The Beginning and the End
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
...
I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord,
which is,
and which was,
and which is to come,
the Almighty.
*
Grace be unto you
and peace
from him
which is
and which was
and which is to come.
(((The similarities right there within such a short bit of writing does what? Usually we call such repetativeness redundant and any writer worth their salt would have deleted such reiteration as unnecessary use of words. Change things up we say; learn how to say the same thing in a new way so it doesn't come off as repetative. But here in the Bible we know for a fact that the writers of this holy book got it right the first time with no need for an editors sharp pen to run through any lines and make little notations to change things up a bit. These are God's words to man through the Holy Spirit inspiring them to write and if these are holy words we read they are being written for a reason. If there is any repetition it's there for a reason as well, there to show emphasis perhaps? There to indicate important knowledge that we shouldn't overlook. The Bible isn't a novel, the Bible is unique and the message it holds for any who reads it is unique.
Reading the beginning of Revelation and these words- which is, which was, which is to come, we can find again further along--
Rev. {4:8} '...saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'
There is no mistaking the importance of this is there? The fulness glorified in those words is amazing. The Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the ending. Through it ALL the Lord is present, in all stages- past, present, and future. Never was there a time and never will there be a time without the Lord living in it, never. People tend to read the Bible as if it's OLD news, or confusing and complicated and for those interested in such things. People look for the spectacular all over the place. People thrive watching movies, reading books, all about the supernatural and one of the supernatural beings that fascinates them is the vampire who can supposedly live forever and ever. The idea of a being living hundreds of centuries, thousands of years is just incredible and secretly people wish they were able to live that long- that they could be one of these beings with this power over death in life, not power over death and living on another plane of existence either right off or at some future time. The wondrous idea of being able to live among finite creatures holds an allure that has captured the imagination of many people and it's no wonder- Satan's lie way back in the garden of Eden was what? Gen. {3:4} 'And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.'
Power over death. Satan has His own brand of life and he offers the allure of living forever in any way that pleases man so long as man doesn't believe in living forever through Jesus' Christ. Did God lie when He told Adam and Eve they would die? No. We are living proof of that fact and yet Satan would use all the tricks He can to get us to believe that we can live forever without God.
Satan was a created being. Satan can not lay hold of the claim that he is from the beginning, yet he would have people think he is. He wants people to believe that he is God. That they too can be God. It's no joke. There are a lot of people searching for inner power and laying claim to their lives and finding empowerment from themselves. In fact there are a whole slew of people who will try and convince you that you are the captain of your own ship, the ruler of your own destiny, the power over a good life is in your own hands. The stress on self is the same lie satan used at the start. Gen. {3:5} 'For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' Do you hear the lies? Yet that same lie is being spouted today and embraced as something wonderful. People want to be as gods. People want to believe they have a godly power.
Truthfully, while we get all caught up in the fantasy and lies of satan, while he projects his evin into every facet of our lives, when we find a certain hope or wish fulfillment from reading of beings that live forever we are showing that we do have a need for such hope in our lives- only Satan has twisted it and pulled it down to the the level of man as men exist full of sin-- the very opposite of the truth.
There is a being who 'was, is, and is to come', God.
There will never be a time without God. Never. He is all.
He is the beginning and the end, there is nothing before and nothing after God.
We can struggle to find understanding and bring God down to our level and we can even pretend we are gods ourselves, but realizing that as creatures of the Creator we will never be the Creator ourselves is paramount. There is no shame in a son wanting to be like his father, but there is shame in the son wanting to be the father as if the father never was, as if the father isn't, and as if the father will no longer be. If you want to be like your father that's a good thing if you are embracing the good qualities of your father. But if you want to push your father aside and take his place, that's not so good. Usurping the life of another is never right. Creatures trying to usurp the Creator is completely wrong. If I'm told to be like someone, it's not the same as being told to take over that person's life.
Satan full of pride wanted to take over the Creator's position. He didn't want to be like God, he wanted to be God, the same as God without any distinction. And failing at that he wants us to believe we can obtain that position. He wants us to desire to have control over ourselves in place of us allowing God to control us. He's twisted things around perfectly.))))
...
I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord,
which is,
and which was,
and which is to come,
the Almighty.
