It Is I, The First And The Last!

Hi! and happy holy and family day to all of us, GUYS.  Our first-thing-first this Sunday:

THE GOOD NEWS (03 April 2016)

"I John, your brother, who share with you, in JESUS, the sufferings, the kingdom and the patient  endurance, was on the island of Patmos, because of the Word of GOD and witnessing to JESUS.  On the LORD's day, the Spirit took possession of me and I heard a voice behind me which sounded like a trumpet, 'Write down all that you see, in a book, and send it to the seven Churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.'

I turned to see who was speaking to me; behind me were seven golden lampstands and, in the middle of these, I saw someone like a son of man, dressed in a long robe tied with a golden girdle.   

HIS head and HIS hair are white as wool or as snow and HIS eyes are like flames of fire.  HIS feet are like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace.  HIS voice is like the roaring of the waves.

I saw seven stars in HIS right hand and a sharp, double-edged sword coming out of HIS mouth; HIS face shone like the sun in all its brilliance.

Seeing HIM, I fell at HIS feet like one dead but HE touched me with HIS right hand and said, 'Do not be afraid.  It is I, the First and the Last.  I AM the living one; I was dead and now I AM alive for ever and ever; and mine are the keys of death and the netherworld.  Now write what you have seen, both what is and what is yet to come'." - Revelation 1:9-19 

John, The Evangelist, In Exile On Patmos, Greece

(John had been condemned on account of his faith and was living in exile on Patmos.  It was around the year 95.

John had this vision on the LORD's day, that is, on Sunday, or the day of the resurrection.   So this vision will be enlivened by the triumphant breath of the resurrection.

I saw someone like a son of man.  This is a symbolic vision of CHRIST dressed as a priest, and with a golden sash as a king.  HIS white hair is a symbol of HIS eternity.  HIS feet like bronze means that no one will defeat HIM.  CHRIST appears in the same way as Daniel represents GOD as the universal judge [see 7:9].

It is I, the First and the Last.  By these words, CHRIST identifies with GOD HIMSELF.  In the Bible, this is characteristic of GOD's way of speaking [see Isaiah 44:6 and 12].  The double-edged sword coming out of HIS mouth is the word of GOD that irresistibly penetrates the heart and is always fulfilled in events.  It deals death as effectively as it saves.

There were more than seven churches in Asia.  Seven represents fullness, and the seven churches, then, represent all the Christian communities.  Seven is the perfect number and this is why in the book of Revelation, CHRIST's name is mentioned seven times, JESUS fourteen times, and the Lamb [who is CHRIST] twenty-eight times.  There are seven prophecies of CHRIST's victory with HIS people and seven beatitudes like those of the Gospel: "Happy those..."

The stars, the angels, and the lampstands: these three images may complement one another to designate a church, its bishops and believers together.)

CHRIST, The Alpha And The Omega