If you’d told me a few years ago, before I came to Christ, that I’d been created by God to be one of His ‘chosen people’, part of His ‘royal priesthood’, a citizen of His ‘holy nation’ and His ‘special possession’, then I probably would have told you that you’re out of your mind…or that you’d got the wrong person!!

But now, as I meditate on 1 Peter 2:9-10 as someone who’s thankfully come to know the Truth and is in a personal relationship with God, I’d tell you something very different! It fills me with immense awe, wonder, and thankfulness as I think about the truth of who we are and whose we are.

How amazing, that from the moment anyone chooses to give their life to Jesus, they can receive the fullness of this brand new identity and enjoy walking in it daily! What an incredibly merciful, gracious, loving Heavenly Father we have, that He would choose to take us from our sinful, rebellious state and bring us into a life of such privilege and purpose!

As Peter explains, He ‘… called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.’ ‘Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.’ (vv. 9-10).

As if our Father hasn’t blessed us enough through His decision to sacrifice His own Son so we could be forgiven, redeemed, restored and saved (Colossians 1:13-14), He also decided to give us high positions of privilege, authority and responsibility within His eternal Kingdom!

We are ‘a chosen people’:
‘And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.’ (Galatians 3:29). Staying faithful to the promise He made Abraham to bless all the families of the Earth through him (Genesis 12:3), God has now chosen us as the people He wants to use to bless the whole world! Wow…just think about that for a moment!

We are ‘a royal priesthood’:
Yes, did you know you’re now a priest?! A royal priest, in fact! Jesus holds the position of both the great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) and the King of Kings (Revelation 6:15). So every person who receives Christ, automatically receives the status of royalty, and at the same time, the ministry of a priest. We are now seated with Jesus in ‘heavenly places’ (Ephesians 2:6) and will rule and reign with Him in His eternal Kingdom (Daniel 7:27).

We also have full access to the largest inheritance known to man as His co-heirs! (Romans 8:17). Our priestly work involves coming before God to intercede for people, as we now have direct access to His holy presence through the blood of Jesus (1 Timothy 2:1-2 and Hebrews 10:19-25). Additionally, we should represent God to people and live lives of sacrifice and service (Romans 12:1).

We are a ‘holy nation’ and ‘God’s special possession’:
Through our faith in Jesus’s redemptive work, we have been cleansed from our sins, and now belong to our Heavenly Father. We are now His treasured group of people who He’s called to be Holy like He is, so that we stand out from the rest of the world (1 Peter 1:15-16). As the apostle Paul says, we need to ‘...live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you.’(Ephesians 4:1-6)

So, what is God’s greater purpose in giving us this new identity? ‘..that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.’ (1 Peter 2:9). It’s to declare both with our lips and with our lives, the greatness and glory of God! Firstly, we can declare His own praise back to him in worship. And then, we can tell others about who He is what He’s done in our lives, causing them to declare His praises too!