"And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him."
Isaiah 61:3b
The Messiah's holy priesthood of all believers
Aka the ministers of light
The Lord said that you will be called the Lord’s priests; the people will speak of you as ministers (it means servants) of our God giving glory to God by a sincere devotion. These children of God brought out of captivity so that they will serve Him. They will repair the damage done to the faith by the natural religions. And they will rebuild the cities that were broken down in idolatry and by the reproach of mankind. They shall do this by the power of the gospel, and the grace of God through the Spirit, they will restore the Way of Christ and put it in order again by His light.
And the Lord says,
"I will direct their work in truth." (Isaiah 61:8)
What will we say about this? Why are the children of God dependant upon divine revelation through the Spirit? Why doesn't "doing Church" alone fulfill the divine order?
No matter how strong our eye sight is, even enhanced by our own human invention and mechanization, we require light in order to see. Scripture teaches us that God is the light of truth. Our natural man cannot produce it by his own power. We cannot simply trust in the presence of God based upon what we feel. We must "see" Him by the light of His grace. To become the ministers of light we must be filled with His Holy Spirit. We cannot simply continue as sensual Christians, we must trust in God's promises to be present with us in our service.
Jesus said the kingdom of God is among you. He didn't say that it's within you. God promises that He will be among you working with you. He promises to go before you. He isn't subjectively going about your way hidden within you. He is present among you to help you bear witness to him. His Spirit is the helper, and he helps you to visibly bear witness to the invisible. If while you're sharing God's light, and Jesus isn't visible, then you're likely covering up that light in some neutrality kind of way. Maybe even by some humanistic way.
"And they will call you trees of righteousness"
Isn't it an amazing thing to think about that, being a tree of righteousness? Such a powerful vision...and temptation. We are to believe that we are his priests, his watchman on the inside of those prison walls that is the world.
But the bible says we don't even know our own hearts, we don't see that we're desperately wicked. We don't even know when we're in rebellion. We forget sometimes that we are reconciled at the cross. We forget that God brought us out of our slavery to sin. We forget that God's promise was that we are "Planted by the Lord to glorify Him."
Who are we?
We are simply at peace with God. Justified by faith in Him. And serving in great humility the cause of Christ's gospel. We are ministers of this light. Not religious without Jesus. We are born again through Jesus and enlightened by the Holy Spirit who inspires our lives. And that light is meant to be shared.
That's who we are. Trees planted by God to glorify Him. Feeding the hungry with His light. Guiding the lost souls out from the darkness and into His glorious light.
Jesus said,
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
We are his priests simply coming to the lost souls and helping them to say,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
Like the prisoner who was condemned, the thief who hung on the cross next to Jesus's cross. We are to help them find their way in the darkness and into the gospel light.
We are trees of light, planted by the Lord.
God bless you and keep you, now and everyday. May you light shine ✨ always.