The Alpha and The Omega
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Here are three terms that refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. They encompass everything. They all speak of the start and end of something. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In Revelation 1:8, the Lord God is said to be “the Alpha and Omega who is and who was and who is to come.” They imply an eternity about the Lord God. The same applies to the Son of God. In fact, a very strong case can be made in Revelation 1:8 that this verse is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He most certainly is the one to come, from John’s perspective of writing. He is also eternal.
God was at the beginning of creation (Gen. 1:1). He will also be there when he dismantles everything with a fiery word and brings about a new creation (2 Pet. 3:10, 13). At the commencement and closing of history, we find Jesus. We all know that the Scriptures are full of Christ. Our Lord is everywhere in them. They speak of him from Genesis to Revelation. He is the Architect of history. He is the Sovereign Ruler over history. Revelation 1:5 reminds us that Jesus is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth.” He testifies of himself with true testimony; he has overcome death and he reigns over all who have authority on earth. He is absolute. He always has been and always will be. His subsistence is in and of himself. He is all-sufficient. He has no need of any creature to sustain his life. He is life itself. He derives no glory from anyone. He alone is the fountain of all being. All things were made by him and for him.
What is true of the Son is true of the Father and the Spirit. To be the last, as our verse says, does not mean that there will be none else left at the end, but rather that the goal of all things is Jesus himself. When John sees his vision of the Son of God in Revelation chapter one, he is so overcome with fear that he falls at Jesus’ feet as dead (Rev. 1:16). Jesus responds to John by telling him not to be afraid and then declares that he is the first and the last.
Jesus always responds by speaking of himself when disciples are afraid. When Jesus appears walking on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples are terrified. But he says to them immediately, “take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid,” (Mark 6:45-50). When the disciples see the glory of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and hear the voice of God, they hide their faces and are terrified. But Jesus comes to them and touches them and tells them to have no fear. When they look up they see no one except Jesus (Matt. 17:7).
Jesus always responds to fear in the hearts of the disciples with encouragement and comfort. We can only truly grasp the comfort of the Lord if we believe that he is absolutely sovereign. The difficulties that we have can largely be attributed to the fact that we just don’t believe that God is totally and absolutely sovereign. We always seek to counter what God says with our view of things. Submission to sovereignty is not an easy thing. We are all prone to self-sufficiency.
It is not easy to submit to another authority. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not some sentimental reaction or emotion. This is what the Christian church has made faith. It is no wonder that the world laughs at such faith. The faith that turned the world upside down was a faith that totally believed God, with no praise for self anywhere (Acts 17:6).
If God chooses to break us, he can do so. If he chooses to afflicts us as Job was afflicted, he can do so. If he chooses to let Joseph languish in prison for many years, he can do so. You see, most of us would say it wasn’t God who did these things, but we know that none of these things could have taken place without God. Recognizing the hand of God in everything is the first step to acknowledging that he is Lord.
It was David who confessed that it was God who formed his inward parts while in his mother’s womb. It was God who knitted him together (Ps. 139:13). Most of us would see the wonder of a baby growing and developing from a human perspective, but the real wonder is that the very life of the baby in the womb is utterly dependent upon God. The growth and development from something unseen and in the darkness of the womb is in God’s hands. You might appreciate the incredible science of it, but David says “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” (Ps. 139:14).
In other words, the giving of life and the ending of life are in the hands of God. He is the beginning and the end. When we think as David did, we are submitting to the Lordship of Christ over us. If God controlled your growth and development in your mother’s womb, what is he doing right now to you? Every breath is a gift from God. Every second of life is sustained by God. If Jesus upholds this entire universe by his powerful word (Heb. 1:3), then it is, by comparison, a small thing to maintain your individual life. Yet he does so, by the same powerful word that keeps this universe together.
It is God who has the power to send people to hell. Jesus said that we should not fear those who have the power to kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather we are to fear the one who has the power to destroy both body and soul in hell (Matt.10:28). That is a terrifying and sovereign power. If Jesus is the living one, who was dead and is now alive forevermore and has the keys of death and hades, then he has absolute power and control over all life (Rev. 1:18). We do not value Christ at all unless we value him above all, as Augustine said.
Revelation 22:13 stresses the complete dominance of Jesus. This dominance will be displayed by Jesus when he comes. Verse 12 stresses that when Jesus comes, he is bringing his recompence (lit. wages) with him. This means that he will reward those who were faithful and will punish those who were evildoers. It is because he is the Alpha and Omega that he will do this. When Jesus speaks of his recompence, he is connecting himself to the divine conquering warrior-king of Isaiah (Isa. 62:10-63:6). It will be a day of glory and vengeance. It will be the Day of the Lord.
The church at Smyrna could take comfort in the words that Jesus spoke to them because they were “the words of the first and the last, who died and came to life,” (Rev. 2:8). We can look to God for everything that we need because he is the Supplier. We do that when we pray for our daily food. We do that when we pray to be kept from sin. We do that when we face temptation and sin. We do that when things go from bad to worse for us. Our God is able to do for us above and beyond what we can ever imagine. It’s because he is the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
Stephen Charnock said that “to be God and sovereign are inseparable.” Matthew Henry reminds us that “whatever we do, begin with God.” Isaac Watts wrote, “There’s not a plant or flower below, but makes his glories known; and clouds arise and tempests blow, by order from his throne.” Jesus is a powerful Savior who truly saves us in and from our sins. He is to be praised and adored. We are to fall at his feet and worship him, because worthy is the Lamb who was slain for us, who loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood.