You will be called, ‘The Lord’s Priests,’ ‘The Servants of our God.’ You will have the riches that come from all the nations on earth. And you will be proud you have it.
But I will give many descendants to my servant David and to the family group of Levi. They will be as many as the stars in the sky—no person can count all those stars. And they will be as many as the pieces of sand on the seashore—no person can count those pieces of sand.”
You also are like living stones. God is using you to build a spiritual temple. {\cf2\super [14]} You are to serve God in that temple as holy {\cf2\super [15]} priests. You are to give spiritual sacrifices {\cf2\super [16]} to God that he will accept because of Jesus Christ.
But you are chosen people. You are the King’s priests. You are a holy {\cf2\super [20]} nation of people. You are people who belong to God. God chose you to tell about the wonderful things he has done. He called (brought) you out of darkness (sin) into his wonderful light.
Blessed (happy) and holy {\cf2\super [154]} are those people who share in this first raising of the dead. The second death has no power over those people. Those people will be priests for God and for Christ. They will rule with him for 1,000 years.