A GREAT PICTURE OF JESUS
REVELATION 1:5-8
REVELATION 1:5-8 NKJV
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
OBSERVATION:
I have never enjoyed Hollywood's portrayal of preachers. They are depicted as either crazy, wimpy or money-hungry thieves.
While I admit some preachers have given credence to those portrayals, the vast majority of ministers are none of those things.
But when it comes to Hollywood's portrayal of Jesus, this is when I really get ticked off. Way too often, He has been shown as a weak, wimpy Jesus. He is anything but. And while recent shows like The Chosen give us a much better picture of Christ, they are the exception, not the rule.
The scriptures are the number one way to see an accurate picture of Jesus. They reveal who He is and how He walked during His time on earth. And the scriptures reveal who He is now as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The apostle John had a revelation of the exalted Jesus. His book, the last book in the Bible, is called The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings. Revelation is the wrap up, the book of consummation.
In the verses for today, John gives us a graphic picture of the risen exalted Jesus and touches on what He has done for us in His plan of redemption.
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness of God. He is the firstborn from the dead, which indicates there are others born again. That would be us, those who have made Him Lord and Savior.
He is the ruler over the kings of the earth. He loved us and washed us from all our sins with His own blood. He made us kings and priests. Or a Kingdom of priests to our God and His God and Father.
He is, by His own proclamation, the Beginning and the End. He was, is, and is to come. He is the Almighty. Ain't nothing weak about that.
APPLICATION:
A friend of mine concludes his prayers in Jesus' Name, the Strong Son of God. That's an accurate way to pray. And it paints a better picture of Jesus. We are not serving a weak, spineless Savior. We are serving the King of kings and Lord of lords, The Alpha, and Omega. The Almighty.