Words Of Christ Devotions

[nChrist]

November 22

A Fisherman's Tale

Joh_21:1-14

The controversy in Jerusalem has died down.  The disciples take courage, and remembering Jesus' words that he would meet them in Galilee, go there.  The Holy Spirit has not yet come, but the Lord has not yet ascended, either.  They are between assignments, so to speak.  So they go fishing.  It was the trade of Peter and John, and perhaps some of the others as well.

In Peter and John we can see the two main strands of Christian thought.

John, who is the first of the disciples to believe, now is the first to recognize Jesus.  He is the great thinker of the disciples, the one who sees deeply into all the things of God.  He is also Jesus' best friend.  As such, he represents the scholarly side of Christian thought:  calm, orderly and dignified on one hand, but deep, profound and moving on the other.

Peter is the first to act.  John speaks;  Peter swims.  There is no abstraction of thought for Peter;  there is only the person of his Lord, Jesus Christ.  Impetuous?  Yes, but always a man of action.

The two of them act according to their natures.  The boldness of man before the Crucifixion is gone;  the boldness of the Holy Spirit is yet to come—so no one dares ask, "Who are you?"  They know.  But even at that the two men are different in their responses.

Do you envy them this time with Jesus?  What would it be like to go fishing and have breakfast with the risen Lord?  Not just for the sake of strengthening your faith, but more for the sweet communion that comes from sharing a meal and perhaps a fish story or two.  Certainly the day's catch was worth that!

If you think this desirable, then imitate the men who were there.  Are your prayers filled with noble and lofty requests, but nothing about today's fishing?

Then you are missing sweet fellowship with your Lord.  He desires that fellowship with you;  he waits by the shore; the fire is hot and the bread just about ready.  Share your joys and trials—no matter how small—with him.

Be like John:  study the Scriptures, meditate deeply upon them, let them penetrate you until they govern your every action.  Be like Peter, ready to do your Lord's will at an instant, giving no thought to the word impossible.  The catch is waiting.

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[nChrist]

November 23

Feed My Sheep

Joh_21:15-19

You know all things

Do you really believe that Jesus knows all things?  Consider:

Past—perhaps you withhold your service to him because of what you have done in the past.  Your youth is spotted with a wild life?  Did you think he did not know it?  Where, in all of Scripture, does he say that you may not serve him?  You cannot find it;  it is not there.

Present—or is it your present sin that befuddles you?  Did you suppose it so powerful that he can do nothing with it?  Are you so good at hiding it that he cannot see it?  It is pure blasphemy to say, "Oh, Jesus could never make anything out of me!"  It sounds like humility;  it is a denial of his lordship over your life and his godly power.

Future—for some the future is the terror that freezes them out of Christ's service.  "If only I knew that all would turn out right!"  What would you do differently if you knew?  If you know the right thing to do, and he knows how it turns out, why do you need to know?  Do you not trust his care?

Restoration

One reason we are so timid is that we do not practice restoration.  Oh, it's good to let the sinner sit in the pews—in the back, in the dark, of course.   Three denials Peter made;  Jesus restores him three times.  We put the sinner in the dark;  Jesus makes him a light for the world.

Desire

Perhaps you never noticed it, but Jesus has restored Peter to his heart's desire.  Three times he said he would lay down his life for Christ—and three times he failed.  Now Jesus tells him that he will indeed lay down his life for him, and doing so he will glorify God.  Jesus has given him back his reason to live;  he has restored him to the high, holy call.

Do you feel that need?  Is life dull and uninteresting, a search for the next thrill?  Is it not because you do not believe that he is indeed ruler of heaven and earth, and can do all things?  If you do not feel the joy of complete commitment, perhaps it's because you have not let him restore you.  Go to him;  give him your past, your present and future, and ask him to restore you to full faith.

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[nChrist]

November 24

What About Him?

Joh_21:20-25

My daughter writes fiction.  Her readers have been known to send her messages asking, "what about this character?  How does he make out?"  Often there is no answer;  she planned nothing for that character.

But her readers' curiosity is typical.  Humans are insatiably curious about other people.  It is so frustrating to hear, "You don't need to know."  But it's necessary.

We often see Peter in this passage as upset at his fate and trying to shift it to John.  Actually, it is more likely that the unity of the Apostles is showing here, and the impetuous Peter is trying to expand this prophecy.  He understood that God engineers circumstances differently for each of us.  Our curiosity drives us to ask, "What about him?"  About "him," we don't know.

