The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God - Short Studies in Biblical Theology - Paperback

A Thread You May Not Have Noticed — Running Through Everything

The Bible is full of priests. From Adam in the garden to Israel’s Levitical system, from Melchizedek to Aaron, from the temple sacrifices of the Old Testament to the “you are a royal priesthood” of 1 Peter 2 — the theme of priesthood is woven through the entire biblical storyline. And yet it is, as one endorser observes, often overlooked or undervalued in today’s church.

The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God is David Schrock’s careful, accessible, and richly rewarding attempt to pull that thread — and show how it runs from the first pages of Genesis to the final vision of Revelation, with Jesus Christ at its centre as the true and greater high priest.

About This Book

The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God is part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series published by Crossway and edited by Dane C. Ortlund and Miles V. Van Pelt — a series designed to trace major biblical themes through the whole of Scripture and connect academic biblical theology with everyday believers.

David Schrock defines priesthood with precision: priests are consecrated mediators between God and his covenant people, who stand to serve at God’s altar by sanctifying God’s holy place, sacrificing God’s offerings, and speaking God’s covenant. With this definition in hand, he traces this priestly theme across every part of the Bible — from the royal priesthood patterned in Genesis, through the Levitical priesthood legislated at Sinai, the priesthood promised and compromised in the prophets, anticipated in the Psalms, arriving in Jesus, and finally multiplying in the new covenant people of God.

The book argues that priesthood and kingship were never meant to be separated. Melchizedek — king and priest — is the most important figure for understanding this theme. And Jesus, the seed of Abraham, the son of David, and the eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek, is the one in whom royal priesthood is perfectly and finally fulfilled. The church, called to be a royal priesthood in 1 Peter 2, participates in that fulfilment — and the book draws out what that means practically for worship, discipleship, and evangelism.

What the Book Covers — Chapter by Chapter

Introduction: Recovering the Glory of the Royal Priesthood Schrock opens by making the case that priesthood is not a marginal or merely technical theme — it is one of the most important threads in the biblical storyline, and recovering it transforms how Christians understand both the person of Jesus and the identity of the church.

Chapter 1: In the Beginning — The Royal Priesthood Patterned Adam in the garden is charged to work and keep it — language that echoes the duties of the Levitical priests. Schrock shows how Adam functions as the first royal priest, called to reflect God’s glory and mediate his presence in the world. This is the pattern that everything else develops.

Chapter 2: The Law — The Levitical Priesthood Legislated The Sinai covenant gives Israel a detailed priestly system — but one that, Schrock argues, decoupled priesthood from kingship, pointing forward to the day when the two would be reunited. The Levitical priesthood is glorious, but it is a shadow of something greater.

Chapter 3: The Prophets — The Priesthood Promised, Compromised, and Promised Again Israel’s priesthood was repeatedly compromised by corruption and exile. But the prophets look forward to a day when the priesthood will be restored and perfected — in a figure who combines the royal and priestly offices in a way no son of Levi could.

Chapter 4: The Writings — The Royal Priesthood Anticipated The Psalms and Wisdom Literature contribute to the developing portrait of the royal priest — especially Psalm 110, which declares the coming King to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek forever. Schrock draws out the significance of this anticipation for the New Testament’s understanding of Jesus.

Chapter 5: The Gospels — The Royal Priesthood Arrives Jesus enters the narrative as the fulfilment of everything the priestly theme was pointing toward. Schrock traces how the Gospels present Jesus as prophet, priest, and king — and how his sacrifice, sanctification, and speaking fulfil everything the Levitical system anticipated. The cross is the great priestly act.

Chapter 6: Acts through Revelation — The Royal Priesthood Multiplies In Christ, the church becomes a royal priesthood — called out of the nations to be priests to the nations. Schrock shows how the New Testament letters unpack what this means for Christian worship, life, and witness, and how Revelation’s vision of the new Jerusalem is the culmination of the royal priestly theme that began in Eden.

What Readers Will Learn

• How the theme of royal priesthood runs as a silver thread from Genesis to Revelation, giving the Bible a deeper unity than they may have seen before
• Why Adam in the garden functions as the Bible’s first royal priest — and what that reveals about what human beings are for
• What Melchizedek has to do with Jesus — and why the book of Hebrews makes so much of the priest-king of Salem
• Why Jesus is the true and better high priest, and how his sacrifice, sanctification, and speaking fulfil everything the Levitical system pointed toward
• What it means for the church to be a royal priesthood in 1 Peter 2 — and how that shapes Christian worship, discipleship, and witness
• How this biblical-theological theme informs the church’s life and mission in concrete, practical ways
• How the royal priesthood theme reaches its glorious conclusion in the new Jerusalem

Who Should Read This Book

Christians who want to understand the book of Hebrews more deeply — its sustained argument about Jesus as high priest will make far more sense to those who have followed the priestly theme through the whole Old Testament first.

Pastors and preachers who want to preach and teach across the whole Bible with a richer sense of how the priestly theme holds the biblical storyline together and points to Christ.

Small groups and Bible study groups working through the Bible’s great themes will find this an accessible, rewarding, and practically applied study on a theme that genuinely transforms how they read Scripture.

Christians wanting to understand what it means to be a royal priesthood — to grasp the identity Paul, Peter, and John give the church, grounded in the whole Bible’s development of this theme.

Readers of other Short Studies in Biblical Theology titles — especially The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross and Work and Our Labor in the Lord, also available at forthetruth.in — who want to continue building a whole-Bible biblical theology.

About the Author — Dr David S. Schrock

David S. Schrock (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is pastor for preaching and theology at Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, Virginia, and a founding faculty member at Indianapolis Theological Seminary, where he teaches theology. He has contributed to multiple theological journals and specialises in both systematic and biblical theology. One endorser described him as having the uncommon ability to weave together biblical, systematic, and pastoral theology — and The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God is a fine demonstration of that gift.

Series Information — Short Studies in Biblical Theology

The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God is part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series from Crossway, edited by Dane C. Ortlund and Miles V. Van Pelt. The series traces major biblical themes through all of Scripture, connecting academic biblical theology with everyday believers in volumes that are concise, accessible, and practically applied.

Other titles in the series available at forthetruth.in include:

• The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross — Patrick Schreiner
• Work and Our Labor in the Lord — James M. Hamilton Jr.

What Others Have Said

“The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God not only unfolds the Old Testament’s theology of priesthood but also shows us how to think rightly about the work of Christ and the doctrine of the church in light of those truths. If you want to understand what it means for Christ to be our great high priest or for the church to be a royal priesthood, I can’t imagine a better book to get you started.” — Sam Emadi, Senior Pastor, Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church; Cohost, Bible Talk podcast

“The Bible is full of priestly images crucial to our Christology and our Christian identity. David Schrock guides us through the whole canon, from its opening chapters to its closing pages, spotlighting essential passages and many possible allusions to a pervasive theme that’s often overlooked or undervalued in today’s church.” — Andrew Malone, Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Dean, Ridley College, Australia

“The biblical teaching on the priesthood seems foreign and forbidding to many readers today. David Schrock helps us see how a theology of the priesthood permeates the storyline of the Bible and how the priesthood climaxes in Christ and finds its fulfilment in him.” — Thomas Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary