12.31.18 First A Baby, Next a Warrior King

Bible Text: Selected | Preacher: Pastor Mike | Series: Christmas, Christmas Topical, New Year

12.31.17 ~ First a Baby, Next a Warrior King!
Read Colossians 1:15… The word “first-born” refers to the position in reference to the legal rights of inheritance and authority, rightfully given to a firstborn son. God’s kingdom will one day be given completely and eternally to Jesus Christ, for it has always been God’s plan to turn everything over to the one through whom it was all created.
Read Colossians 1:16-17… The earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5°, spinning at approximately 1,000 mph (making one full rotation every 24 hours), while orbiting at about 67,000 mph around the sun every 365 days. The earth’s atmosphere (3 parts nitrogen, 2 parts oxygen) is perfectly balanced to sustain all life, and life has not been discovered anywhere else in the universe.
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities –His eternal power and divine nature –have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Creation provides such clear and convincing testimony about its Creator, that only through willful rejection and disbelief can anyone deny this truth.
Read Colossians 1:18-19… Christ has supremacy over everything. God’s full authority, character, nature, exists in Christ; He has supremacy over the dead and living, the visible and invisible, the past, present and future.

Read Revelation 1:5-8… Jesus alone is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” He is the Creator, Sustainer, Ruler and Judge over everyone and everything: Satan, sin, death, and judgment.

As John writes the Revelation of Jesus, he is reminded of all that he has seen, heard and touched (see 1John 1:1-3), all that Christ has done (see 1John 5:11-13).

We are not only forgiven our sins, but we are set apart as a kingdom and priests for the purpose of serving God the Father, through Christ the Son.
1Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

When Jesus came the first time, just a few shepherds looked upon Him; when Jesus ascended back into heaven, only a few disciples witnessed it (cf. Acts 1:9-11); but when Jesus returns to the earth at the close of the Tribulation (Revelation 1:7), “Every eye will see Him,” i.e., those who believe in Him and those who don’t; but it also says the “peoples of the earth” will mourn.

When Jesus returns, Israel will recognize Him as their Messiah and realizing that they rejected and put to death their own Savior.
Zechariah 12:10-11, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great.”

God loves us so much, He came down from heaven, put on flesh and took our punishment for sin, His own death on the cross. The night before His arrest, Jesus encourages His men, telling them, He is going to leave, He was going to die, but He would one day return for them and take them to be with Him in heaven.

John 14:1-6, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

John 14:27-28, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. You heard me say, `I am going away and I am coming back to you.’”

John encourages us concerning the return of Christ (see Revelation 1:8), God is speaking by His own sovereign authority, as the divine LORD of All.

Alpha and Omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet; their mention here is similar to the “First and the Last in Revelation 1:17 and the “Beginning and the End” in Revelation 21:6.

It is only the Book of Revelation that refers to God as the “Alpha and the Omega.” God is the absolute source of all existence, all creation, all authority, and He will rule and judge every one and everything, forever!
Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Revelation 19:11 “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself.”

Note: “A name that no one but the Lord knows?” This is a reference to the tetragrammaton (the Hebrew name of God transliterated in four letters as YHWH or JHVH, articulated as Yahweh or Jehovah). The Jews never pronounce this name, and when they meet with it in the Scripture, they read Adonai for it; but they declare that no man can pronounce it, as the true pronunciation was lost after Babylonian captivity; God alone knows its true interpretation and pronunciation (Revelation 19:11), “the name which no man knows but He Himself.”

He is the “Lord God,” ” Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.” “Jehovah God,” “Yahweh,” “the Great I Am,” “the Creator, Sustainer, Lord and Judge of All.” God validates that everything revealed to John and written down here, in this great Book of Revelation, is to be read, heard, taken to heart and responded to.
1John 5:1-5, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves His child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

He came the first time a vulnerable baby boy, God’s Son, protected and provided for by the Father. But when He returns, He will come as the eternal and sovereign (Revelation 19:16), “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

God will guide, strengthen, protect and provide for His people as we seek to honor and obey Him (Read Revelation 22).

Pastor Mike <‘(((><