Jesus Has Been Here, Is Here, and Will Be Here
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
There is a Bible Reading Plan in which you read the Bible chronologically so that you can read history and Psalms and other events in the right context. It’s really good. You skip around a lot when you get into 2nd Kings and Psalms and Proverbs, but it’s worth doing.
There is another way to do that same reading plan that sounds crazy until you consider it. Read the Bible chronologically backwards. Why would you do such a thing? Because you read how everything is fulfilled, then you read the process by which it happened.
One little snippet of that comes in Revelation 13 when it refers to people having their names written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Revelation 13:8 — and all who dwell on earth will worship it, [all of the evil people] whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (ESV)
That Lamb it is talking about is Jesus. He was around before the foundation of the world.
The Apostle John, who could arguably be one of Jesus’ best friends, understood this about Jesus:
John 1:2–3 — He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
When it came time for my family to go see Solo: A Star Wars Story, I had to go see it myself to make sure there weren’t any scenes too scary for my 7-year-old. I was there at one of the first shows. It was awesome.
Two days later my whole family walked in and my boy had confidence, he wasn’t scared. I had told him about the one scary thing and what it was and made it no big deal. When that scene came, I nodded to him so he wasn’t surprised. He covered his eyes, Proxima the worm lady had her scene, and we moved on.
As far as my son was concerned, I was at that movie from before the beginning. He trusted me that I knew how it would all go down and that I’d help him through it. I happened before anything scary in the movie and that gave him the courage to rest and trust and enjoy it. Now it’s one of his favorites.
Jesus was in your life before you were. You can trust Him with it. He is before everything.
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Extra Credit:
Article on reading the Bible Backwards