Glorious Sunday

It is not very often that we end a month, on the first day of a new week. Think of it. Today is the last Lord’s Day Sunday and the last day altogether in a month, yet it is, numerical ordering of the days of the week, the first day of a brand new week. Is there something which we can glean from this unusual time? Much! I hear some of you say. However, I shall like to draw your attention to this most spiritually awesome fact.

In our carnal, natural world, according to how days are ordered, today is the first day of the week, for today is Sunday. This is a given, a constant, that which cannot be varied. However, we have witnessed today that although this day cannot be altered in its naming of Sunday, and it cannot be changed in its numbering as first day of the week, it generously shares its time with what is last.

Indeed, today is Sunday, but this first day of the week has shared its, Preeminent position, its Alpha position, its Leading position, with what is last. But note, it is not just last, but it has no hope, no chance, not one bit of life in it to ever be a first.

For just a moment, let’s talk about the PAL, which I have laid out before you in its natural context or placing.  

Preeminent – Sunday is preeminent in naming, as against any other named day of the week. There are seven days of the week but it is Sunday that holds preeminence over the other days in terms of it being first and also it holds special spiritual significance for all believers in that God the Holy Spirit chose to raise Jesus from the dead, on no other day but the first day of the week. As simple as it may be, we see Preeminence in Sunday.

Does this not lead you to view Jesus? We note what Paul says in Colossians 1: 17 – 18. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. Jesus is the Preeminent One.

Alpha – From the smallest child who is now learning to read, to the most educated and proficient reader, the alphabet was and still is the first in learning to read. Alpha then, very simply, means the first. We look again at the complete or finite set of seven, called the days of the week. Sunday is alpha in positioning – it is number one. Sunday is alpha in order – it is the first; Sunday is alpha in classifying - it is second to none. As simple as it may be, we see Alpha in Sunday.

Does this not lead you to view Jesus? Yes we know Him as saying that He is the Alpha and Omega, but do you know that He is the First of all things? This is what we are informed in Colossians 1: 15 about Jesus. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Jesus is the Alpha One, the Beginning of all things.    

Leading – Leading, has many and varied meanings. How does Sunday lead? We have already articulated that in the total, the complete finite set of a week, it comes first. In that regard, it leads all the other six days of the week. Note Sunday never follows any other day in that all days follow it. Here it is most simply put. The full week, which carries the precious holy number of seven, is complete in itself. In other words there is no more after the seventh. One has to begin all over again and in that regard, Sunday leads and will always lead. As simple as it may be, we see Leading, in Sunday.

Does this not lead you to view Jesus? Jesus will never follow anything or anyone created, for He is the Leader, the Alpha, the First of all things. Paul, in writing to the Church at Ephesus, reminds them of the exceeding greatness of God towards all believers, and how, with His Might and Power He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1: 20b – 23.

Here we have it, this day that holds preeminence, this day that is alpha, this day that is leader of all other days, has shown us how it can be a PAL, as it were, to a last, a fading month without losing any of its preeminence, alpha position and leading role.

Is this not spiritually awesome, when we see Jesus as our PAL? We are the losers, the fading ones, the weak and dying ones, held captive by sin and the deceits of sin, yet Jesus, the Preeminent, the Alpha, the Leader God, has no problem in letting us share in His righteousness, as no sinfulness of ours can remove His righteousness. He lets us share in His positioning, His place of First.  Here is what James 1: 18 reveals. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. 

Jesus, PAL, is all to our comfort if we truly abide in Him. However, if we deny the goodness and righteousness of God and remain stubborn in our ways, how do we not expect to know calamity by His Righteous, Just Right Hand?

For the rest of this week, we will be navigating and scouting through a Psalm of David, which speaks to us of God’s Comfort and Calamity.