Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation

In Exodus 19:6, this is the first time that we see this, my friends, being set apart in that understanding. And look at what it says: "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." That was first written at Mount Sinai, everybody. That's the first time that you see it, at the base of Mount Sinai. So, there's a correlation between being set apart, or a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, in the Torah. Mount Sinai, when the Torah was given. That's the first time that He said it. So, He wants His people to be set apart in His holy ways that He breathed out of His mouth from the beginning of the world. Psalm 33:7 would tell you that. So, this is truly amazing how we can get confused because God is holy. He's righteous. He's sovereign. He's divine. Everything that has come out of His mouth is holy, right? Holy. So, He wants us to have boundary lines and that holiness. And that's what the Torah is, or the laws of God are, is the boundary lines of being a good, holy person from the Almighty God. It's truly remarkable. He does mention that in Deuteronomy 14:2 as well, to summarize it as well. Moses reminds all of the Jewish people to be set apart, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation before He passes to the other side.

Now, let's go to the New Testament. Let's see what the Apostle Peter says as well. 1 Peter 2:7-10: "Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word of God, to which they were also appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Excuse me, lost my place there. "Who once were not a people, but are now the people of Elohim; who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." My friends, He's telling all people who believe in Yeshua that you are that kingdom of priests and a holy nation as well. He's taking us back to what Moses reminded the people in Exodus 19:6 and Deuteronomy 14:2. So, even the Apostle John, of the book of Revelation, Revelation 1:6 says the same thing: "A kingdom of priests and a holy nation." So, that is the standard, everybody, for all of us: to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What does that entail? To be set apart into His ways. What's His ways? Well, His ways, including Yeshua's ways, are the Torah, the five books of Moses, the commandments, the laws, the statutes, the ordinances that He loves, and He wants us to love those as well. I'm not talking about sacrifices, everybody. I'm talking about obedience to what He commanded us to follow Him. That's for the high priest to worry about all of those things with the sacrifices. So, don't worry about that. We're not high priests. Our job is to obey Him. Whatever pertains to us with the Ten Commandments, with the ways to worship, the Sabbath, the new moon, the seven feast days as well, all of these things, He wants us to be in obedience to Him. And then if we are a farmer, if we are a judge, if we are whatever, then He tells us the commandments to go by as well. So, He's the one who is holy. We are not. He's the one who is the lawgiver. We are not. Including Paul, he's not the lawgiver. Only the Father is, to the Son, to Moses. So, we've got to really get back into this now that we've got to understand the proper order of obedience because a lot of people believe they're set apart, and according to the Apostle Peter, they are not set apart because they're being disobedient to the Word. And just like he says, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense," because of the commandments. They stumble being disobedient to what? The Word of God, the Torah, to which they were also appointed. Very, very serious accusations there, my friends. But you can read that in Revelation 1:6 as well.

And now let's go to Psalm 4:3. And who sets us apart? And who makes us holy? God or ourselves? Well, obviously, through biblical sense and common sense, God's the one who sets us apart, right? He's the one who created us in the image of Him. So, He wants us to be like Him because we're in the image of Him, right? So, not everybody is a child of God. Everybody is made in the image of God, but not everybody is a child of God. John chapter 1 goes through that. You've got to believe in Yeshua to be a child of Elohim. Without that, you're not, or I wouldn't be either. So, we've got to get back to the understanding of that, that we're all made in the image of Elohim. That's in Genesis, Genesis 1, Genesis 2. But we are not all called children of God unless that person believes in the God of Israel and the King of Israel. So, my friends, with that being said, He's the one who makes us holy. In Psalm 4:3: "But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself." Not everybody, just the godly for Himself. Leviticus 20:7-8: "'Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep My statutes and do them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you.'" So, again, who consecrates those? He does. Because He says, "Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep His statutes to consecrate yourselves and do them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you." Amen and amen and amen. So, we have to make sure, my friends, and this is a great time to do it every month or every Shabbat to remind ourselves: Are we being set apart by God? Are we being set apart by what we want to do? By the world? By the world's standards? By the church standards? By the synagogue standards? By whoever standards? Are we going to be set apart by that? Or are we going to be set apart by the Word of Elohim? There are two different things. Totally different. A church separation or God separation. Totally two different things if you really think about it. The church will tell you, "No Torah." God's going to tell you to follow His instructions. Which one are you going to do? Follow the church or follow God? I'm going to follow God. Synagogues, they're going to tell you not to believe in Yeshua. I'm going to believe in Yeshua. Which one are you going to follow? The synagogue or Yeshua? I'm going to follow Yeshua. So, what does that mean? I'm going to follow Yeshua, and I'm going to keep the commandments through the blessed Holy Spirit. And I don't need a synagogue or a church to tell me otherwise, because the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation will correct both synagogue and church. So, we have to really understand where our brothers and sisters are on both sides of the aisle. And they've got to come to the middle where we all are to be the one new body, the one new man, the kingdom of priests, the holy nation, Yeshua, Holy Spirit, Torah observant to what we can be. No sacrificing, none of that stuff, just obedience to the days to worship, and also whatever pertains to you as a male or a female, or a farmer, or a judge, or whatever the Torah says. It's a really beautiful thing to stay in the guidelines and the boundary lines of Yah. Because whenever we get out of that, that's when the cattle prod comes to get us back in, right? Have you ever been hit with a cattle prod? Have you ever had that happen? I wouldn't suggest that, but just to understand that's what it's going to be like. But it's going to be the sword instead of the cattle prod. So, we've got to really understand what's going down at the end of the age when He's trying to purify the Christians and the Jewish people. And it's a very serious time, as we can all see what's going on in the Middle East. It doesn't seem like it's going to calm down anytime soon. So, we've got to realize what time it is. And the only way to understand that, my friends, is to understand God's calendar. I know most of you guys do understand that. But at the same time, it never hurts to really be repetitive so we can get more revelation when we look at these months, we look at the times, the seasons, etc.