I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore

Revelation 1 - Continues


John sees the glorified form of our The Lord Yshua, full of brilliance, with flaming eyes, molten feet, shining face. This is the same Lord Yshua whom we can clearly recognize when He said "Do not be afraid" as He reached out to touch John. The Divine Lord Yshua would cause any man, including John, to fall at His feet as if dead from our unholiness.

The Lord told John to write down what He is going to reveal which are about the past and the future to John's time. The Lord also explained the seven stars to be the angels of the seven churches while the seven lampstand as the seven churches. These churches may have been the first audience, but the message is revealed, perhaps also via the seven churches, to all believers in all time.

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life

Paul discusses the New Covenant by Jesus, referring to it as Spirit and the Old Covenant of Moses's Laws referring to it as the letter. Paul shows the greater role of the Spirit over the letter. The letter / Law was glorious and made Moses face shone when he came down with the Ten Commandments. So the ministry of the Spirit should shine even brighter. Also as Moses covered his face with a veil to prevent the full glory from shining through, the Old Covenant has the effect of a veil on the heart. However, with the Spirit, the veil is removed.



2 Corinthians 3
Christ’s Epistle

1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

The Spirit, Not the Letter

4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;[a] for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Glory of the New Covenant

7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

It was Your Right Hand, Your Arm, and the Light of Your Countenance

A recount of the journey of the Exodus is given here. They recalled how God's favour on them resulted in their possession of the Promised Land, rather by their own efforts. They acknowledged that it was God who gave them all the victories and that no enemies could stand against them.

Then they also recalled when God cast them off and let them be defeated by their enemies. They were scattered, some sold to slavery, they were scorned by their neighbours, people shaking their heads at them, they were dishonoured and ashamed.

However, they did not forget their God. It appeared that this is a handful of people who kept the ways of God ("we dealt falsely with Your covenant"), yet suffered the punishment God unleashed on the nation as a whole. So they continued to cry out to God to wake up and see their affliction and oppression, and called for God's mercy to redeem them.

Psalm 44

To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation[a] of the sons of Korah.

 1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
         Our fathers have told us,
         The deeds You did in their days,
         In days of old:
 2 You drove out the nations with Your hand,
         But them You planted;
         You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
 3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
         Nor did their own arm save them;
         But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,
         Because You favored them.
       
 4 You are my King, O God;[b]
         Command[c] victories for Jacob.
 5 Through You we will push down our enemies;
         Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
 6 For I will not trust in my bow,
         Nor shall my sword save me.
 7 But You have saved us from our enemies,
         And have put to shame those who hated us.
 8 In God we boast all day long,
         And praise Your name forever.  Selah
       
 9 But You have cast us off and put us to shame,
         And You do not go out with our armies.
 10 You make us turn back from the enemy,
         And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
 11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food,
         And have scattered us among the nations.
 12 You sell Your people for next to nothing,
         And are not enriched by selling them.
       
 13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
         A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
 14 You make us a byword among the nations,
         A shaking of the head among the peoples.
 15 My dishonor is continually before me,
         And the shame of my face has covered me,
 16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
         Because of the enemy and the avenger.
       
 17 All this has come upon us;
         But we have not forgotten You,
         Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
 18 Our heart has not turned back,
         Nor have our steps departed from Your way;
 19 But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,
         And covered us with the shadow of death.
       
 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,
         Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
 21 Would not God search this out?
         For He knows the secrets of the heart.
 22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
         We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
       
 23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
         Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
 24 Why do You hide Your face,
         And forget our affliction and our oppression?
 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
         Our body clings to the ground.
 26 Arise for our help,
         And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.