“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
– 1 Peter 2:9
Oh, yes. Did you just hear that description from 1 Peter 2:9 of who you are, who I am, who we are as the church, as those who are in Christ? I mean, we could just camp out for a long time with each of these descriptions. “A chosen race,” a picture of God’s grace, that has made us His children, not by any merit in us, but totally by mercy in Him. By His grace, we’ve been made “A royal priesthood”, like this picture of priesthood. We are able to come to God, you and I, able to come to God.
By God’s grace, we belong to Him. We have been brought out of darkness into His marvelous light. May we be faithful to proclaim His excellencies.
What only a few people in the Old Testament could do and only that and in part because they still had sin and then we come to God through Christ into the throne room of grace, “A royal priesthood, a holy nation set apart,” a people set apart for God. You and I have been set apart for God, “A people for His own possession.” We belong to God. We are His. My children belong to me, we are like that with God. We belong to Him. Like why all these things? Why a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation of people for His own possession, so that we may proclaim, so that you may, I may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you and me out of darkness into His marvelous light? That’s who we are.
This Verse Praises God For His Grace And Excellencies
We once lived in darkness on a road that led to eternal death. Now we’ve been called out into marvelous light and a road that leads to eternal life. We experience eternal life even right now and we have been made all these things. Don’t miss the point here. 1 Peter 2:9, “So that we may proclaim His excellencies.” And don’t we want to do that? Don’t we want to proclaim His excellencies? The excellencies of the One who has saved us by His grace, who has welcomed us as priests into His presence, who has set us apart to possess us as His children, who has brought us from darkness into light. Yes, yes, yes. So God, we want to proclaim your excellencies.
We praise you for your grace. We praise you for the priesthood you have made us. God, thank you for inviting us into your presence. Thank you for setting us apart for your purposes. Thank you for saving us as your possession. We gladly belong to you. In fact, God right now we say it together. We gladly belong to you. Thank you for the privilege of being your children, of belonging to you, of you taking responsibility for our provision. All glory be to your name for calling us out of darkness into life, from death to light, out of darkness, into light from death to life. Yes, and so we pray.
1 Peter 2:9 Wants Us To Proclaim His Excellencies Today
Please help us to proclaim your excellencies today. God, we pray that we would not go through today without proclaiming your excellencies to somebody else, to others around us, those who are in Christ, to encourage them when the excellencies of who you are and then those who are not in Christ. God, we pray that you would help us to proclaim your excellencies today, that more people would be brought out of darkness into light, from death to life. So God, please, please, please cause more people today through our lives, this week through our lives, this weekend whenever we gather together with the church, God, we pray that you would bring more people into this chosen race, royal priesthood, Holy nation, people belonging to your possession and people for your possession brought out of darkness into light.
1 Peter 2:9 Prays For The Karapalpak People In Uzbekistan
So God, please do that in more people’s lives today. Do it in people around us, people in our cities, God, we pray for people far from us. We pray for the Karakalpak in Uzbekistan, 720,000 of them. Very few, if any followers of Jesus. God, we pray that you would bring Karakalpak men and women from darkness to light. Please, oh God. Please, Oh God, send laborers to proclaim your excellencies among them. So God, we pray for the spread of your excellencies through us, your chosen race, royal priesthood, Holy nation through us as your people, for your possession, who you have called from darkness into light, from death into life. Oh God, thank you for your grace. Help us to proclaim the excellencies of your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
