If we lose the idea of the kin^d(nii we lose with it the most
^ W. T. Davison, Strength for tJie Way, 29.
REVELATION i. 5, 6 13
valuable lesson of the passage. A kingdom denotes an organized, united whole. It implies consolidation and harmony. It is not enough that we should realize the individual Christian as a king ; we must think of him as a member of a kingdom. The kings of this world are constantly at war one with another. Self- aggrandizement and self-assertion seem natural to their position. Solitariness, isolation, independence — these are ideas inseparable from the kingly throne. But this is not the conception of the true disciple of Christ. He is before all things a member of a body. In the Kingdom of Christ indeed all the citizens are kings, because all are associated in the kingliness of Christ. But they are citizens still. They have the duties, the responsibilities, the manifold and complex relationships of citizens. This Kingdom of God, this Church of Christ, exists for a definite end. Its citizen- kings have each their proper functions, perform each their several tasks, contribute each their special gifts to the fulfilment of this purpose.
^ The Kingdom of God cometh to a man when he sets up Jesus' Cross in his heart, and begins to live what Mr. Laurence Oliphant used to call " the life." It passes on its way when that man rises from table and girds himself and serves the person next him. Yesterday the kingdom was one man, now it is a group. From the one who washes to the one whose feet are washed the kingdom grows and multiplies. It stands around us on every side, — not in Pharisees nor in fanatics, not in noise nor tumult, but in modest and Christ-like men. One can see it in their faces, and catch it in the tone of their voices. And if one has eyes to see and ears to hear, then let him be of good cheer, for the Kingdom of God is come. It is the world-wide state, whose law is the Divine will, whose members obey the spirit of Jesus, whose strength is goodness, whose heritage is God.^
2. We were made not only a " kingdom," but also " priests." The two ideas are not carelessly united. Indeed they cannot be separated. The uniting bond is the words, " unto God" One may be a king without being a priest, but not a king unto God. Human life is a Divine thing. It has no coherence, no meaning, no use or end except as it is brought under the laws of God. A man does not find himself, he does not get upon the track of true living, until along with self-culture he combines the rule and habit
^ John Watson, The Mind of the Master.
14 REDEEMING LOVE
of service — making the most of others as well as the most of himself.
(1) The priest has direct access to God. — All of us, each of us, may pass into the secret place of tlie Most High, and stand there with happy hearts, unabashed and unafraid, beneath the very blaze of the light of the Shekinah. And we can do so because Jesus Christ has come to us with these words upon His lips : " I am the way ; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The path into that Divine Presence is blocked for every sinful soul by an immense black rock, its own transgressions ; but He has blasted away the rock, and the path is patent for all our feet. By His death we have the way made open into the holiest of all. And so we can come, come with lowly hearts, come with childlike confidence, come with the whole burden of our weaknesses and wants and woes, and can spread them all before Him, and nestle to the great heart of God the Father Himself. We are priests to God, and our prerogative is to pass within the veil by the new and living Way which Christ is for us.
^ There were many Old Testament customs that were the chrysalis of some beautiful winged truth, to be set free at the touch of Christ. The shell had to be shattered, that such spiritual treasure as Judaism held might become available for the world. That was what Christ meant when He said He came not to destroy, but to fulfil. Priesthood was abolished in the narrow exclusive sense by making all believers priests.^
(2) The priest is appointed to offer sacrifice. — In one sense the sacrifice is offered already ; our High Priest offered Himself once for all upon the altar of the cross, and in that sacrifice none other may share. Yet as our deepest sufferings in His cause " fill up that which is lacking of his afflictions," so our sacrifices are participations, such as men may make, by union with Him, in the one great act of obedience whereby He reconciled us to His Father. We "offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Even in the Old Testament there is the suggestion that God had some pleasure in the smell of the sacri- fice. Gradually, through the influence of the prophet in Israel, there grew up a spiritual conception of sacrifice. Mieah's protest