Revelation 21:6 and 22:13 both say that Christ is the beginning and the end. Of course this is equivalent to what is said in the song, “He Is My Everything”. There is no doubt that Jesus is the beginning of all things. In Hebrews 1:8-12 the Father says of Jesus, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;” We know Jesus created all things and in the physical world he is certainly the beginning of all things. 

1 John 2:13-14 John refers to Jesus twice as the one who is from the beginning. And in John 1:1-3 he makes it clear that Jesus, the Word is God and has been from eternity.

Paul tells the Colossians in 1:18 that he is our beginning in a spiritual sense because he is the firstborn from the dead, in other words, his resurrection will make ours possible. 

In so many ways he is the beginning. He is the beginning for the church and the new law. He is the beginning of all physical life and all spiritual life and hope for eternal life.

On the other hand, he is the end in so many ways. He brought an end to the power of death. He brought an end to Satan’s power. Romans 10:4 tells us Christ is the end of the law (the Law of Moses) for all who believe. He is or will be the end to this world as well when the time comes according to 1 Corinthians 15:24 at that time Christ will end his reign and return the kingdom to the Father.

​Christ is without a doubt both beginning and end in these ways and many other ways that we don’t understand or know about. He can end your old way of life and give you a new life of righteousness. Is Christ your beginning? Is Christ your end?

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When something is being built there are a great many things that are important. What is being built? Whose will it be when it is built? Where is it being built? What materials are being used in building it? Who is paying for it to be built? Who is building it? There are probably more, but this gives us the picture. Of course the answers to these questions will vary by the project. In Matthew 16:18 we read Jesus saying, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” From this verse we learn the answers to some of those questions. Jesus is the builder. The church is what is being built. There is only one being built. It is built on the rock of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It will belong to him when it is built. 

From other passages we can find out the answers to more questions. God paid for it with his own blood -Acts 20:28. Christians are the materials he uses to build it - 1 Peter 2:5. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the foundation with the apostles and prophets helping complete the foundation - Ephesians 2:20. He began building in Jerusalem, but has continued to make additions to it through the ages - Acts 2:47

There’s more, but let’s focus back on Christ: the builder, owner, and purchaser. He will decide who is and who is not in his church. He will decide where each stone is placed and what function it will serve. In any building there are different purposes for different parts. We sometimes are guilty of thinking like the apostles, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom (church)?’. We must remember that Jesus is the greatest and we are created for him - Colossians 1:15-18. We should be content to be part of what he is building and do our best to bring him glory and honor no matter the place he puts us or the way he chooses for us to be used. To use a concept from scripture with a different example: Shall the brick say to the builder why did you put me here? Or, Why didn’t you use me in a more prominent position? 

We answer to the Builder. Are you doing your best to fit into God’s building where the builder has placed you?

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There is a story about a boy who saw a man parking his brand new expensive car. The boy asked about it and found out it had been a gift from the man’s brother. The boy said, “I wish...” (You know what came next don’t you? Or do you?) “I wish I could be a brother like that.” Read the rest of the story at http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/36169/a-brother-like-that. Of course we have a brother like that, Jesus has done far more than give us a car. 

And Jesus left us an example so we could be brothers (and sisters) like that as well. Jesus gave us so much, and all he expects in return is for us to do God’s will. Mark 3:34-35  And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  35  For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Younger children usually either are jealous of an older sibling, or want to be just like them in every way possible. What a great older brother we have in Jesus. The question is which will we do? Are we jealous of him because he is perfect? Do we envy him because he is better known? Do we want to be just like him? I hope that we all want to be like him. He always did what the Father wanted him to do (John 8:29). He gave until there was nothing more he could give us.

We can be siblings like Jesus. We can give ourselves to our brothers and sisters and devote ourselves to doing God’s will. We will not always live up to the standards our big brother did, but we can keep trying. 

Think about the things our brother, Christ, has done for us. How have we responded to him? Won’t you decide today that you want to be a brother like that and make whatever changes you need to make to love Christ and love your brethren like he loves you? 