What do we know?

We know that suffering for the Gospel is an integral part of the Christian faith and experience.

We know that the form of suffering differs by individual, place and time.

We also know that God reveals no ones future to us, except our own, and that one day at a time.

Therefore, how are we to handle this frustration arising from our curiosity?

First, we should not get impatient.  God is quite aware of our thought, and will satisfy it as He sees best.

We should not indulge in too much curiosity about others.  First because of "do unto others" (just how curious do you want them to be?) and secondly for the rebuke it brings.

Nor are we to judge others.   This particularly applies when we see someone suffering;  we must avoid the temptation to say, "God must be punishing him."
(Ask Job!)

And we must recognize that our earnest advice to God about what should happen to others is likely to be ignored.

John wrote his Gospel many years after Matthew, Mark and Luke.  He had seen many die for the faith.  Here he gently corrects a misimpression which might have arisen as he was the last living Apostle.  What did his old eyes see in those many years?  Whatever it was, he did not write it down.  God told John his own story, one day at a time.  Perhaps that was enough for John.

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[nChrist]

November 25

Great Commission

Mat_28:16-20

It is lost in my archives.  There is a story told of one of the early missionaries from England to India.  A bishop, when informed of his intentions, scoffed, saying, "Young man, if God wants to save the heathen in India, he can do it without any help from you or me."

He can—but he has chosen not to.  He has handed to his disciples (that's us) the task of evangelizing the world.  The task is huge, and we appear so weak.
Consider what Christ says:

"I am with you."   How often we plead (as did the prophets) our own weakness as an excuse to avoid this duty.  But if he is with us, how embarrassing to refuse!

"All authority."  Do you accept the lordship of Jesus in your life?  Here he mentions it to you, so that you will understand this is a command, not a suggestion.

If his authority is not sufficient, consider:  his power is.

"To the end of the world."  He says this not only to remind us that we too are accompanied by his power, but also so that we might remember that our troubles are light and transitory compared to the glory to come.

Same to all

"To all nations."  We are to take the Gospel to all, delivering the same things to each:

The same salvation—for there is only one God and only one Christ and only one Cross.

The same baptism—for there is only one kingdom and only one king, and this is the entry to that kingdom.

The same teaching—for there is only one Lord, there is only one Gospel, and we should bring it in pure.

The same presence—for He is with us even until the end of the world.

The same ending—the glorious return of our Lord and Savior, to judge the living and the dead, to reward the righteous.

Some are called to travel, some are called to stay.  But all are called to make disciples.  The church is always one generation away from extinction, says the world.  The world is always one return away from extinction, says the church.

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[nChrist]

November 26

Times or Epochs

Act_1:3-8

This is a picture of eleven chickens trying to be one lion.  The disciples gather in a group to ask the one question that burns in their minds:  "Now?"  Note that they don't ask "When."  They ask if it's now.  They want his kingship so much, they can't bear to wait.  They also want the knowledge of the times and actions God has planned.

Perhaps this explains our fascination with the book of Revelation.  In 1931, a scholar named Talbot outlined what he was sure was going to happen as written in the Apocalypse.  Mussolini was the Antichrist (in Rome, vowing to rebuild the Roman Empire);  the two hundred million from the east were the Japanese along with the people of India.  He was the Hal Lindsay of his day, and he was just as certain.  It happens that he was wrong, too.  But he ached to be certain;  we have that same ache.

It is not for us to know.  If Christ would not tell the Apostles themselves, surely it will not suddenly become clear after a casual reading of Revelation.  God did not tell us everything;  he did not intend to.

But look at what we have been told!  Everything we need for the purposes of God has been given to us.  We have all we require for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.  This was the purpose for which the Scripture was inspired.  We are like little children wanting something that only our father should hold.  We are impatient to have it, and we don't want to hear that it's not for us.

So Christ does what we often do with our children when that situation arises.  He distracts them with something more important.  He tells them that they are about to receive power from the Holy Spirit.  This power is not for their amusement (nor ours) but for the spread of the Gospel.  He tells them it will grow in stages;  first locally, then into the land of ancient Israel, and finally the entire world.

How often we fill our prayers with requests to know that which is none of our business!  How frequently we tell God what to do about his other children, when we are not their masters!  We are busy enough at doing the work which is not assigned to us, but slack at doing what God has given us to do.  It should not be so.  Pay attention to what he has given you, both in the gifts and in the tasks, and keep to them.  Don't complain about what you don't have;  use what you have been given.

