And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, [and] the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (KJV),
Jesus' authority is established with three titles:
1. The faithful witness (Revelation 3:14 etc. repeated throughout the book), which establishes His credibility. He is of the truth; indeed, He is truth! 2. The first begotten of the dead. (Colossians 1:18) He has the preeminence. First born from the dead means preeminence not sequential. He was not the first born ever to come back from the dead. Preeminence or Protokos (Greek from Colossians 1:15) means that HE DID NOT DIE AGAIN. (Hebrews 1:4) He has a better name than any of the angels. When He brings the first born into the world let all the angels of God worship Him. (Revelation 22:8-9) John tried to worship the angel and the angel told John to worship God alone. 3. Prince (ruler) of the kings of the earth. Jesus is in charge of all the governmental affairs of the earth. Soon He will change the administration of the world. Even so Come Lord Jesus.
Finally, verse five tells us of our redemption is through Jesus and His shed blood. He is our all in all. Jesus continues to love us. The verb was written in the present tense regardless of whether our Bible translators have placed the verb in the past tense.
Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter.
Text-Featuring a sermon is a less expensive way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands on the right bar with optional newsletter inclusion. As low as $30/day.