This is the one-hundred-fifty-ninth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. Exodus 19:5-6

What do you call the people you love most? Probably something more than their name. For some people we come up with terms of endearment, words like “honey,” “sweetheart,” “pumpkin,” or other customized terms, which are so personal or quirky we would be embarrassed if they slipped out in public. For some people we come up with special labels: “my beloved daughter,” “the best of the best,” “one-in-a-million.”

When the Israelites were camped at Mount Sinai, soon after the Exodus from Egypt, God explained how he had “carried [them] on eagles’ wings and brought [them] to himself” (Ex. 19:4). This is a powerful statement. God swept the people up to be with him. There in the desert, with the mountain as eternal witness, God bestowed his covenant on his people. Truly a marriage made in heaven, solemnized with terms of endearment: “treasured possession,” “kingdom of priests,” “holy nation.”

The whole earth is God’s, but these people would be “treasured possessions.”

Some of them would have the job of “priest” (which means someone who “stands” for God before the people), but all of them would be priests—a kingdom of priests—because every man and woman would stand for God.

God is Lord over the nations, but the Hebrews were called to be a “holy nation,” which means “different” or “distinct.”

In 1 Peter 2, in the New Testament, these terms of endearment are repeated:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who 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 (1 Peter 2:9-10).

To understand what it means to be called, we need to comprehend the terms by which he calls us. God’s call is not the command barked by a drill sergeant. Not pleading. Not negotiating.

God’s call bestows identity on us. It makes us who we are. Treasured, priestly, holy.

PONDER
How will this week be different if you “stand” before God and “stand” for God in the world?
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Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s teaching pastor. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel’s many books include Spiritual Leadership Today: Having Deep Influence in Every Walk of Life (Zondervan, 2016). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.