God Moments Revelation 1:17

Prayer “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭1:17-20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/rev.1.17-20.NKJV I must confess, that I had some difficulty writing the copy for this teaching. I just couldn’t get my head around it. I bet you’ve been there too. Reading your bible, a passage jumps off the page and the majesty and power within it overwhelm you to the point that you stop reading and must take it to the Lord right then and there? I call these God moments. They can happen anywhere, at any time, and during the most mundane of activities. This brings up an interesting question; how do they happen? Under what circumstances do we experience a God moment? All people seem to search for them. I know people who are always saying, “maybe this is a sign,” this random thing that’s happens in their lives, this event, “maybe it’s a sign.” Maybe. But in my experience, when you get a message from the almighty, there is no question, it is so certain that you find yourself not wanting to move, so powerful, you fear any movement in that moment might mess it up! That is how God communicates. What is the key? Look again at John. We have learned in past studies, John was a man and as such, was subject to all off the faults as foibles that we are. So How did John have this God moment times infinity? John was all in as we say at my church; John was sold out for the Lord. John had a relationship with Jesus. His prayer time was not hit or miss, or as he had time for it. No, I venture to guess that prayer was a daily, hour by hour event for him. I would also say that he spent specific time meditating, reflecting on scripture and his time spent with Jesus. We are so blessed, as believers in this time. We have the complete word of God at our disposal. Because of the sacrifice mad by Jesus on the cross, we do not need an intermediary to speak with God. We can just bow our heads, raises our hands, eyes closed, eyes open,; the posture does not matter as the submission to God and then, we are granted entrance to the throne room and given an audience with Adonai! Pick up with me in verse 17 Revelation 1. “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/rev.1.17.NKJV Me too! The visual of the risen and glorified Christ is so powerful and all consuming that John’s mind, body and spirit are completely overwhelmed and he simply collapses at the feet of Jesus; now that’s a God moment! True God moments elicit a response from the believer. Look at Acts 10 and see that Cornelius, the Roman centurion, and first gentile convert, had as similar reaction when confronted by an angel. God moments often come with direction from God, as we will see in a moment. John is laying there as if dead before Jesus in all His glory. He is frozen until Jesus, his friend, teacher, Lord and Savior puts his hand on him His right hand. This is significant. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. Turn to Psalms 110 and pick up in verse 1. “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭110:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.110.1.NKJV Jesus sits at the right hand of the father giving Him equality with the Father. Jesus placing his right hand on John is a sign of equal dignity and authority. And then, Jesus says, “do not be afraid, I am the first and the Last.” I believe, in that moment, John heard his friend, the one he walked with, talked with, learned from, and loved. Come with me as we close to the gospel of John chapter 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1:1-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/114/jhn.1.1-5.NKJV The book of Revelation is believed to have been written between AD 90-95 and the gospel of John, AD 85-90. There are some who believe it was written before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Either way, the Gospel was written before Revelation. Jesus introduces Himself to His friend in terms he would understand, “the first and the last.” The short of it is this: John had his God moment. He was touched by the Lord he knew. We can’t have a God moment with an unknown God. Alter call √