“I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation
and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called
Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the
Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you
see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to
Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and
to Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:9-11 NKJV)
Who is Christ? He is the Son of God and the Christ of God,
the Son of Man. He was the Word in the beginning, says John. He was with God
and He is God and nothing was made without Him (John 1:1-3). He suffered and
died on the cross according to the Prophets, buried and raised from the dead according
the scriptures. He paid the price for the sin and death of humanity through the
bloody death. He fulfilled the promises of God, the salvation of man. He came
from God to give His body as the ransom sacrifice and went back to the Father
to become the Judge and the Lord of all. He ascended into heaven in the eyes of
the disciples. The Son of God will come again in cloud and glory with a loud
trumpet call of the angels.
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then
all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels
with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31 NKJV)
The ascended Christ has incarnated again on the Day of
Pentecost by means of the Spirit into the assembly of one hundred twenty people
in the Jerusalem Temple. That’s the birthday of the church of Christ. Christ
the Lord in glory summoned John to reveal the things will shortly take place.
John was on the island condemned and exiled. He was in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience of Christ Jesus. Why are the sufferings of the saints the patience
of Christ? It is because God extended the judgment time for the elect to endure
till the day of the Lord out of the boundless mercies of God.
Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. He
holds the key to the consummation of the heaven and earth. He is the Sustainer
and Holder of every elements of power in the universe. “He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were
created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were
created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all
things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the
preeminence.” (Colossians 1:15-18 NKJV)
Christ spoke in a loud voice as of a trumpet to the seven
churches in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to
Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. The seven churches are the representatives throughout
the twenty one centuries. The prophecy of Christ was spoken through John for
the benefit of hearers now and forever.
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