My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
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| FIRSTBORN OF THE DEAD |
| Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood |
| Was it not just a few posts back that the Name of God we considered was “Firstborn from the Dead”? (It was – check it out here if you missed it) If you did read it, you may be thinking to yourself this is a repeat. Let me assure you this is not a repeat. The previous name considered the Jesus as being raised from the dead, and though it spoke of the resurrection, it was primarily related to His preeminence. That is that He was first and greatest, that His resurrection was and is the ultimate sign of His Kingship and the only recognized ultimate authority presented by God to all of creation. This name speaks of King Jesus as the Firstborn of the Dead, with the implication that He is the first to be raised from amongst many. The emphasis of His resurrection in this verse is to communicate that the resurrection is associated with those who had passed on, that were in the state of physical death. He is the first to exit from that population with a new body. Those who were in the population of the dead had hope, for He was pulled from the pit, and they also, as other passages teach, were pulled from the pit also, because of His leading out of the grave. His resurrection is associated with our resurrection, and our resurrection is utterly impossible without His breaking the chains of death. John is telling those in Revelation (and us) that the resurrection of the Firstborn is the signal that resurrection is an accomplished fact, that death is not the end, that resurrection is available to the dead, and that others, though not the first, surely followed Him out of the grave. Speak of the resurrection today. Speak of the Firstborn from the Dead, and of the Dead. Let one person know that Jesus is the One who provided us life and a life completely beyond our understanding. He is the Firstborn of the Dead. We shall all enter that realm of death some day, with our only hope of being delivered in the person of Jesus, who has gone on before us to lead the way. He is the Resurrection and the Life! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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