John 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

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It is well-accepted that Zechariah 6:12 is a prophecy about Jesus, even though at first glance it appears to be talking to and about someone else. Notice the section. After some of the exiles returned, Zechariah was given the following message from the Lord in 6:11-13  Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.  12  And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.  13  It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ After this it tells how people will come from far away to build the temple. 

It looks like the man, Joshua, is the focus of this message, but he is just the symbol and shadow of the Christ who was to come. Let’s notice some things. 1) Joshua and Jesus are forms of the same name and both basically mean savior. 2) Behold the man is exactly what Pilate said when he presented Jesus to the people with a crown of thorns on his head. 3) Zerubbabel built the physical temple in their day, yet the Branch was going to build the temple. 4) The Branch was to sit and rule on his throne and be a priest, neither this Joshua nor any other priest of the tribe of Levi ever was king. In fact Israel never had it’s own king again after this time. 

When we take all of these things and more together we can see that this was an encouragement to the people to trust that God had a plan and that if they would obey him he would bless their obedience. Christ is still branching out today, and he began branching out from Jerusalem. Are you trusting God’s plan and being obedient to him so that your obedience can bring blessings as well?

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While there are some who are gluten intolerant and can’t eat regular bread, most of us love bread, probably too much. We eat sandwiches, have rolls, biscuits, flat breads, cornbread, etc. Most of us have some kind of bread every day and some have it at every meal, but we could live without it and probably be healthier. In Jesus’ day that was not the case. They didn’t have the same access to fruits and vegetables and meats that we have today. For some in the Bible bread was literally what kept them alive. That’s why Jesus telling Satan that man does not live by bread alone was a significant statement.

In John 6 some amazing things happen and some amazing teaching takes place. Jesus feeds the 5,000 and walks on water. The people try to make him a king and follow him around the Sea of Galilee. So, they have just eaten miraculously produced bread and now he is teaching them about true bread. They talk a little about the manna in the wilderness and then in John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus says that the manna was only a foreshadow of him and that he is the real bread from Heaven.

People lived on bread and water and not much else sometimes in those days and Jesus wants them to understand that spiritually he will be the thing that sustains them in their hunger and thirst. He wants us to know that as well. Are we coming to Jesus so we will never hunger or are we eating all the spiritual junk food out there in the religious world? Are we believing in him so we will never thirst or are we trying to quench our thirst with other things? The good news is that Jesus is bread that brings and sustains us and that all can partake of. Let’s be sure we never become Jesus intolerant.

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The word ‘Bishop’ can bring up many different thoughts. Some may think of the game of chess, some may think of someone who is a church leader or remember that it is another title for elders in the church. What we sometimes don’t think about is what the word means. A bishop is one who watches over something, an overseer, a superintendent. 

So in 1 Peter 2:25 when Peter says, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” What he is saying is that Jesus is the one who is watching over our souls. Are you allowing him to watch over your soul?

The idea of an overseer sometimes brings up bad feelings for some because someone who was supposed to be their overseer at some point abused their position or failed to protect the one under their care. Maybe the overseer hurt the person they were charged with watching over, or maybe they neglected them. Neither of these things is going to happen with Jesus as our overseer.

Sometimes people also may think that this is going to be someone watching over them to catch them in a mistake or to point out all of their flaws and shortcomings, but that is also far from what Jesus is doing as the Bishop of our souls. He is watching over us in a protective way not a harsh and judgmental way to defend our souls from the destructive power of Satan. Just as Satan accused God of building a hedge or wall around Job to protect him, Jesus is protecting us. Remember though that this protection is not a defense against all physical harm or even sickness or death, but against things that would destroy our soul. And if you think about it we need that so much more because we don’t always recognize the things that can destroy our souls. Won’t you let Jesus watch over your soul as your Bishop?

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​There is some confusion among those who claim to follow Christ and one point of disagreement is his eternal nature. The title above quoted from Revelation 3:14  “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.’” Is one of the verses that some misunderstand. 

As we read this phrase it sounds like Christ was the first thing that God created and some think because of this that Christ is a created being and don’t recognize him as God because of this verse and others like it. Is that what this verse means? Absolutely not! There are too many verses that clearly state that Jesus was born of a woman, but that before that he was known as the Word who was with God and was God and that he has no beginning nor any ending.