____________________

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[nChrist]

November 27

Who Are You?

Act_9:1-9

Whether we understand them or not, all great ideas are at root, simple.

Salvation is such a thing as well.  Here we see it displayed in all its simplicity in three steps.

Why do you persecute me

We begin by understanding this:  all sin is ultimately sin against God, for he is righteousness.  We may see it as a sin against someone else, but even then God is involved.  If you injure one of my children, am I unconcerned?  Neither is God unconcerned when you sin against one of his children.

But we must be convinced of this.  This is the first step:  to recognize that we have sinned, and that our sin is primarily against God himself.  "Why do you persecute me?" says Jesus.

Note that the type of sin does not seem to matter much.  It can be of any variety—the flesh, the world, pride—and to any depth.  Paul was an intense and deep sinner;  he is likewise an intense and deep saint.  God seems to have a fondness for such, as if to show us all that no one is beyond his redemption.

I am

The second step is to know the Savior.  Can you imagine yourself calmly looking at a wound and saying, "Hmmmm. I seem to be bleeding to death.  Yes, if I let this go, it will be fatal.  How interesting!"  No, you'd be yelling "Medic!" at the top of your lungs!  Knowing you have a disease is useless without knowing a doctor;  knowing you are a sinner means you must know the Savior.

Please—this is not an academic knowledge but a personal one.  He desires to know you as you are, and that you will know him as He is.

Get up and go

The third step is obedience.  As the sinner you have no right to know what God will put you through next, and he certainly doesn't say that you will.  He just tells Paul to get up and go.  In this instance he is going on blind trust, literally.  That's the way we must learn to go as well.  If we know the "I am", we should be willing to trust him with our very souls and lives.  He will accept nothing less than that.  This step just might be the most difficult;  but it is also most necessary.

____________________

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[nChrist]

November 28

Giving Advice to God

Act_9:10-20

Did you ever wonder why it is that God picks some people for his tasks?  We know nothing about this Ananias other than what is written here.  But we know how God works.

God's strength displayed through our weakness

One reason that Ananias was picked:  he's a nobody.  God could have arranged to have one of the Apostles present, but he chose this man instead.  Worse yet, he's a scared nobody.  You can see that by his objections.  His faith is limited and weak;  you can see that by the way he gives advice to God.  Just the kind of person you would not want working for you.

God, on the other hand, knows best.  He certainly does his best to motivate Ananias.  He begins by telling him that Saul is blind (which should take a lot of the fear away).  Note, however, that God takes no chances with this weakness.  He simply tells Ananias that Saul is expecting him—he's already had the vision of Ananias restoring his sight.  God is sometimes rather presumptuous;  it comes of being omnipotent and omniscient, I suppose.

Mission explained

Do you think that God does not understand your fears?  See how he deals with this frightened man.  He confides in him the divine plan for Saul.  God does this quite often with those whose faith does not yet allow them to walk blindly with him.  He does this to relieve their fears.  It is also to give them a sense of being "on the team," so to speak—part of something much grander than themselves.

Results

Saul's reaction to this experience is to immediately begin to speak in the synagogues and proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.  This may seem strange to us.  We tend to take the newborn Christian—especially if he has been a rather spectacular sinner—and hide him in the back pews of the church.  God sees things quite differently.

God knows that "great sinners make great saints."  Maybe that's why so few of us make great saints.  We spend our lives encased in convention and manners, afraid to step beyond our self-set boundaries.  All we've done is moved our comfort zone.  What if we took courage, broke out—and really lived for Him?

____________________

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[nChrist]

November 29

Encouragement in the Night

Act_18:9-10

The providence of God takes many forms.  Paul is not immune to the pressure of those who threaten, and we see here how the providence of God delivers him.

Encouragement

Most often, when we feel the pressure of the world around us, an encouraging word is sufficient to quell the stomach and steady the course.  See what Christ does for him:

Do not be afraid.  Christ knows your fears;  you need not hide them.  He understands;  he knows those fears from his night in the Garden—and he will strengthen you as he was strengthened that night.

Keep on—often we just need to know that we are on the right track.  Sometimes opposition appears to us as a sign that we are wasting our time, spinning our wheels.  Christ comes and tells us, steady on!  We need that.

