A PEOPLE OF POWER

In a depraved, fallen world, you would probably say that it is seriously impossible to have a people who could be described in the following glowing terms: 'But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special (peculiar) people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.'

Well, according to the bible, there are still such people.  They can be found in every nation of the world.  They come from every tribe or from every tongue.  However, they may not be known by the world.

A Chosen Generation:

You are likely to ask: Who did the choosing?  The Almighty God did the choosing from the inhabitants of this planet and anyone can choose to be among the chosen.  God has criteria for choosing a people for Himself.  Now read this in Romans 10 verses 9 and 10: 'That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.'  The following passage can also be found in Acts 17 verses 30 and 31.

These verses state, ''Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.''

A Royal Priesthood:

This simply means that these people are kings and priests.  They are rulers on earth.  They are empowered to rule over the circumstances of life and over evil spirits.  Mark 16 verses 17 and 18 state, ''And these signs will follow those who believe; In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.''

Being priests, these people are also intercessors for the souls of humans.  They plead with God for the salvation of the souls of humans.  They reconcile humans to God.  2 Corinthians 5 verse 18 states, 'Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.'

A Holy Nation:

These people have also been separated from the pollution that is in the world because they know that the wrath of God will descend on the world because of sin.  They are washed in the blood of the Lamb.  Revelation 16 verse 15 states, ''Behold, I am coming as a thief.  Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.''

A Peculiar People:

These people are peculiar because they are different from the people of the world.  The Psalmist, in Psalm 149 verses 5 to 9, wrote of them, 'Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds.  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgement- This honour have all His saints.  Praise the Lord!'