Sunday’s Coming

Christ who holds all things (Revelation 1:4b-8)

We need a Christ who manifests his power, not just a Pantocrator of the gaps.

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In the epistolary greeting at the beginning of John’s prophecy, God declares: "I am the Alpha and the Omega...who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” The word translated “Almighty” is pantocrator in Greek, and images of Christ Pantocrator—Christ Almighty, the stern savior and judge, grasping the book of the Gospels in his left hand and imparting a blessing with his right—are some of the oldest and most popular icons of the ancient church. Christ Pantocrator was often painted or laid in mosaic tiles in the central dome of ancient churches, gazing down beneficently and powerfully upon the gathered worshipers.