But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may
proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 [NASB])
Consider being on a boat. You ride it through the waves and
up and down through the choppy waters of the sea. Next, you encounter a storm
while at sea. You consider, “Ah, I am so glad I put the GPS on this boat and
the radio.” When you go to your navigation system, it’s not working. Then you
go to your radio asking for help. When a person responds to your call, he or
she asks where you are, but you cannot tell him or her because your GPS is
broken. It’s been damaged by the storm. This is often what our lives are like.
Peter wrote about people who had forgotten their guidance system,
the One who had saved them in the past. They stopped relying on their Savior
and walked away from Him. This caused fighting, lying, envying, and slandering.
(1 Peter 2:1) Peter wrote to remind the dispersed Christians Whose they are and
Who made their adoption by God possible. He reminded them of these things and
what their purpose should be now they are not just people wandering on this earth
alone.
Read 1 Peter 2:9 again. It says, “But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you
may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 [NASB]) Upon first glance, Peter’s statement
may make it seem the people are these great things, but the thing to remember
is, he said they were these people because of the salvation given by God’s
grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This point is key to this passage and the
first ten verses in 1 Peter 2. God made them these people; the dispersed
Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia did not make themselves
into these people Peter noted. By God’s power He saves people from their
rebellion and they become His people.
God adopts a believer into His holy people.
Consider what Peter
said people who’ve received salvation are now that God adopted them. They are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession
with a purpose. What do these mean? First, realize, Peter explained in verses
four through eight what each of these titles are by teaching to the dispersed
believers Jesus is each of these and God appointed Him to be these things
before God created humankind. Jesus is the role model of these descriptors and
He is the Giver of these in people. How? When a person comes to believe in
Jesus as their Savior, His Holy Spirit dwells in that one and with time and
devotion to God, that person grows to be more like Christ daily. That does not
mean we are not these descriptors when we first place our faith in Jesus
Christ, but that we grow more into these roles daily as we grow into
Christlikeness.
“You are a chosen race,”
Peter said. Jesus is the Chosen One from the beginning. God chose Him to be the
Cornerstone of His church, His people, His race, His nation. He chose Jesus to provide
a special service, redemption of humanity from the judgment and condemnation
due because of their sins. Jesus is the chosen Messiah, God with us and Savior of
the world. Because God knew people would sin, He appointed - He made a way - before
He created people with free will, for them to be cleansed and made holy so they
could be in His presence so He could have a relationship with them. God planned
redemption from before time began and chose His Son to dwell in human form on
earth, suffer persecution and crucifixion, and then rise from the dead to
redeem and save people from the penalty and condemnation of sin. God chose each
person to become a believer, to be saved from sin and death. He, through Jesus,
provided the status of “chosen race” to the people group who believed in Jesus
Christ as their Savior. When a person believes in Jesus, that person automatically
becomes a part of God’s race. They are no longer of the Asian race, African
race, Anglo-Saxon race, or whatever; they are part of the “chosen race”
of God.
God adopts a believer into His race.
Peter next called
these dispersed Christians a “royal priesthood.” For the people of the time, the
word “priest” brought connotations of sacrifices that were never enough and required
dirtying one’s hands repeatedly with the blood of animals, if you were an
Israelite. If a person believed in Molech as a god, then their sacrifices left the
blood of people on their hands. Being a priest brought with it a position and
status of reverence and fear among people, too. As before, Peter showed these
dispersed Christians the prime example and the priest-maker with the life of
Jesus in verse five. Peter said Jesus is the holy Priest when he told the dispersed
Christians they would be a holy priesthood. The believers in Jesus Christ, for
whom God planned and provided redemption before He created humans, became
priests in the model of Jesus by God. They no longer had to ask a human priest to
give a sacrifice for them because of their sins. Believers have direct access
to God to ask for forgiveness of sins, to praise and worship Him, and to
intercede or supplicate to God. Jesus is our intermediary now. His was the ultimate,
perfect, and last sacrifice ever needed by any person to have eternal salvation
from sin. Jesus is the door for us to the Father. John recorded Jesus saying
this in John 10:9 when Jesus said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me,
he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” [NASB]
God adopts a believer into His
priesthood.
