John to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him
which is, and which was, and which is
to come; and from the seven spirits
which are before His throne; and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the firstbegotten 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, and hath
made us kings and priests unto God and
His Father; to Him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1:4-6
I am sure you have noticed that I have not moved off these verses and this for a very good reason; there is too much information in these verses that we must cover if we are to understand other verses and to come to a decision about those controversies, and theories being tossed around in Christian Churches, Christian Universities, and other Christian circles.
Last blog I addressed the number seven so that we could get a "handle" on what that number means and how we are to understand its use. Now we must examine the words: "Him who is and who was and who [is] to come." Without a doubt those words are describing Jesus Christ (John 1:1) comes to mind for the same writer, John, wrote both and reveals to us that Jesus is the "One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come." Jesus is to bring to those who believe upon Him, peace, and grace. Now, those Seven Spirits who are around the throne speak of the complete beings (angels) that are at and around the throne of God. Does God have a throne, a chair, a place for Him to sit? NO! Mormons teach that God has a body, (Doctrines and Covenants 130:21) so to them God sits on an actual chair, a throne made of something. God cannot be measured for God is a Spirit not a being with a body. God is everywhere, and He is, and was, and will be, the same words given to Jesus Christ, therefore when we speak of the "one Who is, Who was, and Who will Come we are saying that Jesus Christ is God. I will elucidate on this as we study this Book. Now Jesus Christ is said to be the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead. Who can that be did not other people rise from the dead, where given life by Jesus, or taken into heaven by God? Yes! So is it that Jesus is the firstborn of the dead, so how can we understand this? First the Greek word: πρωτότοκος, used here means something different from "the Only Begotten" and from that Greek word we get the English word prototype. The Greek word πρωτότοκος is made up of two Greek words: 1. protos, and 2. tiktw. Protos means the foremost, in time, place, order or importance. Here in this verse this word is used as an adjective, therefore we can understand it to mean the first in superiority, or of dignity, and denotes the first, whether in time or place. Tikto means to produce, bring forth, be delivered, even be born, or to be in travail. So then, we can understand it to mean that Jesus is the prototype of all those who will be raised with him from the dead when He comes to be like Him as He is now in His risen body. Did not Jesus rise bodily into heaven? Yes (Acts 1:9), Jesus was taken up from their eyes, in other words they could no longer see Him but they did see Him rise from the earth and they were looking intently into heaven as He was going up, they saw Him bodily rise. Are not Christians going to get a new body? Yes! In fact when we go to meet Jesus Christ will be be made alive. Are we not alive now? Yes! This new life is different from the life we have now and each will have their rank, and Jesus is called the "first fruit" and Jesus will have annulled all sin and the last enemy will be destroyed and will rule with all authority and power. At this time we will be given a New body: "Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1Corinthian 15:52: see also 1Corinthians 15: 29-22). Jesus is the prototype of what we will become and have, a new body one that is incorruptible a body that will no longer be under the original sin, we will be like Jesus in that He has a body that is incorruptible, and we will also have an incorruptible body. Jesus did this be the shedding of His blood on the cross paying that debt of sin that we owe to God but cannot pay, Jesus, God, paid His own debt satisfying His Justice. Due to this then we have something that we do not have in full now: we will be made to be kings, and priests to God and His Father. Jesus in the body has a Father who begot Him to have this body and so rightly calls as Jesus to the Father who begot Him. We are to be given a new body for it was by Jesus death that we are able to be given this body, therefore we should call upon Jesus who can aid us, save us, and give to us eternal life.
All this given freely by our choice to believe upon Jesus and to convert to Him and to be an Authentic Christian, not some nominal Christian who only hopes that he/she has got it right. We have it right for we are studying the Scriptures and they are given to us the right understanding of what God requires of us, what He will do, and that Jesus is the reason we can have God's promises. To Him be all the glory and might. God has elected to all His children eternal life and all that He will give to them, all the promises for His people, but to have that election: You must believe Authentically.
So shall ye know that I am
the LORD your God dwelling
in Zion, my holy mountain: then
shall Jerusalem be holy, and
there shall no strangers pass
through her any more.
Joel 3:17
You are now a king and a priest: live it!
Richard L. Crumb
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