If it doesn’t mean that what does it mean? It is similar to what is taught in Colossians 1:16-17 and John 1:3 That Christ began the creation. In fact, “Plummer and many other able scholars declare the second meaning to be the one intended here. ‘The words mean, the one from whom creation took its beginning.’”(Coffman Commentary) So rather than proclaiming him to be a created being himself this verse indicates that he is the source of all created things. We should find the harmony of scriptures with English translations that appear to contradict. God doesn’t contradict himself. When we think there is a contradiction it is our lack of understanding or poor translation or some other problem that has caused it. 

Christ is not only the beginning of the physical creation, but also of the spiritual creation of his kingdom and all of its citizens. Christ created us twice once physically and once spiritually. We await his final creation when we are recreated to live in Heaven with him. 

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While we know that Christ is not a created being and therefore not an angel in the sense of being one of that group of beings in form, He certainly was a messenger which is what the word translated as angel in English means. There are several times The Angel of the Lord is mentioned in the OT and in some of them it is extremely difficult to see it being just any old angel. When we think of what the Hebrew writer says about how God spoke through the prophets, but has now spoken through Jesus, we can see Jesus in the role of being a messenger like the angels were.

One of the clearest examples of the Angel of the Lord being the second person in the Godhead is Judges 2:1-3 which says: Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,  2  and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?  3  So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As you read what this “angel” is saying it is clear that he takes credit for bringing them out of Egypt, swearing to their ancestors to give Canaan to them, made a covenant, and curses them because they did not obey him. That sounds like God speaking, not an angel. 

Jesus before he was Jesus surely came in contact with his people and spoke to them giving them promises and commands. He was the Angel of the Lord to them, but he is still the angel messenger who brought us the new law and new promises and commandments. Are you listening to the message he brought? Are you looking forward to the promises? Are you obeying the commands?

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Again we see Jesus portrayed as an author. We learned last week that this can mean more than someone who writes something, but also the one who causes something or is the source of something. The word used in Hebrews 12:2 is a different word than the one in Hebrews 5:9 even though the KJV uses the same English word. This word means the founder, leader, captain, or head.

That makes perfect sense. Jesus is the founder of our faith. Jesus is the head over the faithful. Jesus is the captain of our army. Jesus is our leader. When we say that he is the founder of our faith we are using faith in the sense of the set of beliefs that are necessary to please God, not in the sense of having faith or trust in someone or something. Both are valid uses of the word faith, and we need to understand from the context which is being used.

Jesus lived a life of faithfulness as an example for us to follow, but he did much more than that. He also established what we are to believe. In a very real way he is both the foundation for our faith as individuals and the founder of the entire system of Christian faith.

Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Without a doubt we should be looking to him. Are you? We will look another time at him being the finisher or perfecter of our faith. But for now let’s remember that their would be no true faith without him.

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If there is one thing we all associate with Jesus it is salvation. We hear about how Jesus died to save us quite regularly. We know we can’t save ourselves and no one else can save us. Salvation has to come from Jesus. He said that was his purpose on earth,“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”(Luke 19:10). 

So, there is certainly no issue with Jesus bringing us eternal salvation, but Hebrews 5:9 says, “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;”. What does it mean to be an author? We usually think of an author as one who writes a book or a story and Jesus never wrote anything as far as we know, so what does it mean?

The word translated ‘author’ here is only used this one time and it literally means the “causer”, the one who causes something to happen. Some translate it a ‘Source of eternal salvation”. Without a doubt Jesus caused eternal salvation by the action he took in coming and dying on our behalf. Certainly Jesus is the Source of our eternal salvation just as an author is the source of the book or story that he then writes. And Jesus has a book of life where he has written the rest of this story, the names of those who obey him and receive the eternal life that he authored.

If you have ever been in trouble of any kind you know that being saved from it is wonderful. Even a temporary salvation is a great thing. How much more then when we have an eternal salvation offered to us? Have you taken advantage of the eternal salvation Jesus authored for you? Will you let him write your name in his book with others who have obeyed him? Are you living each day like someone who has eternal salvation and eternal life? 1 John 5:13 tells we can know that we “have eternal life”, but are we living up to it? 

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