(((No other can make this claim. We can know this wonderful, amazing, Alpha, Omega, which was, which is, and is to come. We can cling to Him and the promises we find in Him knowing there is no other like Him nor will there ever be. We will always have had a beginning that includes many before ourselves, we will never be the Was at the beginning no matter what we believe. Some can embrace Satan's lies and most will, but by the grace of God I pray I'm not among them; that my Creator, my Redeemer, my God will always be first and foremost in all that I am and all that I do, it's only by His great mercy and love that this can be and I cling to Him through the Holy Spirit, hoping and praying in His everlasting, ever-existing love!
Amen.))))
8/21/10
What a blessing it is for us personally to hear these words of our Savior--
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word
That's you and me Jesus is talking about! Jesus is praying for you and me! This prayer is so important for us. Jesus told us specifically that when we pray we shouldn't do so with vain repetitions, that we shouldn't make a great show of it, no public spectacle when we pray but rather go to a closet and pray there, do so in private rather than put your praying on display. So after being told all this we are greatly privileged, blessed, to hear one of Jesus' prayers. Jesus would go away in private to do most of His praying, but this prayer was one we were meant to hear. A prayer to His Father. Communication with His Father, with God the Father, how amazing is this! We get to listen as Jesus speaks with His Father when mentions US.
Let's really listen to this prayer-- Joh 17:1-26
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said--
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Amazing! Jesus doesn't pray for the world! How shocking that news might be for many who preach that we are to pray for the world. Jesus isn't praying for the world. Jesus knows this world as it is belongs to the prince of darkness. Jesus prays for those that God has given to Him. Those God has given to Him do not find this world to be theirs either.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are NOT supposed to fit in! We are not supposed to look, be, feel, act like the world! We are not supposed to be like the majority! We are not to have their same thoughts or actions. We are not to seek acceptance from the world. If you are hoping to fit in, hoping that the Lord will answer your prayer to make you more like the world- more acceptable to others- then you are not in harmony with Jesus at all. You've had to have heard that that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do things. The right way to most people is the one that doesn't rock any boats, that doesn't make you stand out in a crowd. The wrong way is to go about it in a way that will cause unrest, unease, making people feel uncomfortable- in a way that doesn't conform. Am I suggesting people who serve their Lord and Savior are to be unruly? No. I'm suggesting that we need to stand up for Christ and not be ashamed of Him and do so in a way that the world may not accept. Don't hide our faith, don't try to fit in with the world just so the world accepts you. What good is having the acceptance of EVERYONE on this world and not having the acceptance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? Do your peers accept you? Does your family accept you? Do co-workers accept you? Do your neighbors accept you? Do they all follow the Lord? Are they too not of this world? If they are of this world and not of Jesus then you need to ask yourself if you are conforming to their ways- being accepting of their worldliness- so you are accepted, or are they tolerating your ways, the ways of our Lord?
Jesus lived in this world but wasn't of this world! He is our great example. I want to be of Jesus' world, not this world. The more uncomfortable, the more ill-at-ease, the more strange I feel in this world the better, as long as the world I belong to is the same as Jesus' world.
May God bless us as Jesus' prayer is prayed for us even now. By the mercy of our Lord, by His grace!
In Christ now and forever and ever, always.
Amen.
8/21/11
Revelation
1
This
is taken from a blog post I did in 2009. I'm going to be reviewing my
Revelation studies from the blog
and editing- adding things where the Spirit leads.
By His grace may we only grow closer and closer to Him in all truth!
Watching and praying until He comes.
Rev
1:1 The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John
The
Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants
things which must
Shortly
come to pass
(((God
gave this revelation to Jesus to show to his followers- his servants. --
Servants-
Col.
{4:12} Epaphras, who is one of you, a servantof Christ
Titus
{1:1} Paul, a servant of
God
James
{1:1} James, a servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ
2
Pet.{1:1} Simon Peter, a servantand an apostle of Jesus
Christ
Jude
{1:1} Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ
1
Cor.{7:22} For he that is called in the Lord, being a
servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being
free, is Christ’s servant
Matthew
{20:27} And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
{20:28} Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many.
Matthew
{23:11} But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
John
{15:20} Remember the word that I said unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord.
