Yeshua declares He is our Hope and has Overcome.
“The revelation of Yeshua the Messiah, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place.”
—Revelation 1:1 TLV
In Revelation chapter 1, we find that God is revealing and has revealed Yeshua our salvation, but he wants us to see Yeshua as not just the suffering servant, but also as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Look how John describes Yeshua and how Yeshua reveals himself to John in this chapter.
John says…
“…Messiah Yeshua, the faithful witness, the firstborn of 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 bloodand made us a kingdom, kohanim (priest) to His God and Father—to Him be glory and power forever! Amen!”
—Revelation 1:5-6 TLV
Yeshua then reveals Himself as…
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says Adonai Elohim, “Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!”
—Revelation 1:8 TLV
Next, John begins to describe the revealing of the glorified Messiah…
“I saw One like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe down to His feet, with a golden belt wrapped around His chest. His head and His hair were white like wool, white like snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came forth a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at full strength.”
—Revelation 1:13-16 TLV
John is stunned and even says that he wants to fall down like a dead man, but Yeshua gives John hope, encouragement and inspiration to overcome! Look at what Yeshua says…
“Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the One who lives. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever! Moreover, I hold the keys of death and Sheol (Hell).”
—Revelation 1:17b-18 TLV
WOW! Look at how Yeshua teaches us:
Yeshua gives us the ultimate way to find hope, encouragement, and the path to overcoming by revealing to us that He lives forever and has all authority in Heaven and on Earth. Yeshua shepherds our lives and hearts by encouraging us to look at His overcoming work! My encouragement to you is, “Don’t be Afraid!” We are in unchartered times in history right now, but that doesn’t mean we need to be fearful or that we do not have a hope; our hope is in Him…He has overcome!
I hope this dive into the beginning of Revelation has inspired and encouraged you.
Now take some time to carefully reflect on the questions below and journal your answers.
For the past nine weeks, as the coronavirus upended the world with fear, stay-at-home mandates, financial loss and isolation, we’ve turned to Scripture for the hope we each need to endure rough times.
Ancient Israel had a hope: to return to the Land God had promised to give her. Yet, she had been in exile in Babylon for so long that I’m sure the hope of many began to wane, if not completely disappear.
Our God is the Master Composer. The intricacies He has purposefully arranged on His grand scale of time are often indistinguishable to the human ear, unless we strain to hear. As we journey through the story of Ezra-Nehemiah in the days ahead, listen in for a pattern, a 3-part harmony, as God composes another movement in His song through the mouths of His prophets. See if you can make out the sounds.
The words God gave to His prophets often told about events in the current time, near future and a time even further in the future. They are always pointing us forward, but what were they pointing us forward to?
