"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," - Revelation 1:5
From Omega Frequency: Episode 5 (2:05):
First, we learn that Jesus is the faithful witness. The Greek word for witness is martus. It is where we get our English word martyr from. We see He faithfully laid down his life willingly for the cause of redemption and forgiveness. The second thing we see is that He is the first begotten of the dead. He died for us but he was also resurrected for us.
We read in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
Sin entered this world through Adam. The name Adam in Hebrew means man or mankind. but salvation entered into this world through Jesus. In Hebrew the name Jesus means Yahweh saves. So we have a choice to make. We can either keep the name of humanity, which is lost in sin, or we can come under the family name of Yahweh.
Romans 8:15 says, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
Did you catch that? Because Jesus died for our sins the bondage was undone. Abba, our heavenly father adopted us into his family. That's why we will be resurrected at Jesus's second coming. Because if He lives, then we as God's adopted children will also live.
The third title given to Jesus is this, the Prince, or ruler, over all the kings of the earth.
Philippians 2:10-11 says, "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Everyone, without exception, will bow their knees to Jesus. The Bible is very clear about this. When He returns, people will react in one of two ways:
- The saved will view his coming as the blessed hope, because we have already bowed our hearts to Jesus and confessed him as our Lord. Or
- There will be utter terror at his coming because people will realize at that moment they will be forced to bow to him.
Please settle this in your heart today. Can you honestly say that you have surrendered your whole life to Jesus.
Verse 5 closes with these words, "...Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"
Blood is so important to God that it is mentioned in the Bible around 700 times. We are told in Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood..." And this is true in both the spiritual and physical realm.
Your blood supplies oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body. If the flow of blood would get cut off from an area of your body, that part would begin to die. Spiritually speaking any part of your life that is cut off from the blood of Jesus is dead or dying. your blood also carries away waste and toxins from your cells. And without the blood of Jesus your life would be filled with filth. Thank God the blood of Jesus removes the dirt of sins from our daily lives.
Now God has also equipped your body with white blood cells that fight off sickness. Anytime viruses try to get in, your white cells destroy the invaders. When your blood is healthy you are protected from all disease. And when you are spiritually healthy, there is nothing the devil can bring against you that the blood of Jesus can't overcome. There truly is life in the blood. Praise God for that divine blood transfusion. Often we don't grasp what happened on Calvary when we were rescued from God's wrath.
Did you ever wonder how the death of Jesus could pay for the sins of mankind? Let me help you answer that question. We are not saved by a cross made out of wood, or nail made out of metal or a crown made out of thorns. This is not what saves us.
Let's follow Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. His face is down in the dirt. His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Do you think he was in agony because he was scared to be crucified? No, there have been many Christian martyrs who were crucified and He was not afraid of what some Roman soldier with hammers would do to him.
Listen to the words he prays as they leave his trembling lips, "Father if it be your will, let this cup pass from me." And what was the cup he was referring to?
Revelation 14:10 tells us the answer, "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:"
What really saved us was the full wrath of God being poured out on Jesus when he shed his blood. The Bible says God the father turned away from His Son. He had to look away. Why? It wasn't because the Roman soldiers stripped His Son naked when they hung Him on the cross. No, it was because our sin was covering Jesus' nakedness. And it was in that moment moment the father unleashed all of His wrath upon His only begotten son. And Jesus drank from that cup of wrath until every last drop was gone, and then he threw the empty cup away and said, "It is finished."
Romans 5:8 will forever echo through eternity, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
If you are not saved, you can be saved today In Christ Alone!
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