The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Revelation 1:8 - "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." 

Let Your name be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higher... Some of you will not be familiar with those words to a popular Christian song, but these words have been the words that I have awakened to time and again at night and all throughout the day. They do not escape me! I can't shove them aside, but have come to let them penetrate. 

As I awoke early this morning more words rolled through my mind, as Pastor Rory Grooters had prayed they would last night. We have started two studies at church. On Tuesday mornings it's the Book of John by the Apostle John. On Wednesday nights it is the Book of Revelation, which was also written by John. The books go hand in hand to show us who this Man, Jesus, is. With the awakening of our personal revelation of Jesus Christ we can't help but lift Him up higher in our lives. It's only natural. 

John knew Jesus intimately when He was alive. He saw firsthand all the miracles Jesus performed. He listened intently to His every word. It has been said in John 20:2 that John was the one whom Jesus loved. This was not some weird relationship as some have tried to imply. It's like the relationship I've brought up time and again...a personal, intimate relationship (whether man, woman or child) with He who was and is and is to come, our Lord and Savior. It comes from a desire to hang onto His every word, to have a revelation of Who He is.

Jesus, the Name above all names. The name that should be lifted higher. The all-encompassing One, as I mentioned the other day.  John was undone when the revelation of who He was to him went beyond who he knew Jesus to be in the flesh. 

John could not hold back his witness of Christ after His death. So he was exiled on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:9). I've heard this island is very small and rocky. John lived in a cave. After Jesus' death and John was quite old, an angel of the Lord came to John to reveal in more detail the end of what will be His story (history)...revealed ahead of time. The revelation. Maybe I sensed on Sunday just a hint of this in my own spirit when I became "undone" as I read that He is the Alpha and Omega, First and Last, who is and who was and who is to come. These words need to be taken to heart by us all.

John was asked to write what would be described to him, what he heard and saw when the revelation of Jesus Christ was further imparted to him.

The first words he heard were the ones above, I am the Alpha and Omega... He went on to describe the words which were spoken...they were loud words, like a trumpet. When you hear a trumpet you take notice. When anything is loud it tends to drown out other things, even to the point of being annoying. I'm certain this voice was not like that. 

John turned to "see" the voice which spoke and described in the only way he could what this voice looked like:

. He saw One like the Son of Man (human)

. Clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band

. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow

. His eyes like a flame of fire

. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace

. His voice as the sound of many waters

. Out of His mouth went a sharp double edged sword

. His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength

In other words, He was majestic, magnificent, strong, intensely commanding, One that could not be ignored. He could not be drowned out. And when John saw Him, He fell at His feet as dead...he was undone. This description, although I've read it before, only added to the depth, the fullness, of what I felt on Sunday when I believe I sensed just a minute portion of this Alpha and Omega, all-encompassing presence of the Lord and felt undone. The word all is defined by Webster's as completely taken up with, given to, or absorbed by; entirely consumed; as much as possible. I imagine, whether in relationship with Jesus or not, when He returns, we will all will fall at His feet as dead...being undone.

Although I've done studies on Revelation and John, I'm anxious to do them together. This fullness of who Jesus is is vital to our lives. It is life; He is life. I'm hoping to be further undone as these two studies progress. 

He is all in all. Who can understand these mysteries? By the power of His Spirit, John was able to put into words what he saw and heard. Perhaps it is time we all begin to have a better revelation of Who He is. It can happen if we allow it.

Revelation 1:3 - Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.