Sermon text: 1 Peter 2
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Amen.
The ancient Israelites were in Egypt 430 years, and they were slaves of various pharaohs for most of that time. They were oppressed and forced into hard labor. They were defiled by both the false gods of Egypt and by their own slave taskmasters. From a human perspective, the Israelites seem to be the most accursed people on the planet, abandoned by God to rot away like garbage. When the suffering became too much, they cried out to the Lord. And the Lord heard their cries for mercy, and he saw their misery. And he had compassion on the people of Israel and sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt and out of slavery. After punishing the Egyptians with plagues and destroying Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, God led his people to Mount Sinai, where he established with them a covenant and gave his law to them and instituted his divine service for them. And so, giving these things, God made the Israelites his treasured possession. No longer slaves: now God’s royal priesthood. No longer defiled people: God made them his holy nation. God delivered them from their slavery in Egypt so that out of all the people of the earth, they would be his chosen race, through whom he would send his promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, Jesus the Christ. From destitution and oppression to freedom and liberation and the great honor of bearing both God’s spoken and written word and the promised Messiah. God’s plan of salvation in the Old Testament involved establishing the ancient Israelites as a kingdom of priests and to be a holy nation. He said to the Israelites in Exodus 19:6, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” But notice that the Lord didn’t give them a king originally. That would come many, many, many years later, and it would be an unfortunate turn of events, with only a couple of kings proving to be worthy of the title.
In the New Testament, the Lord had sent Peter to write to Christians that they now were a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that they might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. Although Moses was the lawgiver and the founder of Israel as a worshiping nation according to the instructions he had received on Mount Sinai, the high priest was God’s main representative throughout all the history of Israel. The high priest represented the Lord’s kingdom and his kingship both by being anointed and by wearing a gold crown on his head. Thus he was seen as the royal representative of God himself. The high priest was obviously a priest made by the holy ritual of ordination. The high priest was God’s representative to the people of Israel, as seen by the inscription on the front of his crown, which read “Holiness to the LORD.” He also represented the people to God by bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his shoulder panels and on the breastplate of his vestments. In this way, all the people of Israel were royal priests and holy ones, a nation.
The Old Testament gave way to the New Testament. And in the New Testament, in Christ, Christians are regarded as kings, priests, and holy ones. Christ Jesus is the high King of kings, the high priest of priests, the most holy of the holy ones. Christ is king, and in him we Christians too are royalty. But Christ is not like the oppressive kings of the world. He is a heavenly king who has come to establish his eternal kingdom, the church on earth. In the Old Testament, the kingdom of ancient Israel pointed ahead to the kingdom of Christ. Just as the people of Israel were God’s royal people who participated in the kingship of the high priest, so also we share in the royalty of Christ. The Son of God was not incarnate and did not become man to rule over his subjects like earthly kings. Rather, he united our human nature with his divine nature so that in him we would reign together with him. Christ is the King of kings, and we Christians are the kings whom he is King of. Just as the Old Testament high priest carried the people of Israel into the presence of God, so Christ bears us into the divine presence and seats us together with him on his very own throne. His kingdom does not oppress; it exalts us. Christ is our priest. He is far greater than all the high priests of the Old Testament. Whereas the priests of the old were limited in their service to a certain number of years, Christ’s priesthood, your royalty, is an eternal one.
The blood of animals atoned for the sins of the Israelites, especially and most comprehensively on the Day of Atonement. But the remainder of that blood, which was sprinkled on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, was brought out of the Most Holy Place — the temple, the tabernacle — with the power to sanctify and reconstitute the temple. In the New Testament, Christ entered not only into an earthly sanctuary but into a heavenly Most Holy Place, not with the blood of animals but with his own blood, to make full payment for the sins of the people, all people, including yours and mine. In holy communion, Christ now offers his heavenly, divine blood to sanctify the temple of our body and life. Moreover, in holy communion, Christ makes us one with his body as he gives us his body to eat. And as we receive his body and blood, Christ unites us to his priesthood, in which we offer incense of prayer and sacrifice of praise to God on behalf of our fellow human beings.
The priesthood of ancient Israel was a temporary priesthood. The priesthood that we Christians now have in Christ is an eternal one that dwells with Christ and in Christ. And it gives us daily access, not merely once a year, to a God in his throne, but rather eternal access in the heavenly realm, the Most Holy Place of all. Christ is the most holy, who sanctifies us in the sharing of his holiness. In the Old Testament, God instituted offerings and sacrifices in ancient Israel’s divine service to effect two things for and in his people. On the one hand, the specific offerings that were called holy had the power to cleanse or purify. In fact, the blood of all the animal offerings was used to make atonement and purify from ritual uncleanliness. The people who had been defiled through their own sins and who had come into contact with some unclean thing were made ritually pure by the atoning blood and the holy offerings. On the other hand, some of the offerings were called most holy offerings. And these had the power to sanctify. People who had been desecrated were sanctified and reconsecrated by contact with the most holy things of the temple. And the most holy things sanctified the Israelites so that the most holy God could dwell in their midst without destroying them on account of their sin. All of the holy and most holy offerings in the Old Testament period pointed to Christ, who came to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice. Through his cross we are purified from our uncleanness and sanctified to share in his holiness. His most holy blood has made complete atonement for our sins in the heavenly Most Holy Place. And in the New Testament, Christ instituted not sacrifices but rather sacraments. They’re different — both of which purify us and sanctify us at the same time. The most holy Christ gives us his holy word, most holy baptism, most holy absolution, most holy body and blood to cleanse us continually from the filth of our sin and to sanctify us continually to share in his very own holiness.
In the most holy Christ, we Christians are made holy, so that the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit will dwell among us, and us with him, in the divine service now and the hereafter for all eternity. God the Father has conceived you in Christ by speaking his word. He has given you a new birth into Christ and made you a child in baptism. Your heavenly Father continues to feed and nourish you in your eternal life with the body and blood of Jesus Christ, his holy Son. As God’s child in Christ, you are a royal heir to his kingdom and reign together with Christ already by faith. What’s more, you will forever reign with him as king on his throne in your resurrected and glorified body. As God’s child in Christ, you are a high priest — not in the Old Testament order of Aaron, but in the eternal order of Jesus Christ, the new Melchizedek of the New Testament, who has opened a way for you to have daily access to our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and in the most holy of places, the heavenly realm. As God’s child in Christ, you’ve been sanctified and continue to be made holy by the most holy one through his holy word and his holy sacraments. In Christ, you are now a king. You are a priest. You are holy. So that now and forever you share in God’s holiness, have access to him in his heavenly sanctuary, and you reign with him on his glorious throne in heaven. For your sins are forgiven, and you are a king, a priest, and a holy one by faith in Christ. Amen.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.