Yesterday we looked at the Wise Men coming to Jerusalem and asking "Where is He who is born King of the Jews?" We saw the prophecy of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and then with in the week, He was crucified; and did not reign over a Kingdom on this earth. What happened to the Great King prophesied through out the Old Testament? He was resurrected and taken up into heaven. Where is He now?
The book of the Revelation is the Revelation of the resurrected Christ! It is written by the Apostle John who had a vision of the risen Lord. John was close to Jesus during His life on this earth. He was one of His three closest friends and traveled everywhere with Him. As a young man he saw Jesus with his own eyes, heard His actual voice speak and touched Him with his own hands (I John 1). He wrote the gospel story of what he experienced with Jesus so that we might believe in Him and have life in His Name. (John 20:31)
Now he is an old man imprisoned on an Island and all of the other disciples that were with Jesus have died, most were martyred for their faith. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and received a Revelation of the Risen Lord. In verses 9-20 he "sees" the Eternal Christ. Even though he was so familiar with Jesus when He walked on earth with John, he was awestruck and
"fell at His feet as though dead!"
In our comfort as the children of God, seeing Him as our Father, perhaps we forget the awe and reverence we should feel for the living God and risen Christ. The eternal realm, though all around us is veiled, so we can not see into it. But on rare occasions, an eternal being opens the curtain and a mere human gazes into the glory the Kingdom Realm. We read this in the visions Zacharias, Mary and the shepherds had. The first response was fear. Yet each time, they were told "Do not be afraid". I love the way the Risen Lord "laid His right hand on" John and said to him "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last".
At this point in my walk of faith, I am trying to understand the place of the fear of God in the life of His people and in my own life. This journey in reading the Nativity this month has kept me in awe of His tender mercy and amazing plan for us. As Mary said in her Song in Luke "His mercy is on those who fear Him." It is my hope you will be in awe of the Nativity Story and in the coming days ahead.
"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...
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come...
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead,
and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come...
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead,
and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins with His own blood,
and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father,
to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen"
vs 1:3-6
