Revelations 1:5b – 6 ”To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
“To Him who loved us…” It’s difficult to believe, but Jesus loved every one of us even before we were born. In America, when parents and grandparents love a child, they will display any drawing the child makes on their kitchen refrigerator where they can look at it frequently. Max Lucado is fond of saying that God is so crazy about us that he has our drawings posted on His kitchen refrigerator!
God tells us in Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus died on the cross for each of us. One pastor we knew used to say that if each of us had been the only person in the whole world, Jesus would still have died for us.
“And washed us from our sins in His own blood…” The only payment for a sin debt is blood, but none of us is good enough by ourselves to pay for our own sins. Only the blood of Jesus, a perfect man, is sufficient to take away our sins. Earlier John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, His blood literally washes away our sins. When I was a kid, one of our favorite places to play was down by a small creek that ran through our farm. The only problem was that there was a lot more mud than there was water! This meant that once we finished playing, we looked like mud monsters that only a mother could love! I can’t count the number of times my mom had to pour buckets of water over us before we could even think about coming in the house, just to get the worst of the mud off. Sin clings even more closely than mud and is harder to get rid of! Only a Holy Spirit pressure washer can blast away our sin. nd has made us kings and priests to His God and Father…” Remember the story of the prodigal son? Born into a comfortably wealthy family, this younger son couldn’t wait to run out and live it up! He demanded his inheritance and took off for the big city where he proceeded to run through the money in the shortest time possible. Reduced to homelessness, the young man limped back to the country and became a swine herd, one of the dirtiest jobs possible. Finally, the boy decided to return home in hopes that his father would at least give him a job around the farm. But the father was thrilled that the boy had returned and celebrated his home coming. God our heavenly Father is like that. By ourselves, we don’t deserve God’s love at all. We have done nothing to make ourselves loveable. But God is rich in mercy and forgives all those who will turn away from their sins and come to him. When the prodigal son returned, the father dressed him in fine clothes and put a ring on his finger. If we will turn to God, He will make us royalty.
What is the significance of our being elevated to the status of priests? Only certain men of a certain age range and family background were elegible to serve as priests. These men had to be in good health without any sores, discharges, or other blemishes. But here God is promising to accept us as His kings or queens and priests or priestesses and allow us to enter the most holy places, even though by ourselves we do not deserve it.
“to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” God is worthy of every bit of praise we can offer! There are no words sufficient to describe the greatness of God or His glory. But we should always thank and praise him for what He has done for us. And we should always seek to obey him. If we truly want God to have dominion forevre, He must occupy first place in our lives and in our hearts. Only then can we truly echo this prayer.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for loving us, for cleaning us up, and for elevating us to a status that only you can give. Help everyone who reads this devotional to realize how precious they are to you and how deep is your love for them. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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