Behold,
I Am Coming Quickly!
"
'And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the
Last.' Blessed are those who do His commandments that they
may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through
the gates into the city." (1)
"Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of
the saints. He has delivered us from the power of darkness
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins.
"He
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven
and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were
created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things,
and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He may have the preeminence.
"For
it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should
dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him,
whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace
through the blood of His cross.
"And
you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh
through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above
reproach in His sight, if indeed you continue in the faith,
grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every
creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
"I
now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake
of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister
according to the stewardship from God which was given to me
for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has
been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been
revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what
are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
"Him
we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
To this end I labor, striving according to His working which
works in me mightily." (2)
"And
He said to me, 'It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of
the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes
shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall
be My son." (3)
"And
behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to
give to every one according to his work
Even so, come,
Lord Jesus!" (4)
1. Rev.
22:12-14.
2. Col. 1:2, 3, 12-29.
3. Rev. 21:6, 7.
4. Rev. 22:12, 20.
|