Embarrassed by Judgment: Daily Thoughts from Revelation (Revelation 1:5b-8)

The judgment of God is perhaps for many of us the hardest aspect of the gospel to discuss. Maybe we aren’t even supposed to talk about it, or at least, that is the decision some have made. It puts people off to the gospel, we have found.

But this is not the perspective of God and of His servant John to whom He has made this revelation.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Revelation 1:5b-8 ESV)

John gives praise to the One who loves us, in this case, Jesus, who freed us from our sins by his blood.  This is the proof of his love for us.  He came and rescued us, involving himself in our sorrows and pain, covering our guilt with his own death.

He made us a kingdom of priests.  Like Israel (Ex 19) we are to represent God to the people of the world and the people of the world to God.  We are the world’s true priests, the true holy men, shamans, witch doctors, and lamas.  We must help people know who God is and how to approach Him.  But because the only way to correctly approach Him is through Jesus Christ, many will reject us.  There will be persecution.

John reminds us of the prophecy in Daniel 7 of the one like a son of man who comes on the clouds, from heaven, to the Ancient of days to receive his enduring kingdom and who destroys all human kingdoms and brings all the world into submission to God.  This coming will bring great despair from those who are his enemies, but it must be so.  If there were no judgment, no making right of all the wrongs, no punishment for the evil that people do, there would be no just conclusion.  God, in fact, would not be just.  A loving God could not allow evil to remain unchallenged. That is why John must say “Amen.”  The judgment is so deserved and so necessary that, though painful for the valued human beings involved, he must welcome it at some level.

This coming of Jesus on the clouds will result in those who pierced him (crucified him) to wail. It would be like us persecuting and executing a stranger to our community only to find out that he was the president of the United States and now the full wrath of the nation is upon us. This is a reference to Zechariah 12:10, where Yahweh says His own people will pierce Him when He seeks to shepherd them, striking, in their wickedness, the shepherd He sent them.

The Father (the One who is and was and is coming) at this point identifies Himself as the Alpha and Omega and as the Almighty (pantokrator).  Why?  It is because the judgment carried out by Jesus ultimately comes back to Him as its originator.  In the rest of the Revelation we will see Him looking for someone to open the scroll of judgment that He possesses and to execute it (Revelation 5).  He is designated as pantokrator in 4:8 by the four living creatures, highlighting His majesty.  In 11:7 He is so designated because He has begun to reign over the earth in judgment at the arriving kingdom.  In 15:3 and 16:7 He is pantokrator because His judgments are just and true.  In 16:14 He is almighty to do battle with the kings of the earth.  In 19:6 He initiates His reign on earth, and in 15 Jesus treads the winepress of His almighty Father’s wrath in judgment. In 21:22 He and the Lamb are the centerpiece of the holy city and it’s light and temple.

Jesus is never called the Almighty in the New Testament.  But He is called the Alpha and the Omega in 21:6 and 22:12, a real toughie for Jehovah’s Witnesses, who deny Jesus’ equality with the Father.  To be so identified with Yahweh (see Isaiah 44:6) means the title pantokrator is not unsuitable.  Jesus is almighty in every way His Father is.

Don’t forget, to be the harbinger of Jesus’ judgment is at the same time to be bearer of the good news of glory for those who trust him. We must speak both truths. The gospel tells us of our horrifying rebellion against our Creator and its consequences, but also of the way He made for us to be reconciled to Him and enjoy His delights forever.