THE FIRST AND THE LAST

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me,  saying to me, ’Do not be afraid; l am the First and the Last”  (Revelation 1:17)

John had been condemned to live on the Isle of Patmos for the rest of his life, and was living there when Jesus appeared to him in all His glory to reassure him that, in spite of the great trial, he had access to heaven. Jesus appeared not as the tired, suffering man John had been with for three years, but in the plenitude of His divinity, as sovereign God. He revealed to John His majesty, His eternity, and His omnipresence as the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, He who lives and was dead, He who holds the keys to death and to hell (see Revelation 1: 8, 11, 17, 18). When your enemies seem to prevail, review the qualities that describe Jesus in Revelation. This divine, omnipotent Being takes care of you, and He says: “Do not be afraid.” You can face your past without shame and your future without fear. He who is able to control worlds, can control your life,

and that of your loved ones.

John trembled before the presence of Jesus, because although he had walked with Jesus for three years, this was the first time that he saw Him in His heavenly glory. He understood that Jesus had veiled His divinity and authority while He lived as a man in this world. Fear overcame him, and a feeling of weakness and unworthiness filled him, just as it always does to those who see divinity. But then he was supernaturally strengthened: ‘Do not be afraid.” We usually give power to whatever we fear. And the same happens with God, if you fear God, your heart trembles before even a glimpse of His majesty.

Learn to differentiate between the fear that leads you away from God and the fear that leads you to worship, obey, and reverence Him. This is the fear that God requires. We are never so alive as when we fall like the dead at Jesus’s feet. It is better to surrender at Jesus’s feet like dead women because of our tribulations, than to be alive elsewhere. “The persecution of John became a means of grace. Patmos was made resplendent with the glory of a risen Savior. . . . What a Sabbath was that to the lonely exile, always precious

in the sight of Christ, but now more than ever exalted! Never had he learned so much of Jesus. Never had he heard such exalted truth.”—SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 956.

Be sure that Jesus is the first and the last for you today.

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Taken from: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2023
“DAUGHTER OF MINE” Do Not Be Afraid
From: Arsenia Fernandez-Uckele
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Esteban Cortes