What is the church? And what can we liken it to in Revelations 1?
"To the one who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen."
As He said to His church in the first covenant, which pointed to Jesus as the second covenant,
" ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and I brought you to me. And
now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you
will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, but you, you will belong to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’" Exodus 19
God is nothing if not consistent. He never changes. There is no God of the Old Testament and another God of the New Testament. He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. And so are we His church. A kingdom of priests. A kingdom which testifies to Him by our every word and deed. A kingdom which mitigates the relationship between Him and the earth at large.
This is not license for individualism. There are no lone wolves in the flock of Christ the good shepherd. It is an invitation to bear each other's burdens, to hear each other's confessions, to lead each other back to the altar, the cross, the sacrifice, our Savior Jesus Christ, our great high priest. To bring each other into the very presence of God the Father. To wash each other's feet in the Word. To love one another as He has loved us. To celebrate and rejoice in what He has done, is doing and will do, together!
Until that blessed day when all the world and heavens are again a single temple filled with His worship and Spirit once again, we are the visible kingdom come.
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