I am with you—is there any greater amplifier of discouragement than loneliness?  It is a comfort to keep busy, but often just being alone is terrible.  We are never alone as long as we are in the Lord.

For God's purposes

Such encouragement is for God's purposes.  Do you note that after he encourages Paul, he tells him why?  The reason Paul is called to courage is that Christ has many to save in this city.

By God's methods

For a year or so Christ's words hold up.  Then the Jews take up the attack by hauling Paul before the Roman authorities.

We know something about this Gallio;  he was known as "Sweet Gallio" for his likeable temper.  He was the older brother of the philosopher Seneca.  He held to the Roman ethics of governance, and therefore knew the limits of his authority.  Do you see how God has provided a righteous pagan in defense of the Gospel?  By righteousness is righteousness established, not by conniving.

If we are to be the children of God, we must use the methods of God for the purposes of God.  When we do, we can expect and will receive the encouragement of God.  In his providence his kingdom will flourish, if we will but take heart and carry on.

____________________

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[nChrist]

November 30

More Blessed

Act_20:35

This, by the way, is not found in the Gospels.  Evidently it was a saying well known to the disciples which did not find its way into Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

How can it be more blessed to give than to receive?  The saying defies common sense.  But perhaps we can make sense of it:

It is the Lord who blesses

If the ultimate source of bread is the bakery, then common sense may rule.  But it's not.  It is the Lord who blesses, not "random chance."  If you believe that, then you must ask what it takes to obtain his blessing.  This is not a matter of finance;  it's a matter of personal relationship.

He's quite willing to tell you.  "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done."   (Proverbs 19:17).  If you will see from this that it is the Lord's desire to be responsible for rewarding you, and reward you He will, then the matter becomes one of faith.  Do you believe that he means what he says?  Do you believe that he is capable of delivering his reward to you?

Receiving

Receiving a gift is obviously a blessing.  That's particularly true if you're the "poor" mentioned in the verse above.  But receiving blesses once—when the gift arrives.  All the blessing is usually visible, immediately.  There is no "long term benefit" - or eternal benefit.  The contrast is clearest where Paul tells the Ephesians that those who used to steal should now do honest work—so that they will have something to give!  (Ephesians 4:28)

Giving

The command of God is clear:  we are to help the poor and weak.  We are especially to help those who have no ability to repay us, for then He will repay (and generous he is).  We are to help in proportion to our wealth.

This is an imitation of Christ.  He came to our help when we could do nothing;  he gave us salvation, of highest value.  We cannot repay;  we can only be grateful.

It is also a sacrifice to God, in the Old Testament sense—something we give up that He might have the glory.

____________________

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[nChrist]

December 1

To The Gentiles

Act_22:17-21

Of all the men who ever testified to the Jews, Paul should have been the most credible.

He had been born and raised in the strictest set of Pharisees.

He had the best possible Jewish education, at the feet of Gamaliel.

He had been zealous in persecuting Christians.

He had even willingly participated in the martyrdom of Stephen.

When a man like that comes before you, his credentials would seem to be impeccable.  At least it ought to get him a fair hearing.  But it doesn't.

Christ tells him that to begin with, so that he will know how to react.

That Christ does not ask for bravado

It sometimes takes more courage to appear to be a coward than it does to pretend to be a hero.  Christ never asks his disciples for bravado;  he gives them strength and asks true courage.  Bravado is the denial of fear;  courage, the overcoming.  Christ tells him here that they won't listen.  And that he has other plans.

Christ permits us to flee

Here—and in other places—Christ makes it clear that the answer to such persecution is to run.  We are to flee.  This sounds so cowardly that we fight it.  But we must understand that he allows such persecution to prompt our flight.  That flight will take us, as it took Paul, to new places and new people.  These are ones who have not heard the Gospel.

It is a form of spiritual judo.  Does Satan attack?  Then we will flee, running from place to place—spreading the Gospel.  In a sense, it is because of Satan's attack that the Gospel is spread!  If we flee for the purposes of God, at his command, he will keep us in his care and show us greater things.


Greater good

It is said that God allows no evil unless from it He can make a greater good.  It is not always true that He does make a greater good;  that may depend upon our obedience.  Paul is obedient to the heavenly vision given to him.  Are we obedient to the instruction given to us?

____________________

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[nChrist]

December 2

Take Courage

Act_23:11

When you think of the word "witness" you usually think of a courtroom—a place where a witness is called to testify.  But in the Bible a witness means more than that:

A witness is called to testify by word—but not just in court, in everyday life.  We are called by Christ to be his witnesses, telling others what we know about him, by our personal experience.

