Saturday, October 29, 2011
Revelation 1:5-6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory ...
HIGHER THAN KINGS
In a pamphlet titled, "On the Freedom of a Christian," Martin Luther wrote:
"Nor are we only kings and the freest of all men, but also priests for ever, a dignity far higher than kingship ... by that priesthood we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one another mutually the things which are of God ... these are the duties of priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever. Christ has obtained for us this favour, if we believe in Him, that, just as we are His brethren, and co-heirs and fellow kings with Him, so we should be also fellow priests with Him, and venture with confidence, through the spirit of faith, to come into the presence of God, and cry 'Abba, Father!' and to pray for one another, and to do all things which we see done and figured in the visible and corporeal office of priesthood. But to an unbelieving person nothing renders service or works for good. He himself is in servitude to all things, and all things turn out for evil to him ... he is not a priest, but a profane person, whose prayers are turned into sin; nor does he ever appear in the presence of God, because God does not hear sinners.
"Who then can comprehend the loftiness of that Christian dignity which, by its royal power, rules over all things, even over death, life, and sin, and, by its priestly glory, is all powerful with God; since God does what He Himself seeks and wishes; as it is written: 'He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them'? (Psalm 145:19.) This glory certainly cannot be attained by any works, but by faith only."
