For Me

FOR ME!!! I realize this is an unusual picture to put on my blog at this season of the year. But I am so deeply grateful for my Lord Jesus Christ. I love to celebrate Christmas and all the arguments about His birth being a different time of the year do not really impress me, nor do they deter me. I know about all that stuff, but I am overwhelmingly thankful that He came and He came because He loved me. It is not a pagan holiday in my heart. It is the celebration of His coming and all the dimensions of that coming pile into me and out of me in praise and wonder.

As we gaze at the babe in the manger this season, let us remember that He will come again, and this time He will come as our Victorious King. For that is what He is. Read Revelation 1:9-20 and let that image fill your soul.

1. He is One like the a son of man -- One like me. I am included in Him -- He came like me, He is like me -- only better. So when I see those words, I know He has included me and is for me.

2. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet - He is wearing the linen robe of the High Priest. Glory! He is my Intercessor, never sleeping, day and night, keeping vigil for me and over me and mine. What absolute wonder! He is the One who takes care of my affairs. He doesn't make mistakes in those matters. I do, but He straightens the things I have made crooked and takes care of it all. He came for this.

3. He wore a wide golden belt around His chest - He is King, but not just any earthly king, He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He rules in all the affairs of men. They may or may not be aware of His Lordship, but He nonetheless is ruling. In Psalm 2, the Holy Spirit tells us that even though the nations of the earth gather against Him, He laughs at them. How very pitiable our preparations for safety and for government must seem in the light of His all powerful nature.

4. His head and His hair are as white as wool, even as white as snow . All the knowledge and wisdom that exists are His. He knows. He just knows. Whatever it is, He knows and He knows what is best in each and every situation. "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all men..." What a wonderful gift you are Lord!

5. His eyes are like a fiery flame. He sees. That is probably enough to say -- He sees. Whatever, whenever, He sees. To be able to know, perceive, and see. Nothing hidden --everything out in the open. He sees.

6. His feet are like polished bronze refined in a furnace. In the Old Testament, bronze is always symbolic of judgment. So here we have the picture of our Lord Jesus with feet as polished bronze. Letting us know that whatever judgment was ours to reap, He has already stood in it, taken, it and pronounced it done. His feet are like bronze -- He stands in judgment for me.

7. His voice is like the roar of many waters. Like Niagara Falls. Oh what a sound. I love to get as close to the Falls as possible and just let the sound of the roar invade my being. That is what His voice is like. Many Christians make the mistake of thinking (and saying) that they do not hear God speak to them. Lie! That is a lie. At least according to the word of the Lord, it is a lie. You see, when this Son of Man speaks -- He sounds like roaring water -- Niagara Falls. In order to miss it you have to be deaf (spiritually deaf), if you are one of His. Now if you do not have the Lord as your Savior and do not have the Holy Spirit inside, then it will be quiet for you. You will not hear. But beloved Christian, you do hear at least according to John 10:27. If you are His, you hear.

8. A sharp double-edge sword extends out of His mouth. We know from Hebrews 4:12, that this two edge-sword is the Word of God. This is indeed the agent that is used to create, to bring life, to deliver, to restore, and to kill. John 3:16 is a double-edge sword. To all who receive -- eternal life; but to all who do not believe, the sword of His love brings the "perishing." He speaks and He has spoken. We have the privilege of reading the utterances of Almighty God, and of knowing His heart as He has written to us. So in voice, and in page. He is amazingly thorough.

9. His face shines like the sun shining at full strength. We do not look at our natural sun for it would literally blind us. Our Lord shines more brightly than any physical sun. Yet in His light we see and know light. If we get energy and life from the physical sun, then how much more from the One who created it all and shines more brightly than any of the creation. In His presence we become healed and restored through the light of that presence. It is better than any earthly day on the beach.

This is a brief summary of the One who describes Himself as "I am the First and the Last, and the One who was dead, but look, now I am alive -- forever and ever -- and I hold the keys of death and of Hades." This is Who we celebrate this season! Let us lift our eyes beyond the babe and greet our conquering King who lives forever more. Soon we will see Him as He is! Now that will really be Christmas!