To The Metal

⁴ This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia.^[a]

Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit^[b] before his throne; ⁵ and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. ⁶ He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

⁷ Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.
    And everyone will see him—
    even those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the world
    will mourn for him.
Yes! Amen!

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,”^[c] says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Revelation 1:4-8

Greeting the seven churches.  John begins with declaring grace and peace to the seven churches, from God (who is, who was, and who is to come), from the Holy Spirit (the seven spirits – seven meaning perfect as opposed to 7 separate spirits), and Jesus Christ. Grace and peace from the whole of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus, the faithful witness, shares HIs revelation with us, through John.  Verse 7 alludes to the rapture (Matthew 24:30) where Christ will return in the clouds to the sound of trumpet and collect His chosen.  All will see Him, even they who pierced Him (persecutors who don’t believe and attack His body – us).

All the people of earth (all tribes) will mourn because of Him, realizing the truth of what so many had denied.  Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end, who was and is to come, the Almighty God.  Amen!

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must ^[a]shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation 1:1-3

This revelation was given by God to Jesus to show His servants.  Sent by His angel to His servant John.  John would bear witness to us through this word of God and the testimony of Jesus of all he saw.  Blessed are those who hear and keep this prophecy, for the time is near.

Every day since the resurrection is one day closer to Christ’s return.  One thing made clear here is the genealogy of this message, this prophecy.  It is from God, to Jesus, and to John through an angel of the Lord.  The time is near reminds me of 2 Peter 3:8: “with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Soon can be minutes, days, or even decades.  Believers of every generation have proclaimed that the time was near, and indeed from the moment this book was drafted by John it truly has been.  God is outside of time, he sees all of it, start to finish.  Soon to him may be lifetimes to us, but as long as we believe, we will see His kingdom come.

All of this prophecy is made so those who believe can and will pay attention and be aware of its fulfillment.  So many prophecies in the time of Christ were fulfilled and either wilfully ignored or the leaders were simply ignorant to them.  These prophecies are made available to all who believe so there can be no doubt or ignorance.

O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ^[b]ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit^[c] him?
⁵ For You have made him a little lower than ^[d]the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
⁷ All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
⁸ The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8

The glory of the Lord of creation.  David glorifies the Lord, from His glory above the heavens to what comes from the mouths of babes. He looks over all creation, the heavens, the moon and stars, and wonders what about a man has made the Lord consider him?

Lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor, with dominion over God’s creations, so many blessings upon the sinful creation that is man.  Truly the Lord’s name is excellent in all the earth!  This psalm reminded me of Moses in Exodus 3:11 – “Who am I?” or Matthew 10:30 “More valuable to God than many sparrows…”  

What makes man so worthy of God’s excellence?  His grace and mercy?  He created us and He loves us!  He loves us so greatly that He sacrificed His only Son to save us!  How excellent is His name in all the earth!  Praise the Lord!

Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
² Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah

³ But You, O Lord, are a shield ^[a]for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

Psalm 3:1-4

The Lord helps HIs troubled people.  This psalm was written in a time where David fled from Jerusalem.  His third son , Absalom seeks to steal the throne from him.  While he laments over his troubles, how Israel is rising up against him, and how many claim God is not with him, David knows the truth.

The Lord is his shield, his glory, his provision in all ways, He lifts David up.  From 2 Samuel 15:13-14, David fled to escape his son but also to spare Jerusalem from Absalom’s sword.  David’s faith in God protected him in this time, he would live to fight another day. For now he seeks shelter in the Lord.

¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
^12 [a]Kiss the Son, lest ^[b]He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Psalms 2:10-12

Psalm 2 appears to close out with wise advice and correction to the kings and judges of the earth.  “Serve the LORD with fear.”  Hold Him in holy reverence, do not try to challenge Him or interfere with His people.  Rejoice with trembling that He is your God.

Kiss the Son, love the Son, else you may perish by even a little of His wrath.  Put your trust in Him and you will be blessed.

⁷ “I will declare the ^[a]decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
⁹ You shall ^[b]break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

Psalms 2:7-9

This messianic psalm continues, the LORD (Yahweh) has said to “Me” (Jesus), “You are my Son, Today I have begotten (created) You.”  “Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.”  All power and authority come from the Father to the Son.

The psalm continues to describe how these nations would break and be dashed to pieces by the Messiah.  The Roman empire was dashed to pieces, but Christianity endures.  The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD, but Christ is King.  The enemies of Christ are destined to this fate, to become His footstool by the hand of the Father. (Psalm 110:1).

⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
⁶ “Yet I have ^[a]set My King
^[b]On My holy hill of Zion.”

Psalms 2:4-6

At the efforts of His people to free themselves from Him in favor of the world, from the heavens God laughs.  Was he amused by their vain efforts as a father watches his child attempt a feat that is doomed to fail?  The next verse reveals more of a mocking laughter, “Are you serious?”

The Lord holds them in derision!  For these acts he responds with wrath, sharing his deep displeasure in all they do against Him, filling them with distress.  Despite their misdeeds, He places the Messiah, Jesus Christ, upon His holy hill of Zion, Jerusalem.  This is where God dwelled on the Earth and where Christ would reign over His kingdom.

Why do the ^[a]nations ^[b]rage,
And the people plot a ^[c]vain thing?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed,^[d] saying,
³ “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

Psalms 2:1-3

The nations rage and the people plot a vain thing, because their leaders embrace worldly power and pursuits as they turn against the Lord and His anointed Messiah.  Their plan to free themselves from God is in vain, it will not succeed how they believe it would.  

Is it courage, fear, or foolishness which drive them to break all ties with God?  In the New Testament we see repeatedly how the Pharisees and Sanhedrin no longer fear God.  They only fear losing their power over the people and their worldly esteem.  Given thousands of years later, Christ is King and Pharisees only show up in history books…

The plans were most definitely in vain.

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ^[a]ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he ^[b]meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the ^[c]rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

⁴ The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalms 1

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly.  If a blessed man is not listening to the ungodly, he is listening to, counseled by the godly, or God Himself through the Word.  He heeds the word of God and depends on His wise counsel.  

A blessed man does not stand in the path of sinners. To share that path risks being overcome by sin, or being tempted by it unnecessarily.  That path is the wide path, the wrong path, the one that leads to death and destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).  The righteous man  takes the narrow path.

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ^14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and ^[b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

A blessed man does not sit in the seat of the scornful, not bitter or holding contempt against others.  He is at peace, always forgiving and heeding God’s will as he delights in the law of the Lord.

A blessed man is like a tree planted where it would be best nourished, by a river, so it always bears fruit in its season, full of everlasting life that brings prosperity.

All of this stands in stark contrast to the ungodly, who are not rooted in faith.  They don’t hold fast to the source of all life and are driven away like worthless chaff by the slightest wind.  They will not stand before God at judgment but be eternally separated from Him.  Nor would they stand with the righteous.  The way of the righteous is eternal life, but the ungodly is death.

Judgment on Judah

⁴ Thus says the Lord:

“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have despised the law of the Lord,
And have not kept His commandments.
Their lies lead them astray,
Lies which their fathers followed.
⁵ But I will send a fire upon Judah,
And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

Amos 2:4-5

Judgment on Judah.  These verses repeat the statement “for three transgressions, and for the fourth” repeatedly.  What this means is not an exact number of sins, but a limit was hit.  Three was the limit before judgment would be delivered by God.  The fourth was the tipping point where it could not be allowed to continue.

Judah despised the law, and failed to keep His commandments.  They were led astray by their own lies.  For this God vowed to send a fire that would devour the palaces of Jerusalem.  God would again turn worldly wealth to ash.