Royal Priesthood And Prophetic Focus
Royal priesthood is a declaration of kingship in 1 Peter 2:9. Kingship is acting on your spiritual authority to invade, occupy and take dominion. Everyone wants to be a prophet. The danger, however, is an excessive focus on the prophetic ministry can be unhealthy and cause you to miss your delegated kingship.
Scripture declares, “The law and the prophets were until John since that time the Kingdom is being preached” (Luke 16:16). Why then the excessive focus on prophetic ministry? Is it the mystery? Is it the need for something other than the written Word? What is the draw? I know the Bible says to “covet to prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:39) but prophecy alone will not make you a king in Christ. Scripture also says, “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
Prophecy is basically for edification, exhortation and comfort. It should always be judged against the written Word and plain old common sense. It reveals the mind of Christ only when confirmed by the logos.
Think about this for a minute, if the Holy Spirit never released another prophetic word in your life, would not the written Word of God offer enough guidance for Spirit-led living? I should think so, even though I too love the prophetic operations of the Holy Spirit.
Like you I love prophetic ministry. I am, however, concerned that too much of a good thing is potentially harmful. I know people that covet to prophesy, for example, and don’t know the written Word. To me, this is harmful and dangerous. This readies the scripturally ignorant for all sorts of potential problems with demonic and familiar spirits. Have you ever met a very spiritual person that is not sober-minded and comes across as a flake? Most of us have and know that such a person is not a good example of our God. The apostolic restoration opposes flakiness and works on developing people to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might that are both spiritually and emotionally stable.
I think the Holy Spirit is currently spotlighting the apostolic church that equips and empowers every believer for kingship. Kingship is acting on your spiritual authority to invade, occupy and influence the world around you. It is fulfilling the first great commission to “multiply, produce, increase, subdue and take dominion.” Today, however, it seems everyone wants to be a prophet and no one a king. What good is a low-level prophetic word while the wicked continue to rule over God’s people? Across our country, I hear prophets encouraging us to stop focusing on entertaining the people of God and equipping them to be revolutionary change agents outside the four walls of the local church. This equipping is the empowering of the kingship of every believer. Kingship positions the sons and daughters of God to enter positions of governing the affairs of men.
A Chosen Generation, A Royal Priesthood
The Apostle Peter spoke of the kingship of every believer. He said, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:9). The word royal means that you are part of a regal, kingly priesthood or said another way, a priesthood of kings. Growing up in church no one taught me about kingship. Perhaps no one mentioned it to you either. I was taught to withdraw myself from the world because the world was “going to hell in a handbasket” and I should just make sure I was “rapture ready.” So, like many others, I was taught about my priesthood as a believer but never about my authority to rule as a king.
Peter spent forty days with Jesus right before His ascension into heaven (Acts 1). During this forty days, Jesus spoke of the royal priesthood of believers. We know this because after He finished teaching them, they asked him about the restoration of the Kingdom (Acts 1:6). Could it be possible that Jesus spoke of the reconstitution of the Kingdom through his disciples? I think so. Peter referred to this restoration when he said that “heaven must receive Jesus until the times of the restitution of all things which God had spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21).
It’s interesting that prophets “since the world began” spoke of this kingdom restitution yet today we hear little to nothing of the restitution of the kingdom from modern prophets and prophetic circles. I am convinced that the restitution of all things is Christ's new world order that He spoke about when He preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God over two thousand years ago. Kingdom preaching began as a seed then and is increasing in our lifetime now.
Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Jesus didn’t come preaching the gospel of the cross. He preached the gospel of the Kingdom. In His generation, they received the gospel of the Kingdom and missed the gospel of the cross. Today we receive the gospel of the cross and miss the gospel of the Kingdom.
When Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom it required people to “repent,” in other words to change the way they thought. Today we must do the same because our thinking is flawed. We must do our best to read the Word, for example, for what it really says and not what we think it says. All of us need to renew our minds. The rise of the kingship of every believer is at hand.
Let the kings arise!
(c) Apostle Jonas Clark
www.jonasclark.com