Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 29

January 29;      Revelation 1:5;       239/260(III);        ‘The Faithful Witness’

Revelation 1:5 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,

The Lord Jesus is called ‘the faithful witness.’ The word witness means one `who testifies to the truth He has experienced.  It means someone who has knowledge of a fact and can give information concerning it.  What did the Lord Jesus experience and have knowledge of?  Two things.  First Jesus experienced physical death and then He was raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit.  As this verse tells us, Jesus was the first One raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus tells us ‘I am He who liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore, amen’ (Revelation 1:18).  How exciting that is.  That will remove your fear of death if you let it.  The word martyr comes from the word for witness.  Witness does not imply death, but many first century witnesses did give their lives resulting in the word coming to mean a martyr, one who witnesses for Jesus by his death. Second Jesus is the ruler over the kings of the earth.  Our Lord is now at the right hand of the Father.  He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords.  Our prayers to the Father in the Name of Jesus is how the Lord Jesus exercises His rule over the kings of the earth.  The first born from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth is our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is our Savior and Lord, the One who loved us and redeemed us from our sins by cleansing our sins by His blood.  Death has been defeated, Jesus is Lord, and we are loved and saved by the incomparable Jesus.