Revelation 1:17-20 Series

Revelation 1:17-20

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one.

Can you imagine seeing Christ standing before you? The awe and humility that would overcome you being in His presence is indescribable. I am sure shame would also be a part of what one would feel being the perfect was before the imperfect.

I am led to a scene much similar to this, that being Saul on the road to Damascus when Saul came face to face with the Spirit of Jesus.

Acts 9:4-5 ~ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Every knee will bow some day scripture tells us and at that moment I can assure you Saul completely understood who stood before him instantly.

Every Christian at some point upon their regeneration into salvation should have felt this overwhelming understanding of their great sin and and the great cost of it. If you haven't I would question if you have been truly regenerated. If you are not reminded of your sin often you have no understanding of the true grace you have been given.

I unfortunately would say that there are many, many unregenerate people in our churches today and many more outside the church. Those who profess Christ but who have not had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at least yet.

The disciples were in this same state while Jesus was still walking the earth. There was no regeneration until the upper room when the Holy Spirit came upon them. That is when their entire life changed.

18(b) I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

When we think about Jesus we need to understand the complexity of who He was. He was eternally God and momentarily man both at the same time. This has been a difficult understanding for many and rightly so, we are just mere man and us fully understanding this is not an easy thing to grasp, but yet it is true.

1 John 1:1-5 ~ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

1 John 1:14 ~ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This combining of God and man in Jesus is as clear as it can be in 1 John. The description of all things being made through Jesus is also a clear understanding of at least a portion of the role as God that Jesus has as well as of course His sacrificial and atoning role in salvation. It also confirms Jesus' eternalness.

Christians are the light of Jesus in a smaller way made to shine bright and overcome darkness. That role for us means we as Christians have a responsibility in our salvation, one in which we are seeing less and less of these days and that is our role in salvation through the sharing of the gospel.

As already stated, the unregenerate are not Christians in any way and do not have the light of Jesus in them in order to light up anything. That doesn't mean that they cannot be loving generous people because they can. It also doesn't mean that God won't use them for His purpose and glory because He often does.

Jesus is the son of God full of grace and truth which can be tricky in many churches today because of truth, that is the truth in scripture. It can be tricky even for many Christians as well. The truth of Christ and who He is and His purpose in every aspect isn't always accepted. Things such as pride, power and self glorification often gets in the way of accepting the totality of Christ. Man's will and ability in many cases is thought to be more the norm than that of Christ's will and power.

19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

John is told again by Jesus to write these things down. Jesus doesn't want John to miss even one thing because of the important things he will see.