God is faithful and good. God is sovereign. God is our redeemer.
Who is the Author?
Act ONE, Week 2
Who is the Author? He is.
Who is the Author? "I AM."
Have you ever started a book, and before you even finished the first chapter you were flipping to the back, trying to discover more about the Author? Why is that? Knowing the story is one thing, but understanding the heart behind the story, the heart of the Author, is, in the words of Buzz Lightyear..."to infinity and beyond."
We have a hunger to know the Author of our story deeply. Within this week's passages, we discover how infinite, how sovereign, and how faithful He is. Did you notice how we kept reading that the plan of God has a beginning and an end? He didn't just fling the earth into space, setting a plan into motion, and then sit back on His throne and wait for it to give Him a glorious show. He sealed the deal. It is done. The Lord tells Israel through Isaiah (41:4), "I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He." In Revelation 21:6 He said, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."
Okay, you may say, "So how does knowing that God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable impact me today?" His everlasting attributes build our faith. We can trust Him. He will remain faithful to His covenants and promises. "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Can I trust that He has reigned of old, and will reign forever? Yes! "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:19). To reign means to rule with might and power. How do I live like He reigned from the beginning, and will to the end of time? By asking the Lord to increase my faith, "for we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Can we believe that He has hemmed us in like Psalm 139:5 says? It says God has us totally surrounded. At the front and at the back. No matter what happens, despite the trials that we face, knowing the truth in Revelation 1:8 is powerful: “'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'” It is true. Knowing and having faith in our Author and the Story He has begun and will complete increases our faith in Jesus Christ and in the eternal life He gives.
Do you really, truly have faith in the forgiveness of your sins? If you truly believe that He is the beginning and the end, the Great I AM, the Author of your story, then when it comes to His work on the cross, you must believe that in this also, He was the beginning and the end. He sealed the deal. It is done. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:30). And He has risen. Your sins are forgiven.
If God is the Alpha and Omega, then Jesus is too. And if that is the case (and it is), we should not walk as if our sins have not been forgiven. Jesus, the Author, is "the way the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen"
–Revelation 1:5-6
