Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him. ¹⁷ And they said,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty,
    the one who is and who always was,~ Revelation 11

In the garden of Gethsemene,  the soldiers who came to arrest him asked 'are you Jesus of Nazareth? '

'I am' he says

And they all fall down.

Jesus had used his sacred eternal name.  I am.  When Moses asked who he should say had sent him, when telling the Israelites of his mission,. God told him,  tell them 'I am' has sent you.

You see,  the Israelites, enslaved in Egypt for generations,  had almost lost touch with the faith of the patriarchs,  and to some,  this God would have been all but a complete unknown.

God could have said,  I am the one who revealed himself to your father,  Abraham,  and of course,  he did this at various times,  because the past faithfulness of God is a great source of strength.

But he reveals his name to Moses as the present continuous I am.

Not I was.

Not I will be.

But I am.

And this present in the words of the elders.  Who is and always was.

And Jesus,  we are told in Hebrews is the same yesterday,  today and forever.

I think we face the future better with our back to it,  looking to the past at Gods faithfulness.  I am
Not suggesting that we be ignorant or naive about the future, but rather that we face it with a perspective gained from the past.

God got me through.
He will do it again.
That is who he is.

And we see this exemplified in David,  who when insulted with the arrogance and disrespect of Goliath,  says,

When I was shepherding my father's sheep,  God delivered me from the Lion and the bear.

He shall be like one of these.

You see how he draws on the past help of the present God.

Your situation may have changed

That is true.

But your God hasn't.

His love and care are undiminished.

He is true to his unchanging nature.

And he is almighty.

And just as the soldiers in the garden fell down on their faces, and the elders fell down before the throne,
We ought to, too.

Fall down before him this morning and acknowledge,  He Is.

And he is present.  In this moment.

He always has been.
He always will.

Thank you Lord.

Amen.