Jesus gets you. He also loves you & has freed you from your sin.
Revelation 1:4–8 (NIV)
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 10: The Deity of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ,
according to his divine nature,
is the only Son of God—
eternally begotten,
not made nor created,
for then he would be a creature.
He is one in essence with the Father;
coeternal;
the exact image of the person of the Father
and the “reflection of his glory,”
being in all things like him.
He is the Son of God
not only from the time he assumed our nature
but from all eternity,
as the following testimonies teach us
when they are taken together.
Moses says that God “created the world”;
and John says that “all things were created by the Word,”
which he calls God.
The apostle says that “God made the world by his Son.”
He also says that “God created all things by Jesus Christ.”
And so it must follow
that he who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ
already existed when all things were created by him.
Therefore the prophet Micah says
that his origin is “from ancient times,
from eternity.”
And the apostle says
that he has “neither beginning of days
nor end of life.”
So then,
he is the true eternal God,
the Almighty,
whom we invoke,
worship,
and serve.
Summary
We often forget how shocking these words are: Grace and peace to you. Many of us hear these words at least once a week on the Lord's Day, and often twice.
But as he introduces the greatest story ever told - not just a story, but the entire history of man's creation, redemption, salvation and consummation - John begins by reminding us of exactly who and what offers grace and peace to you:
Him who is, and who was, and who is to come;
The seven-fold (meaning the complete) Spirit before His throne;
Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of earth.
These triune members of the Godhead speak with a unified voice at the end of this greeting, calling Himself the A and the Ω (first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), and then repeating the claim of being the is, the was and the is to come.
The reason the expression grace and peace to you is so shocking is because we in no way deserve it. This is the very God from whom we've rebelled in sin, and we go to great lengths to suppress any knowledge of Him and to subvert His control, authority and presence. We are the very ones "who pierced Him."
But yet we hear this oft repeated blessing of grace and peace because it's made possible for the three key reasons listed in the second half of v5 and into v6:
Christ loved you;
He freed you from your sins by His blood;
He has made you part of His kingdom and a priest to serve God.
Dig Deeper
Our society generally has a favorable opinion of Jesus of Nazareth, the man who lived 2,000 years ago. He lived out the principles of kindness, justice and mercy alongside society's most downtrodden members. He spoke truth to power and healed the sick. Yes, He encourages us to clean up our act, but He's not pushy; He gets us, and so many conclude that if we want to just keep doing what we're doing, that's cool too.
The world wants nothing to do with anything that challenges this limited understanding of who Jesus is, especially anything that speaks of His exclusivity or divine authority.
But John, along with every other New Testament author, tells it as it is. Our Confession echoes these truths, claiming that Jesus "is the true eternal God, the Almighty, whom we invoke, worship, and serve."
You're likely reading this at the end of another work week. You're tired and exhausted. You've repeatedly fallen back into sin, and the world around you presses in hard. Praise God that in just a couple of days you can gather with the saints on the Lord's Day and hear this Triune greeting you need to hear so desperately: "Grace and peace to you, from the one who is, who was, and who is to come," which has been made possible by a fully divine Savior who doesn't just get you, but you loves you, frees you from your sin, and has made you part of His Kingdom.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The Alpha and Omega, the Triune Lord God Almighty;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for the grace and mercy He greets you with, and pray that it will fuel you as a citizen and priest of His kingdom set apart to serve Him;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 11
