WE ARE BLESSED

My mind cannot comprehend what Jesus was like prior to becoming a man, but the Gospels give us a pretty good picture of Him during His Incarnation. And, now that He is seated at the Father's right hand (Eph. 1:20), we have some idea of what He is like from the Book of Revelation. He is called "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending" (Rev. 1:8; 21:6), "Alpha and Omega, the first and the last" (Rev. 1:11), and "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Rev. 22:13). The way I understand it, Jesus was the Creator (Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:1-2), and He will rule forever as King of kings and Lord of lords (Lk. 1:33; 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16). And in the sense that He was, is, and will always be God, He is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Heb. 13:8). In other words, while His appearance may change, His character never does.

Because He never changes, one would expect there to be similarities between what He said while He was here, and what He said in John's vision (Rev. 1:1). In His first recorded message to His people, He began with the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-12), and while they are scattered throughout the Book of Revelation, again we find Beatitudes. There are seven of them, which is to be expected since the Book of Revelation is filled with "sevens" (churches, angels, Spirits, candlesticks, stars, lamps, seals, horns, eyes; trumpets, thunders, heads, crowns, plagues, vials, mountains, kings, and "the seven.").

The seven Beatitudes of Revelation are:
***"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand" (1:3).
***"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them" (14:13).
***"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" (16:15).
***"And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God" (19:9).
***"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (20:6).
***"Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (22:7).
***"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city" (22:14).

Perhaps the message is the same because God does not change; or perhaps it is the same because the New Testament has a single Author (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Per. 1:21); perhaps it is both. Either way, we are blessed!