“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6 NKJV).
The letters to the seven churches in Revelation are also from Jesus, and they include a wonderful description of Him as, “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” These are things that He is and that He did. Do we know Him as these? As we proceed to study this revelation of Jesus, these are titles for Him that we will be looking into for further illumination. Again, Jesus is the most important revelation in this.
He is “the faithful witness” because He fulfilled every biblical prophecy spoken of Him over the previous four thousand years, and there were many. What other leader of a religion had even one prophecy spoken about their coming and the works they would do, and fulfilled them all? None. Jesus alone has the undeniable distinction of having been spoken of to almost every generation in history, and He did all they predicted He would do.
He is the “firstborn from the dead.” Jesus was not the first to be resurrected, as several people were resurrected in the Old Testament and through Jesus’ ministry. But Jesus was the “firstborn from the dead,” as He was the first to be “born from the dead,” never to die again. There is a difference between those who experience the miracle of a resurrection, but die again later, and those who are a part of the resurrection that is the beginning of eternal life.
He is the “ruler over the kings of the earth.” Jesus is the King of kings. He is not just a king, but He rules over all other kings—and will do so forever.
We give glory “to Him who loved us.” Jesus rules because He loves us. His authority is based on love. When He saw the people without a shepherd, He was moved by compassion to become their Shepherd. When He saw the people living in darkness, He was moved by compassion and became their Teacher. All authority that comes from Him, and through Him, is founded upon love.
He also “washed us from our sins in His own blood.” By the unfathomable love and grace of God, He cleansed us from our sin with His own blood. He paid our debt to justice that we could never repay, and for this He will forever be known as the Lamb of God, our Savior.
Jesus also “has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.” We will forever be grateful to Him for forgiving our sin. How much more unfathomable is it that He would make us kings and priests to His God and Father? In this way, we get to share Him and the power of His sacrifice to all.
“To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” As was told to Daniel, His kingdom will be an everlasting one, to the benefit and joy of all of creation. This creation was made “through Him and for Him,” and “in Him all things hold together” (see Colossians 1:16-17). This creation was not made to work without Him. There can be forced order for a time under certain conditions, but it cannot hold together for long except through Christ. It is through Him that we all become what we were created to be, and can do what we were created to do.
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7 NKJV). This is the ultimate and glorious hope of every true Christian:
He is coming again and will take back the world that He created and then purchased again with His own blood. Then, He will restore it again to the paradise it was originally created to be. This is the good news of the kingdom that must yet be preached before the end of this age can come and the age in which Christ reigns with His people can begin.
Rick Joyner
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