On Second Thought
“Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 1:5 NIV)
I know how easy it is to say, “Jesus reigns,” when I am singing alongside people who believe it. The words can feel harder to say when I am alone at the kitchen table, reading a message I wish had never come. The news may be true. Something has gone wrong, and it will have to be faced. What troubles me is how quickly I can begin to hear a second message underneath the first. If Christ is Lord, why does this situation seem so far from His care? Alistair Begg takes up that tension in his devotional on Revelation 1:4–5. It helps to remember that Revelation begins with a blessing for those who hear its words and take them to heart. I picture a congregation listening as the letter is read aloud. Before they hear about seals or trumpets, they hear a greeting of grace and peace. The first thing John wants them to receive is something they can carry home.
John writes from Patmos to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. He calls himself their companion in suffering and patient endurance (Revelation 1:9). The churches faced different troubles. In Smyrna, believers knew poverty and slander, and some were warned that they would face prison (Revelation 2:8–10). Imagine hearing that warning read among people whose faces you knew. You might look across the room at someone who had already paid a price for following Christ. John introduces Jesus as ho martys ho pistos (ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός), “the faithful witness.” Jesus has Himself borne faithful witness at great cost. His people can trust His account of their lives because He knows what suffering is and has gone through death ahead of them. His words to Smyrna carry that tenderness. He knows their affliction and can see riches in their life together that their neighbors might easily miss.
John also calls Jesus the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Those titles belong together. In Psalm 89:27, God promises to appoint David His bekhôr (בְּכוֹר), “firstborn,” giving him the place of highest honor among earthly kings. John echoes that royal language and places resurrection at its heart. The King over all other rulers is the One who has already passed through death into life. That gives me a way to pray when a situation feels too large for me. I can name exactly what has happened, admit how much I wish it were different, and then read those three titles slowly. I may still have a difficult phone call to make or a long wait ahead of me. The titles remind me whose word I can trust as I go through it. My circumstances can tell me what hurts. The risen Christ tells me what will last.
On Second Thought
When I ask Jesus to show me His power, I usually have a fairly clear idea of what I want to see. I want the door to open, the wrong to be put right, or the person I love to come home. Then I come to Revelation 5:5–6. John hears that the Lion of Judah has triumphed. When he looks, he sees a Lamb standing at the center of the throne, bearing the marks of slaughter. I can understand the instinct to look for a lion. I might have expected the marks of suffering to disappear once the victory was won. Yet John sees them at the very center of heaven’s worship. The wounds of the Lamb show us what His victory cost and how far His love was willing to go.
That changes the kind of answer I am prepared to recognize. I can still pray for the door to open. While I wait, the reign of Christ may become visible in someone who keeps a promise when breaking it would be easier, or in a congregation that remembers a family long after their trouble has stopped making news. Those acts can seem small from the outside. They take on a different weight when we see whose way of life they follow. If your circumstances have been doing most of the talking lately, read Revelation 1:4–5 aloud. Then ask the faithful Witness to help you keep one promise, make one honest confession, or show one kindness that will cost you something today. Someone near you may hear an echo of His peace through that act.
Pastor Hogg
When discouragement starts to sound convincing, bring one of its claims with you to The Battle and weigh it in the light of Christ’s words.
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