A witness is also called to testify in deeds.  If you believe something to be true, you should act upon it.  It should make a difference in your life;  otherwise, you're just someone with a random opinion.

If need be, this should be maintained to death.  It often surprises Christians that the same Greek word translated "witness" is also the Greek word, "martyr."  Being a witness is serious business.

Paul tells us here just what we are to be a witness to:  the Resurrection.  What does that mean?  Many things;  but here are three that are most important:

It means that Jesus rose from the grave, bodily—not a ghost or wishful thinking.
It means that we, like Jesus, will rise from the grave when he returns.  This is a bodily resurrection.  It means that death is not the end.  It doesn't matter how many toys you die with.

It means that when he comes, he will judge the living and the dead.  Death does not close God's account books on a man;  there is final judgment yet to come.

If you believe that, then you should testify in word and deed.  For if you believe that, then you cannot escape the conclusion of his divine nature.  You also cannot escape the idea that he is Lord, and will hold you (and all others) accountable for what is done.

Go back to that courtroom.  I sat in one once, waiting for a friend to come to trial.  The first order of business:  the judge cleared the records of those who had been caught driving drunk.  After reviewing each man's completion of the required remedial training, he announced to each, "You may now say that you have never been arrested."  It sounded strange, but forgiveness often does.

When Jesus returns I will be able to say, "I am not guilty!" - and that by order of the court of heaven.  For my Redeemer lives, he has paid the price—and I testify to that.  Do you?

____________________

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[nChrist]

December 3

Darkness to Light

Act_26:14-18

Suicide mission, Hollywood style

You've probably seen a dozen of these movies.  There's a suicide mission to be done, and the army turns to our hero to recruit a team.  What does he do?

He gets a bunch of villains—with no hope of freedom.

He offers them redemption—on conditions.

The conditions include this mission of desperate adventure
And they always ask, "Why?  Why is it so important?"

If you think about it, that's exactly what Jesus has done for Paul here.  He's been the worst of villains toward the Lord—but now he's offered redemption;  redemption and a mission of desperate adventure.  Just like in the movies, you have to tell the man why.

Why?

He's going to the Gentiles;  it will be a desperate adventure;  it will be his redemption—and here's why the mission needs to be accomplished:

To open their eyes—is the problem that they are so completely wicked as to be fit only for the fires of hell?  No!  The problem is that they are ignorant of what God desires.  Once their eyes are opened, then they can make a choice.

To turn from darkness to light—if your eyes are closed it doesn't make any difference.  But if you now know the difference, you move towards the light.

To turn from the power of Satan to God—these are a people who are worshiping fertility goddesses, sacred rocks and who knows what else.  Can you imagine what it must be like to go from a religion of hundreds of gods to be appeased to knowing the living God who is love?

So that they may receive forgiveness—Now that they know what they've been doing, they can ask for the forgiveness Christ so freely offers.

So that they may receive a place with the sanctified— this is not just an academic forgiveness, but the promise of the resurrection of the dead and life eternal with Christ.

Sounds like a grand mission;  desperate adventure in a plan that sweeps the ages.  Any volunteers?

____________________

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[nChrist]

December 4

My Body, My Blood

1Co_11:24-25

Picture in your mind a tall suspension bridge.  There is a tower on the near side, a tower on the far side and a graceful span between.  In a sense, the Lord's Supper is a picture of the bridge between God and man which is Jesus Christ.

The near side—his body

Note that the tells us that his body is "for you" - the old King James says, "broken for you" - the word applies to breaking of bread for a shared meal.  Is there anything so common, so earthy, as bread?  If you had to pick a symbol of Christ's earthly, human nature, you could hardly do better.

It is also a symbol of our unity in the church.  You are what you eat, they told us in college (not very comforting for those who ate in the dorm), and therefore we are one in this spiritual meal.  There is only one bridge;  this is the near side.

The far side—the cup

The cup is the new covenant.  New?  Covenant?  Perhaps we should begin with the old covenant.  This is the law, given to Moses, which was implemented with the blood of sacrificial animals.  Moses didn't dream that up, for a covenant is something that God proclaims to man—take it or leave it.  The Israelites had no choice about the terms;  they weren't the Ten Suggestions.  So if there is to be a new covenant, it must also come from God.  So in that sense the cup represents the far side of the bridge—the side that touches God.  It is a picture, in a way, of the divine nature of Jesus Christ.

