THE LIVING CHRIST:  The heart of the first chapter of Revelation, as of the entire book, is the exaltation of the resurrected, living Christ, from the Christ of human history to the Christ of Eternity.  It was the Living Christ, that John saw in the vision on Patmos (1:17-18).  The Christ who gave Himself for the church (Eph. 5:5:25), is no mere incident of passing   significance in history, but He is the TURNING point in history.

They needed the One who continues to live and to intimately relate Himself to the life of each individual child of God (Gal. 2:20; Col 3:3,4: I John 5:12).  The church of Christ still needs the power and presence of the Living Christ.  Too many times we present Him only as the man of Nazareth, but have failed to present Him as our contemporary.  We must have the historic Christ….and more.  We have the Christ who is The Sacrificer of our single lives. He is The Reader of hearts, The Helper of our most private straits, and The Inspirer of our most deep and sacred confessions.

AS A CONTEMORARY to them and to us, He incites us to give reverent consideration to the special message He is soon to  present them, by calling their attention to what He means to us. “Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us  from our sins by his blood,”  (Rev. 1:5b).  Let us notice:

HE LOVES US:  It is the love for Christ that motivates Christians to obey His will (John 14:23).  It is the response that we make to the love He has for us.  “We love because he first loved us.”  (I John 4:19)  HE LOVES US!  As this subline assurance was to throb in the heart of the members of the Seven churches of Asia, so also it is meant to throb in the hearts of Christians today.

CONSIDER THE EVER-PRESENT, TIMELESS LOVE OF CHRIST!  The text was written over a half century   after Jesus was buried.  Written to    Asiatic Christians, Greeks and foreigners,  none of whom had probably ever seen Him in this world.  To these people John did not proclaim a PAST LOVE.  A Christ who loved long ago….but a Christ who loved them then, at the time the book was written.  This is what we need to realize today.  Not just that Christ loved us….BUT THAT CHRIST LOVES US!  LOVES US TODAY! 

      HE LOOSED US FROM SIN!  This is the greatest expression of Christ’s love for His followers.  He shed His blood for us (Rev. 1:5).  In doing this He “made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father,” (Rev. 1:6).  This is the exalted position that we    occupy before our Father —  Heavenly citizenship and a Priestly office.  A Christian to be faithful to the Lord must never forget what he is.  He is not of the world-But called out of the world to serve the Living God.

HE COMETH AGAIN:  Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him,” (Rev. 1:7).  The Living One, who has been made both Lord and Christ, who now sits on the Throne of His Kingdom, will someday come again. (Acts 2:29-39; I Cor. 15:23-25).  Nothing is more plainly taught and more highly   featured in the New Testament than the Second Coming of the Christ.  When we realize that Christ is Living, is Reigning, is Coming Again, we will be encouraged to better living.  The Living Christ is coming again….ARE YOU READY?

By Frank Briscoe