The Bible says anyone who belongs to the family of Jesus is called a royal priest. What does that mean practically? How do we, as regular people, live as a royal priest? 

1 Peter‬ ‭2:9‬ (‭ESV) says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (emphasis added). 

What does it mean to be a “royal priesthood?” Let’s take a look at what the Old Testament priests’ roles were and see what we can learn about being a priest. 

Priests Were Representatives of God to the People

‬‬The Old Testament priests were chosen to be a representation of God to the rest of the nation. The other tribes looked to them for direction in how to serve God. 

Moses is a great example of this. Moses was a Levite. He was chosen by God to serve as a representative of God to the nation of Israel and Egypt. Moses was chosen to lead God’s people out of slavery into freedom. From oppression to liberation. He was called to lead the people to the Promised Land. 

God comes to Moses in the Burning Bush to commission Moses as the leader of Israel, the one who would lead God’s people out of bondage. Moses argues with God. At each argument God reassures Moses that He will be there, and Moses doesn’t need to worry about the future. After several back and forths between God and Moses, this conversation occurs:

“But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 

You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬-‭17‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

Moses was understandably scared to face both the Israelites and the Egyptians. If you recall, Moses left Egypt after he killed an Egyptian for being harsh to an Israelite. When he was confronted by another Israelite, Moses panicked and fled for the desert. Now, God is asking him to go back and face his fears. 

Fear of Man…

Moses was enslaved to his fear of man, and it was time for Moses to learn what Proverbs tells us:

“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭25‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

Moses started off trusting in his own strength and power to “free” God’s people. He was right about his role, but very wrong about his method. As a result the spirit of fear captured Moses and held him as a slave for 40 years. 

God was getting ready to free not only the whole nation of Israel, but Moses too! This spirit of fear had so gripped Moses that he could not believe that he could be the one to speak to the nation and Pharaoh properly. He said he didn’t have eloquent speech and he had a slow tongue. 

There is a saying, “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” This is definitely what God wanted to do and eventually did in the life of Moses. 

As you probably know, God, through Moses and Aaron, freed the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians. It took 10 different plagues, but at long last the Israelites were free!

Moses Got Free Too!

We see Moses does conquer the fear of man in his life. Later, we see a time when the people would come to Moses for him to settle their disputes. 

“The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”” Exodus‬ ‭18‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

I can assure you that a man who was still plagued with the fear of man could never do this. He would be too afraid of the opinions of the one he found to be in the wrong to judge the people. 

We see the deepening of Moses’ relationship with God progress. 

“Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”  Exodus‬ ‭33‬:‭11‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

I don’t know about you, but I want to have a relationship with God like this. I want God to come speak to me face to face like a friend. 

You are Called a Friend of God

Through Jesus we get exactly that. We, as sons of God, have the privilege of speaking to God face to face, like a man speaks with a friend. 

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭15‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

As representatives, the priests were to commune with God, just like Moses, who would go talk to God face to face. Moses would relay the message he received from God to the nation of Israel.

Priests Were Representatives of the People to God

The priests were also representatives to God on behalf of the nation of Israel. One time when Moses was on the mountain talking to God, the people got restless and decided to make a golden calf to worship. Moses had this conversation with God:

“And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” 

But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 

And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭32‬:‭7‬-‭14‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

God angrily told Moses what the people were up to, and wanted to destroy them. Moses reminded God of the promise he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to make their descendants a great nation. Moses pointed out if God destroyed the nation of Israel, the Egyptians would find out. They would see God as one who just wanted to kill his people with his own hand. 

The Egyptians would see God as an evil god, not a good and loving god.

In verse 14 it says that “the Lord relented from the disaster he had spoken of bringing on his people.” 

The word for relented can be translated as repent. Yes, God can and does repent too. He can change his mind. Moses interceded for the people of Israel, and God changed his mind on destroying those people. 

You as Priests Represent God to Others

We, as priests, are also representatives of God to the people who are yet to be called his children. The lost can only know who God is by the words we speak and the actions they see from us. 

Like Moses, we are called and commissioned by God to speak the truth of God’s love and forgiveness to those who are enslaved by sin. 

We are called to help them get free from everything that holds them captive. We are called to set the prisoners free. 

In order to free others, we must first be free from the things that enslave us. I believe we do this by fully submitting every single part of our lives to the Lord. We do this by getting all those broken parts healed and restored to the identities and jobs God created them to do in the first place. This can be hard. It can be scary, but I promise it is so worth it. 

We, as priests, are supposed to live our lives as a representation to the rest of the world of what it looks like to live a Godly life. Our job is to lead others to Jesus with both words and deeds. We have been given a message of grace, love, peace, and redemption to proclaim to the rest of the world. 

We are going to pause here. Next week we will take a look at the next attribute of Old Testament priests and how that relates to us, as a royal priest in modern times. I hope you will join me!