Mission Venture Ministries

In 1 Peter 2:9, the apostle Peter describes believers in Jesus Christ with these remarkable words: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 

Peter is listing all the blessings and privileges these suffering believers have received from God. He wants them to know how special they are because of their faith in Jesus. 

He’s reminding them of Deuteronomy 7:6, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord, your God, has chosen you out of all the peoples on the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.”   

God said that through Abraham all nations on earth will be blessed. The blessing of Abraham finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the “Seed” of Abraham (Galatians 3:16) and the Redeemer of the world. This selection is the prophetic grace of God that’s available for all people to draw them to the Person of Jesus Christ. 

While Peter is writing to Jewish believers, those believers who are not Jewish in their ethnicity might wonder whether they are a royal priesthood, or whether that pertains only to the Jewish people. God introduces the idea of a royal priesthood, describing Israel as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6), and later John writes to the churches explaining that we, the church, are a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father (Revelation 1:6). 

The four living creatures echo this in Revelation 5:9-10, singing that God had redeemed people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and they add that this ethnically diverse multitude is a kingdom of priests, similar to the royal priesthood concept that Peter references. 

Have you ever wondered how God sees you as His child? In today’s passage God tells us exactly how loved and cherished we are and it describes just four of the many ways our Father sees us: 

1. A Chosen People. Believers in the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ are the people God has chosen to possess. 

1. A Royal Priesthood. As believers, we are children of God and, therefore, part of a royal family. In other words, we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).  

1. A Holy Nation. The church, or body of Christ, is a group of people who are holy, which means “set apart” for the purposes of God. Our lives are never meaningless, because living for the Lord is the greatest purpose one can have. 

1. God’s Special Possession. Believers are precious possessions of God; we belong to Him (Deuteronomy 14:2; Titus 2:14).

Those who are born again are different from the world around them because they are being transformed by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. They are also different because, having been born again by the Spirit of God and believing in Christ for salvation, they have received “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). 

We are to be teachers of God’s commandments to the nations. We are to be the light to the world revealing the way to God. We are to be those who draw people to God, and not to be a hindrance to their acceptance of Jesus Christ. 

We are set apart as priesthood, so we are not to act like the world, but be imitators of Jesus. This does not mean that we are not interacting with the world. Often Christians get the idea that we need to stay away from the world because of its sinfulness. But we are called to access the world, while maintaining our holiness. We interact with the world and show them the way to God by teaching His truths. 

Christians are God’s special possessions who have obtained mercy because they have trusted in Him. Believers are part of God’s spiritual house and a holy nation; and as such, we must abstain from the passions of the flesh. 

Since we are God’s special possession we must proclaim the goodness of being God’s people. In being different and being set apart, we need to tell people what a blessing it is to live this way knowing that “you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). Amen!

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