Bought back to rule

(Originally written November 9)

Today: Revelation 4-8

Earlier this week, I saw a short TV news story about First Lady Michelle Obama. This story was absolutely incredible--no matter what your political views are. In the story, I heard that genealogists traced Michelle’s roots back through American history. One of Michelle’s ancestors was a slave girl, purchased in the American South for something like several hundred dollars. Generations later, her descendent, Michelle Obama, became the First Lady. Wow!

Did you know that many of us share a similar story?

We were slaves, too…to sin. Someone paid a price for us, only it was far more than a few hundred bucks. Our lives and our souls were (and are) priceless—He bought us with His own blood. Here’s what I noticed in today’s passage:

Worthy!...
Slain!
Paying in blood,
you bought men and women,
bought them back from all over the earth,
bought them back for God.
Then you made them a Kingdom,
Priests for our God,
Priest-kings to rule over the earth.

People who believe and have accepted Christ’s payment for their sins are described as “priest-kings” in this passage. That may sound kind of strange—I mean, we’re not all Presidents or First Ladies, right?

This is my own personal view, but I think the passage is saying that by believing in Him and accepting what He did—we can walk in an amazing type of freedom. We can be like freed slaves who now rule over things that He ruled over for us—sin, Hell, death, guilt, shame. And like the priests in the Old Testament, we now have the freedom to access God directly—through Christ. That’s pretty incredible, too, don’t you think?

Tomorrow: Revelation 9-12