JESUS CHRIST, the BEGINNING and the END

"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" (Rev 21:6). "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Rev 22:13).

Devotion 1 of 20

INTRODUCTION

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of all sound theology, which is the knowledge of God. Jesus is the appointed expositor of God, the One charged with the responsibility of acquainting us with the Most High.

KNOWING GOD. God the Father cannot be known apart from Jesus. The Lord Jesus Himself said, "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matt 11:27).

Lest someone imagines the choice to reveal the Father is arbitrary, with no hope for the hungry soul, Jesus adds: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and LEARN FROM ME, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (vs 28-29). Jesus wants to make the Father known we weary mortals, and will surely do so if we will come to Him. But that knowledge depends upon the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6), He was not speaking of a legal restriction, or mere procedural requirement. He was rather speaking of the absolute impossibility of coming to the without being brought their by His Son.

SALVATION. Salvation cannot be appropriated apart from Him. It is ever true, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Apart from Jesus, the greatest men who ever lived were those closest to God: Abel, Noah, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, Moses, David, Daniel, etc. However, as great as those men were, we could not be saved through their persons. Salvation--reconciliation to God and your name written in heaven--comes only through affiliation with the Person of Jesus Christ.

FORGIVENESS. Initial and continual forgiveness of sin are exclusively through Him. Jesus, and Jesus alone, has been "exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31). Again it is written, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph 1:7). After we have been reconciled to God through Christ, and been justified from all our sins, when we commit sin, it still can only be forgiven through Jesus. "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:9).

BEARING FRUIT TO GOD. Fruit bearing, essential to pleasing God, is impossible without the Son of God. Our interest in this should be heightened by the persuasion of the necessity of fruitbearing. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:2). The role of Jesus in this matter is indispensable. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). This is no mere formality, but a living and vital fellowship with the Son of God. It is appropriately referred to as a marriage. "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God" (Rom 7:4).

VICTORIOUS LIVING. If it were not for Christ, the devil would run roughshod over all of us. Jesus, and Jesus alone, "destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil," and He did so in His death (Heb 2:14). The principalities and powers that function under Satan's diabolical leadership were also "spoiled," or plundered, in His death upon the cross (Col 2:15). Now God "causes us to triumph IN CHRIST" (2 Cor 2:14).

The Son of God is the Heart and Core of God's dealings with humanity. ALL of the provisions required to please God and overcome the world are found in Him, and in Him alone! Your salvation is as secure as your fellowship with the Son, and that fellowship is determined by your faith.

PRAYER POINT: Father, thank You for providing access to Yourself and all Divine provision through Your Son.

-- Tomorrow: THE EXALTED CHRIST --