The bridge—Jesus

Between the towers there must be a span;  that span is Jesus, the Christ.  Can
we extend our picture just a bit further?  If you want to go from the human side to the Godly side, you must cross the bridge.  You must walk in Christ.

In this life, he is the only span.  God may be approached only by the holy, and to become holy you must walk in Christ.

When this life ends, he is the only way to the Father.  You may wish it otherwise, but the great gulf is fixed, and there is only one way over it.  If you want to get home, home to eternal life and joy, you must walk the bridge named Jesus Christ.  He is the way, the truth, the life—the bridge.

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Words Of Christ Devotions

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[nChrist]

December 5

Sufficient

2Co_12:9

Grace

Grace—the unmerited favor of God.  Christ tells us here it is sufficient.  It does seem, however, that such grace seems to be delivered in suffering and weakness.  Certainly this is how it came to us on the Cross.  Should we expect anything else in person?

Sufficient

The greedy always want more;  the saintly are satisfied with the sufficient.  Paul raised the dead, healed the sick, struck down the sorcerers and so on; God's grace to him was great indeed.  But it was just sufficient;  for he also was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked and ultimately martyred for the faith.  Our Lord makes it clear there is a reason for this.

Suppose you had the unlimited gift of healing.  Just by touching someone you could heal them of any disease they had.  What would that do for your ego?

Could you withstand the temptations of pride that came with the publicity?  So it is with Paul;  so God provides tribulation as part of his sufficient grace.

Power made perfect

Remember that "perfect" means "perfect for a purpose."  It is not God's intention to turn out a race of flying supermen.  His intention is the reconciliation of the world;  that is his will.  We will be empowered as need be for that purpose.

In weakness

Think about it:  if none of us were tired, if none of us were sore and weary, if all things went entirely well—would we really know the grace of God?  Would we see it as unmerited favor, or would we soon decide that we must be indeed worthy people to get such a favor?  For this reason God gives us weakness, so that the strength he gives us will not be our downfall.  By this weakness, by this tribulation, he builds in us the character of saints.  It is not an oversight;  he planned it that way.


The Lighthouse

We are sent to be light to the world;  lighthouses, that's us.  But will the lighthouse withstand the waves and rain of the storm?  Only the storm can determine that.  But oh how sweet the sunshine that comes afterwards.

____________________

Words Of Christ Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________

[nChrist]

December 6

Alpha and Omega

Rev_1:8

"Call me Ahab," opens Moby Dick.  The opening of a book often sets its tone.  This is the book of Revelation, and its opening sets the tone for the triumph of God.

Alpha and Omega

The "A" and the "Z" in the alphabet of the Greeks, the beginning and the end.  It is a phrase of power—it signifies his dominion over all things:

By him all things were created;  there is nothing that was created that he did not create.  All other things must use his creation as raw material.

In him all things consist.  Why do the "laws of Nature" work so consistently?  Is it not because they reflect the unchanging nature of the one who ordained them, and who upholds them by his will?

In him all things have their being.  You and I literally borrow the very idea of existence from the great "I AM."

The Almighty

The phrase is almost unique in the New Testament—but not in the Old Testament.  It is often translated, in the Old Testament, "Lord of Hosts."  It means the one who is all powerful;  he is the Lord over all powers.

The phrase occurs most commonly in Ezekiel's prophecy, and it reminds us that the things which are prophesied will come to pass, for the Lord of Hosts, the all-powerful one, has spoken it.  It is his promise, the promise of power.

Who was, who is, who is to come

It is a trinity of existence proclaiming the eternity of God.  Do we even know what it means to be eternal?  In a small way we do;  it means to be unchanging.  That John received this revelation 1900 years ago means nothing to its validity today.  The one who is eternal has spoken, and he does not change.

So we have it:  the high trumpet call of God announcing his intentions to his children.  He reminds us that all things are his;  all power is his; all time is his—and that all things will come to pass just as he has said.

____________________

Words Of Christ Devotions

Dist. Worldwide in the Great Freeware Bible Study package called
e-Sword by Rick Meyer: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Full Featured - Outstanding - Completely FREE - No Strings Attached

(The goal of Rick Meyer is to distribute excellent Bible Study
Software to every country on earth in their own language FREE
of charge, and that goal gets closer by the day.)
____________________