God
gave this revelation to Jesus to show it to His servants,
us, we who are reading and trying to understand, we who are followers of Christ
seeking to serve Him, and to serve others for Him. We are being shown things and
these things MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS.
We
are being shown things that will come to pass without a doubt. Things that WILL
happen. There are certainties in life, a lot of them. There are positives in
life. If you mix sugar with water without a doubt that sugar will dissolve.
It's a positive. There are things which are positives and nothing can alter
them, nothing. We can't hold back time it marches on whether we want it to or
not- that's a positive. It's a must. When God says something MUST come to pass
it's a certainty, it's a positive, it's inevitable.
So
from the time the revelation was given to Jesus by God to give to us, given to
the angel by Jesus to give to John, and from the moment John's pen hit the page
and the word was sent out to the people, those things written were to come to
pass from that moment on.
The
revelation came to us shrouded in mystery. We couldn't be told things straight
out as if one person was instructing another, things had to be done in cryptic
manners so that the message would be pertinent to ALL that would follow- to ALL
of Christ's servants throughout time until He returns to take us to Heaven.
The
mystery had to be such that it wasn't impossible to comprehend, but that time
would unfold it as necessary, preparing all of Christ's servants.
These
things we are to see must shortly come to pass, what does that mean?
What
is shortly to God?
Shortly
as opposed to eternity when we're dealing with the end of chances for all of
mankind to be Christ's servants- is in truth very short.
When
all those that will be saved are saved and all that will not be saved are not
saved, then Jesus will return and the short time from His return, to life and
to heaven will be over- it's not something to rush even if it has to be short.
You
might have a short bit of time to accomplish something but you don't have to
rush to make the time even shorter.
When
we as humans are faced with a chance to save lives in one profession or
another- fireman, policeman, coastguard, doctors, etc.. and
the situations call for many people needing to be saved all at once- the
regret felt when time runs out and many people are left dead because time ran
out, is immense. The sorrow is overpowering and the wish that time had just
stretched out somehow long enough to save everyone is a wish that is truly felt
and yet a wish that cannot come true.
Time
WILL run out for people, for mankind.
We all will have had a chance to choose to serve Christ or not to serve
Him, to be counted as Jesus' servants or not be counted among them. Jesus
believes time is short because He does not want to lose one person,
not one!
Time
is the shortest when you run out of it, isn't it?
*******
By
His grace always!
Amen.
What a blessing it is for us personally to hear these words of our Savior--
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word
That's you and me Jesus is talking about! Jesus is praying for you and me! This prayer is so important for us. Jesus told us specifically that when we pray we shouldn't do so with vain repetitions, that we shouldn't make a great show of it, no public spectacle when we pray but rather go to a closet and pray there, do so in private rather than put your praying on display. So after being told all this we are greatly privileged, blessed, to hear one of Jesus' prayers. Jesus would go away in private to do most of His praying, but this prayer was one we were meant to hear. A prayer to His Father. Communication with His Father, with God the Father, how amazing is this! We get to listen as Jesus speaks with His Father when mentions US.
Let's really listen to this prayer-- Joh 17:1-26
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said--
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Amazing! Jesus doesn't pray for the world! How shocking that news might be for many who preach that we are to pray for the world. Jesus isn't praying for the world. Jesus knows this world as it is belongs to the prince of darkness. Jesus prays for those that God has given to Him. Those God has given to Him do not find this world to be theirs either.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are NOT supposed to fit in! We are not supposed to look, be, feel, act like the world! We are not supposed to be like the majority! We are not to have their same thoughts or actions. We are not to seek acceptance from the world. If you are hoping to fit in, hoping that the Lord will answer your prayer to make you more like the world- more acceptable to others- then you are not in harmony with Jesus at all. You've had to have heard that that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do things. The right way to most people is the one that doesn't rock any boats, that doesn't make you stand out in a crowd. The wrong way is to go about it in a way that will cause unrest, unease, making people feel uncomfortable- in a way that doesn't conform. Am I suggesting people who serve their Lord and Savior are to be unruly? No. I'm suggesting that we need to stand up for Christ and not be ashamed of Him and do so in a way that the world may not accept. Don't hide our faith, don't try to fit in with the world just so the world accepts you. What good is having the acceptance of EVERYONE on this world and not having the acceptance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? Do your peers accept you? Does your family accept you? Do co-workers accept you? Do your neighbors accept you? Do they all follow the Lord? Are they too not of this world? If they are of this world and not of Jesus then you need to ask yourself if you are conforming to their ways- being accepting of their worldliness- so you are accepted, or are they tolerating your ways, the ways of our Lord?
