To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 1:5b-6

In his greeting to the seven churches, John bursts forth in excited praise to Jesus. He exalts Jesus specifically for three things:

“To him who loves us.”
The Book of Revelation is known as a book that focuses on the sovereignty and majesty and holiness and judgment of Jesus Christ. And all of that is true. But yet the book does not go five verses before Jesus is praised as the one “who loves us.”

We must never lose sight of the gracious compassion of Jesus for us,the outrageous love of Jesus for us,the relentless tenderness of Jesus for us. Until you know and feel Jesus’s love for you, you do not know Jesus’s heart. Not fully. Let Jesus love you.

“To him who has freed us from our sins by his blood.”
Invariably, when the New Testament mentions the love of God it also mentions the cross of Jesus, for the cross is the final proof of God’s love for us. Because Jesus loves us, he died for us on the cross and he has freed us from our sins by that shed blood.

Note the past tense: He has freed us. You are forgiven and free, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior.

Do you feel free from your sin? If not, whose voice are you listening to, that of the Great Liberator or that of the evil accuser?

“To him who has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.”
We are the kingdom of Jesus. The kingdom of Jesus is not land. It’s not geography. It’s people! Our mission is to advance that kingdom in the lives of more and more people.

We are also priests to serve our God. We are priests because we have access to God and because we bring intercession to God and because we serve God. In the New Testament, priests are not the professionals who wear collars and robes. The priests are not the pastors and missionaries. Every believer is a priest. You are a priest to serve your God and spread his kingdom.