Peter told the
dispersed Christians that God called them “a holy nation.” Again, this
descriptor of a person does not come from that person’s efforts, but as a gift
from God, as a part of the person’s salvation through belief in Jesus Christ.
God gives that descriptor through the great price of Jesus’ life, death, and
resurrection. Without Jesus, believers cannot be a holy nation. Without God
purposing it, the plan for His Son to be the Redeemer of all people, would not
have occurred. Being a part of the holy nation of God comes because of God
through Jesus. Nothing people do makes them holy or part of a holy nation. The
Jews had not understood this when Jesus lived. What does it mean to be a holy nation?
Peter used part of what Hosea said in Hosea 2:23 in his prophecy about Israel’s
restoration. He said, “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have
compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, and I will say to those who
were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ and they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
[NASB] What makes a person part of God’s holy nation, a people He gathers for
Himself and by His name? When a person receives God’s grace and believes in
Jesus Christ for salvation, Jesus cleanses the person from all his or her sins
and that person becomes holy just as Jesus is holy. Holy means God consecrates
and sets apart for His service. In Leviticus 11:44, God told the people to
consecrate themselves and be holy. The Israelites and all people cannot make
themselves holy and, therefore, cannot consecrate and set themselves apart solely
for God’s purposes. Peter referred to this verse in 1 Peter 1:15-16. He said,
“But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your
behavior, because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.’” In 1 Peter
1:3-5, Peter said Who gives them this holiness and ability to defeat sin. He
said,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an
inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [NASB]
God gives believers in Jesus Christ this holiness and makes
them into His holy nation as Peter called them in 1 Peter 2:9. Because of His
mercy, He causes each believer to be born again into a living hope through
Jesus. Each believer will receive their imperishable and undefiled (holy) and
unfading inheritance that awaits him or her in heaven. God gives mercy and
compassion even when people do not deserve it. God makes people clean and holy.
He calls a people His people. God makes believers a chosen race, God’s race.
Through the redemption and salvation of each believer given by Jesus, each of
these believers is a part of the royal priesthood, God’s own royalty given to
them. They walked through the doorway of Jesus that He held open for them to be
in God’s presence.
God adopted and called you His own.
What does this mean for us now? God gave us each of these
things and adopted and called us His own. By God through Jesus, we are a chosen
race, royal priesthood, and holy nation. What is our charge as God’s people,
race, and nation? What is our purpose? The
last part of verse nine gives the charge. Peter said to the believers, “So that
you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light.” [NASB] Each of us understands proclaiming. We make
proclamations daily. This proclamation of which Peter wrote is specific. It
speaks of what they were to say about God, and not just say, but declare with
conviction. The dispersed Christians were to declare God’s excellencies and His
marvelous light. What are these excellencies of God? This word comes from the
Greek word arete (pronounced a-ree-tay).
It means the eminent endowment or qualities of God – His virtues, morals,
goodness, compassion, mercy, love, faithfulness, etc. His excellencies include
His grace shared with people who rebelled against Him and deserve no favor from
Him yet given to them by Him in the form of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and
salvation through the death of His Son, Jesus. These and other attributes that
describe God fully make up His marvelous light. God, sinless and holy, is the
opposite of evil and darkness. He is marvelous light, just as He is love. These
excellencies are the charge Peter declares the dispersed Christians must
declare or proclaim. God chose these early Christians and all Christians to be
a chosen race because of Him, a royal priesthood because of Him, and a holy nation
because of Him – because of Who He is and what He gives. Out of reverence,
love, and faithfulness, because of the characteristics of God, which He puts
into each believer from His character, we love other people and Him and want them
to know of God’s grace given through Jesus Christ for those who will believe in
Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Did you get that? Because of God’s love that
now abides in each Christian, each believer loves every person-believer and
unbeliever-and desires them to know Jesus and grow in their relationship with
Him. For this reason, every Christian may, can and should, proclaim God’s
excellencies and marvelous light.
God chose you as His possession!
