The David Spoon Experience 8-15-24 part 1

A) Holy Moly, guacamole! Dave almost forgets an important scriptural reference as he dives into the Book of Revelation and decides he needs to focus on it to help everyone understand the fullness of this communication's majesty. 

B) Verse 5b-6 states, "To the One loving us and releasing us from our sins through His blood, 6and He has made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion to the ages of the ages. Amen" (Berean Literal Bible). 

C) The key to understanding this text is the word "agapōnti," which means loving—not loved or loves, but loving—which means it’s past, present, and future all in one process. Jesus loves us perfectly in the past, perfectly in the present, and perfectly in the future. While other viable versions render the word "loved" or "loves," it doesn’t give the fullness of what’s being communicated.

D) The rest of the verse mentions that He has made us a kingdom of priests to His God. A kingdom is what Jesus gave us from Matthew chapter 16 when He says, "Upon this rock, I build my church." He also added, "I give you the keys to the kingdom." That’s the Kingdom of God where God is king, and we have the keys to that, which makes us the authority holders of the kingdom on Earth when we work in partnership with God.

E) Finally, Jesus says that we are priests, and a priest operates in service and in worship to God. One of the best understandings of this text is that we are a kingdom of priests, which is also referenced in Exodus chapter 19, verse 6. As the people of God, we are a kingdom of priests, and as 1 Peter 2:9 says, a royal priesthood. That’s every one of us. And what that means is that, as the priests of God, we have His ear when we petition.