III. The fruits and benefits that we have thereby : ' He hath made us kings and priests unto God, and to his Father.' This doth oblige us the more to ascribe, and give glory and dominion to him for ever and ever, since he hath brought us into communion with God, and set us apart as consecrated persons, such as kings and priests were of old, to perform daily service to God.
In this third thing —
1. Observe the order. We must be washed from our sins before we can be kings and priests, or minister before the Lord. Aaron and his sons, though they were formerly designed to be priests, yet they could not officiate and act as priests before they were consecrated. So must we be consecrated and made priests to God, and that by the blood of Christ. They were seven days in consecrating. This whole life is the time of our consecration, which goeth on by degrees, and will be made complete, both for body and soul, upon the resurrection, when we shall be fit to approach the throne of glory, and serve our God in a perfect manner, in the eternal temple of heaven. For this life, though our consecration be not finished, yet here we are styled an holy priesthood, to minister before the throne of grace, though not before the throne of glory. Now, if we be washed from our sins in the laver of regenera- tion, we may draw near to God, as the priests under the law were washed in the laver, and then came to the altar. It holdeth good both in this life and in the life to come, that none but the washed can come so near to God, either before the throne of grace or throne of glory. The throne of grace : Heb. x. 22, 'Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil con- science, and our bodies washed with pure water.' So Heb. ix. 14, ' How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, tiirough the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God ? ' In the state of glory : Rev. vii. 14, 15, ' These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.' The persecuted saints, who came out of great tribulation, they first washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, before they were admitted, as priests, to stand before the throne of God, to serve him day and night in his temple. Sanctification must go before conse- cration; and the more sanctified, the more consecrated. When our
90 SERMONS UPON REVELATION I. 5, 6,
sanctifiCcation is finished, then our consecmtion is consummate ; and then we shall have a full communion with our God, a clear vision of his eternal beauty, and as great a fruition of his godhead as we shall be ca}>able of, in a state of full contentment, joy, and blessedness.
2. The privileges are exceedingly great, to be consecrated to so high a dignity ; that we should be consecrated or set apart for God, to be objects of his special grace, and instruments of his glory and service. Much more, that we should be advanced to so great a dignity as to be kings and priests to God. We share in Christ's own dignity. He was a king and a priest, so are we ; he had an unction, so have we ; he was Christ, we are christians : by virtue of our union with him, we are partakers of his kingdom and priesthood. The church of Israel was called ' a kingdom of priests,' Exod. xix. 6 ; and believers in the new testament are called ' a royal priesthood,' 1 Peter ii. 9 ; not to disturb civil kings, or the order God hath instituted in the church ; for it is kings and priests ' to God,' not to the world. Let us consider these privileges asunder.
[1.] Kings. King is a name of honour, power, and ample possession.
(1.) Here we reign spiritually, as we vanquish the devil, the world, and the flesh in any measure. It is a princely thing to be above these inferior things, and to trample them under our feet in an holy and heavenly pride. An heathen could say, Bex est qui meiuit nihil, rex est quicupii nihil — He is a king that fears nothing, and desires nothing. He that is above the hopes and fears of the world. He that hath his heart in heaven, and is above temporal accidents, the ups and downs of the world, the world beneath his heart and affections, this man is of a kingly spirit. Christ's kingdom is not of this world, neither is a believer's : Kev. v. 10, ' Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth,' viz., in a spiritual way. It is a beastly thing to serve our lusts, but kingly to have our conversations in heaven, and vanquish the world : 1 John v. 4, 5, ' Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world ; and this is the victory that overcometli the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? ' To live up to our faith and love with a noble royal spirit.