Before we end, let’s consider the next-to-last section of
verse nine. Peter said, “But you are … a chosen people for God’s own
possession.” Understand clearly. Peter wanted to make sure people, Christians
and non-Christians, heard this. God treasures and cherishes His people to the
utmost. He chose each person to believe in Jesus and calls each believer as
part of His people, race, priesthood, and nation. God considers them His
possession, not as a child who does not want to share with another child. He
considers each Christian His chosen people and will defend him or her against all
principalities, angels, powers, death, etc. Paul stated this in Romans 8:38-39
when he said,
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [NASB]
Jesus spoke of this, too, in John 10:27-30 when He spoke of
His sheep – His disciples. He said,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will
snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the
Father are one. [NASB]
God jealously loves each believer. He loves each person,
even the non-Christian. You can know this because He planned for yours and my redemption
and salvation from before He created humanity. God’s love surpasses each
person’s sins. He offers His grace. More importantly, Peter implied, God jealously
and fiercely loves and protects each of His children, Christians, and will never allow Satan or any other created
being to separate them from Him. Almighty, all-knowing, ever-present God loves
you so much that He would protect you. God cherishes you. He treasures you. God
calls you His possession, not as a possessive toddler, but as almighty God. Whatever
created thing thinks it can take you away from Him will know and you can know that
nothing can ever separate you from Him. He loves you that much. Literally,
God loves you to death!
God cherishes you.
God loves you.
“Once you were not a
people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10 [NASB]) God loves you that much – with the
expanse of His whole being.
You’re in that boat
on the lake when a storm arises. Have you diligently kept your navigation tools
in working order? Is your GPS functioning and keeping track of your exact
location? Are you able to tell the person on the other end of the radio where
you are? God doesn’t need a GPS or a radio, but He does want to have a
continual, growing relationship with you. God knows exactly where you are and
is waiting for you to call Him. Are you in tune with God or have you walked
away from Him? I encourage you to return to Him. God will remind you He is
there waiting for you to return to Him. He knows you well. If you are a Christian,
God called you a part of His chosen race, His royal priesthood, His holy nation.
He called you. When once you were not chosen, you are now chosen. When
once you had no hope, He provided hope through the priesthood of Jesus. Where
once you were lost and sinful, God provided the perfect sacrifice to make you holy.
Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, He gave you these and called you
His own possession.
If your GPS locator
and radio have not worked since you installed them on your boat, consider what
happened in your life. Have you chosen to be your own person, make your own
way, and not worry (too much) about what happens when you die? God says you
don’t have to worry. He sent Jesus to be your Savior. Jesus said, “I am the
Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
(John 14:6 [NASB]) Let God be your GPS. Jesus is the way. Turn on your radio
and seek Him. He says you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart.
(Jeremiah 29:13)
God loved you even before
you believed in His Son for salvation. He loved you your whole life and does
not want you to die an eternal separation from Him because of your sins. God
wants to give you new life through the redemption and salvation Jesus bought
with His life on the cross. You do not have to suffer eternal separation from
God in hell. You do not have to pay for your sins. Jesus paid for your sins and
the sins of everyone with His perfect once-only-needed sacrifice, His life.
God loves you with a
life-giving love.
God cherishes you and will
defend you against everything.
God
Treasures You.
What
keeps you from turning to God and saying, “Yes, Lord. Here am I, save me?”
“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:13 [NASB])
Lord, I have made
a mess of my life. I thought I had it all in hand and was in control, but,
Lord, I look at what I’ve done, how I’ve done it, and to whom I’ve done it, and
I’m ashamed. Lord, please tell me I have not gone too far away for You to save
me. Please, Lord, look upon me with love, Your gracious, merciful, and
compassionate love, and forgive me. Save me, Lord, for I cannot! You were
faithful when I turned away. You loved when I rebelled. You kept the hurricane
away when I caused the storm. I do not deserve You. I do not deserve Your love,
mercy, or grace, but I fall on my face and plead for Your leniency. Please,
Lord, save me, a lost and unclean person. Make me clean with Your redemption.
Make me holy by Your salvation. Choose me, Lord, though I am unworthy to be in
Your presence. Thank you, most holy, loving, and gracious Lord. Amen.
