of his Jewish contemporaries. Because essentially, Peter is taking something that was reserved as sacred and exclusive, like priesthood, a job only done by a specific tribe of Israel, and turning around to say that anyone could enjoy that sort of access to God, regardless of bloodline or nationality.

But before we even get to that part, we have to realize that Peter is also painting a picture that Paul gives us in Ephesians 2. He is telling us about a spiritual house that God is building, using each of us like stones in the structure that is being constructed off a foundation built using all the prophets, apostles, and martyrs that came before us. What a beautiful picture– and promise!– that God would allow ordinary believers, people that were never included before, and use us in such a meaningful and personal way for Himself. 

This spiritual house God is building? It has Jesus as the cornerstone. He is the rock of our salvation, and a rock that the world has rejected and thrown away. He is the Savior that our earthly culture has spat on and actively defied. But to us, He is precious. To us, we cannot serve our purpose without Him. Because a house cannot stand without its foundation, and as the cornerstone, Jesus is the strongest foundation we have. With Him as the base, God’s spiritual house can stand firm. 

Peter goes on to call us “living stones,” but the life within us and the strength of the faith within us that makes God’s spiritual house strong is all attributed to Jesus. Our proximity to Him is what gives us life and makes us steadfast little stones to serve our purpose here on earth. Because Jesus lives, we can live. Because Jesus conquered sin and death, we can be strengthened and comforted to do the same. 

You see, without Him, we are like singular bricks, scattered all over the ground. There is no purpose for a brick all on its own. But if you lay the cornerstone and the foundation to lay each brick into place, stacking them together? Eventually, you have something that not only has purpose, but is a shelter from the world around it. When we, as Christians, function within our communities and churches the way God intends for us to be– that is, together– then we are able to encourage, inspire, and comfort one another to stand strong when we go out into the world that will ultimately hate us for our proximity to Christ.

And that house? The spiritual one that God is building? That house is not just supposed to stand empty. It’s a home for God Himself. A place for us to be with Him, offering sacrifices and offerings to the Lord that are acceptable and pleasing to Him.

And that’s why Peter calls us holy and dedicated priests to the Lord: because Christ’s finished work on the cross removed our need for a mediator to go and make our sacrifices and offerings for us. Instead, that blood He shed cleansed our sins and made us holy and righteous enough to commune with God ourselves. It gave us the ability and the purity to enter into His presence without fear or shame.

It made the Jewish priesthood redundant. And that was a major shift in a religious culture that existed for generations. It was a radical thought, but then again, the cross and empty grave were also radical moves by God in order to draw us to Himself.

So yes, we are a holy priesthood and each of us is an important piece of the spiritual home God is building; as He incorporates all of us together into a house of worship in which we are the priests. 

And the sacrifices we offer Him? The spiritual offerings we bring? They are deeply personal to us and pleasing to God. We have the ability to bring ourselves to Him, offering every devotion we have to give Him. We lay every crown of ours at His feet. We exalt Him because He is our strong tower and our place of refuge. 

His Son, Jesus, strengthens us to carry on our walk of faith and encourages us to give God our very best. And His Holy Spirit empowers us to be able to serve Him intimately, passionately, and with everything we have to offer up to Him.

Because if we really think about it, friends, we will realize: he didn’t have to do any of it. He didn’t have to make a way for us to come to Him. He could have kept it the way it was, and we could need some Levite to sacrifice sheep in order to make us clean from sin. But that is not the way our God is. 

Instead, He wanted us near. He wanted to hear our worship for Him directly from us, straight from our own lips.