Jesus lived in this world but wasn't of this world! He is our great example. I want to be of Jesus' world, not this world. The more uncomfortable, the more ill-at-ease, the more strange I feel in this world the better, as long as the world I belong to is the same as Jesus' world.
May God bless us as Jesus' prayer is prayed for us even now. By the mercy of our Lord, by His grace!
In Christ now and forever and ever, always.
Amen.
8/21/11
Revelation
1
This
is taken from a blog post I did in 2009. I'm going to be reviewing my
Revelation studies from the blog
and editing- adding things where the Spirit leads.
By His grace may we only grow closer and closer to Him in all truth!
Watching and praying until He comes.
Rev
1:1 The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John
The
Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants
things which must
Shortly
come to pass
(((God
gave this revelation to Jesus to show to his followers- his servants. --
Servants-
Col.
{4:12} Epaphras, who is one of you, a servantof Christ
Titus
{1:1} Paul, a servant of
God
James
{1:1} James, a servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ
2
Pet.{1:1} Simon Peter, a servantand an apostle of Jesus
Christ
Jude
{1:1} Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ
1
Cor.{7:22} For he that is called in the Lord, being a
servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being
free, is Christ’s servant
Matthew
{20:27} And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
{20:28} Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many.
Matthew
{23:11} But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
John
{15:20} Remember the word that I said unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord.
God
gave this revelation to Jesus to show it to His servants,
us, we who are reading and trying to understand, we who are followers of Christ
seeking to serve Him, and to serve others for Him. We are being shown things and
these things MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS.
We
are being shown things that will come to pass without a doubt. Things that WILL
happen. There are certainties in life, a lot of them. There are positives in
life. If you mix sugar with water without a doubt that sugar will dissolve.
It's a positive. There are things which are positives and nothing can alter
them, nothing. We can't hold back time it marches on whether we want it to or
not- that's a positive. It's a must. When God says something MUST come to pass
it's a certainty, it's a positive, it's inevitable.
So
from the time the revelation was given to Jesus by God to give to us, given to
the angel by Jesus to give to John, and from the moment John's pen hit the page
and the word was sent out to the people, those things written were to come to
pass from that moment on.
The
revelation came to us shrouded in mystery. We couldn't be told things straight
out as if one person was instructing another, things had to be done in cryptic
manners so that the message would be pertinent to ALL that would follow- to ALL
of Christ's servants throughout time until He returns to take us to Heaven.
The
mystery had to be such that it wasn't impossible to comprehend, but that time
would unfold it as necessary, preparing all of Christ's servants.
These
things we are to see must shortly come to pass, what does that mean?
What
is shortly to God?
Shortly
as opposed to eternity when we're dealing with the end of chances for all of
mankind to be Christ's servants- is in truth very short.
When
all those that will be saved are saved and all that will not be saved are not
saved, then Jesus will return and the short time from His return, to life and
to heaven will be over- it's not something to rush even if it has to be short.
You
might have a short bit of time to accomplish something but you don't have to
rush to make the time even shorter.
When
we as humans are faced with a chance to save lives in one profession or
another- fireman, policeman, coastguard, doctors, etc.. and
the situations call for many people needing to be saved all at once- the
regret felt when time runs out and many people are left dead because time ran
out, is immense. The sorrow is overpowering and the wish that time had just
stretched out somehow long enough to save everyone is a wish that is truly felt
and yet a wish that cannot come true.
Time
WILL run out for people, for mankind.
We all will have had a chance to choose to serve Christ or not to serve
Him, to be counted as Jesus' servants or not be counted among them. Jesus
believes time is short because He does not want to lose one person,
not one!
Time
is the shortest when you run out of it, isn't it?
*******
By
His grace always!
Amen.