Yesterday and Today and Forever

September 13

I sometimes forget what it was like to go into Aldi without a mask, or to hug people and shake their hands and not apologize. I sometimes feel like the pandemic always was, is, and will be.

But the only One to ever wear that title is Jesus.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).

Jesus is.

Right here, right now, filling this moment to its fullest is Jesus Christ— the great I AM.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14).

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).

Jesus was.

When the Triune God breathed life into the nothingness, Jesus was there. He was God.

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 was not any thing made that was made (John 1:1-3).

Jesus is to come.

When we say we can’t know the future, that’s not entirely true. Here’s something we know with absolute surety:

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:12-13).

We get to read the end of this Story, and it should flood us with hope as we turn the pages of this pandemic, because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).