Revelation 1:4-8 (NRSV)
Read Revelation 1:4-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 4John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, Verse 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, Verse 6and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Verse 7Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. Verse 8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Devotion
As a chemistry/math major, I was trained to picture time as an infinite horizontal line with the past on the left, the future on the right and the all-important present a perpendicular line in the middle dividing the two. The past and the future may be obscure, but at least that center point – the present –is real and here and now, and you have to grab it with gusto because it's all you've got. No?
No. One of my doctoral courses has encouraged me to think of the origin and the goal as more important than this ephemeral present, which is gone before we can say the word. Plus, if Jesus is the beginning and the end of all things, as John here suggests, then the knowledge that we are in him takes tremendous pressure off the here and now. Indeed. Maybe that's the way life was meant to be.
Prayer
To see you at the beginning and at the end of all things, O Lord – grant that wish for us as we receive with thanks this moment you give us today. Amen.