There are two readings for today.

SCRIPTURE: Revelation 1
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” [Revelation 1:8]
Who is saying this? – is it not Almighty God, the Lord God?
Then who appears to John, like a son of man, yet brilliant with God’s glory?
“I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. [Revelation 1:18]
Is it not Almighty God, the Lord God, revealed in flesh?
Alpha (first letter of Greek alphabet) and Omega (last letter), the first and the last, who is, and was, and is to come – the same yesterday, today and forever [Hebrews 13:8]
If I were challenged by a Jehovah’s Witness about my belief that Jesus is God in the flesh, I would take them in their own translation to this chapter.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [John 1:1-3]
These well-known words written by John in his later years as he reflected on the mystery of Jesus Christ – with God, was God, through whom all things were made – convey this same awe and wonder at the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
Or as Paul says, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form [Colossians 2:9]… no wonder John fell down almost dead [Revelation 1:17]
Though we cannot see God, God has made Himself visible through Jesus.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. [John 1:18]
We cannot explain this, it really is incomprehensible to our finite minds.
But we believe it nevertheless, and this belief changes everything.

Believing that Jesus is God in the flesh means that we owe Him our obedience, and He is worthy of it, and one day everyone will give it to Him whether they want to or not.
If Jesus is God in the flesh, then everyone ought to fall down before Him like John did.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:9-11]
The whole book of Revelation, and the bible, needs to be read through this lens.
Jesus is the key to it all!
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [Colossians 1:17]

PRAYER:
Lord, You are the only way I can know God fully, the only way I can be reconnected to God. You are first and last and everything in between! I worship You!