“And has made us unto our God, Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10).

The authority of a Kingdom is embodied in the King. The authority of the Temple of God is with the Priests who administer the things of God therein. The authority over all things is the King of King and great High Priest of the Most High God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to our Lord by virtue of His overcoming sacrifice of Himself on the Cross for the purpose of the Redemption of Man from sin and death and to destroy the works of the Devil (cf. 1 John 3:8; Romans 3:24).

The authority of Christ has not been kept back to Christ but has been freely given to the Saints of God, His Body, to raise for Himself a people made like unto Himself, being conformed to His image, nature and kind. Salvation has come to us, not so we have a ticket to heaven, but that we should “reign on the earth” with our Lord.

Kings and Priests in the Kingdom of God are made so by the righteous act and holy gift of the Father and the Son to His Redeemed possession through His own blood that washed, justified and sanctified us in His Holy Spirit which He has freely given to all who believe on His Holy Name.

The foundation for the authority of the believer is not in those who believe, but in Him in whom they believe. The foundation of God is a solid rock that gives the believer standing, a standing upon which he can reign in life as a King and Priest unto God.

The great failure of many believers is a lack of understanding of the position they have in Christ, the Beloved Son, who by His own words declared:

“All authority (exousia) has been given to Me in heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

The position of the believer is in the Son of God, who commissioned us to live in the power and authority of His Name, to reign in the earth as Kings and Priests, and to go forth in His Name into all the earth establishing the Kingdom of God.

The position of being in the Righteousness of God was given to the believers upon the Resurrection of Christ having overcome sin and death for us and as a free gift to His Redeemed, Christ blessed His chosen ones with Himself in us by the Holy Spirit.

“You shall receive power (dunamis), after the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The great disconnect between those who reign and those who flounder in their faith is in the area of suffering. The great Apostle tells us:

“If we suffer (hupomeno: to stay under), we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us” (II Timothy 2:12).

We are in the Son, the Crucified, the Lamb of God. We must stay under Him, in Him, living according to His will, His obedience, His Life. We are never independent of Him but we have been joined in Him by one Spirit (cf. I Corinthians 6:17).

He is the King and High Priest (cf. Hebrews 3:1) in whom we dwell, in whom we reign in life; in whom we suffer and fill up His afflictions (cf. Colossians 1:24) “for the sake of His Body, the Church”.

Beloved, we do not live to ourselves, we live to God. In this we live as Kings and Priests to God, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever, Amen.

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