Alpha & Omega

Pastor Steve Ellison

Almighty God used the alphabets of both Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek to illustrate that He is everything to us. Revelation 1:8 reads, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." NASU  According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Leviticus 26 indicates that God blesses from the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet all the way to the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, but the corresponding curses in Leviticus 26 for disobedience only go from the sixth Hebrew letter to the thirteenth Hebrew letter.  May God be forever praised for His great mercy!

Scholars are divided about whether it is God the Father or God the Son speaking in Revelation 1:8.  I don’t suppose that it makes much difference which way one decides this question because God the Son does use the same phrase “I am the Alpha and the Omega” in Revelation 22:13. The exact same phrase is used to describe God the Son and God the Father.  Isaiah 41, 44, 48 each contain an almost identical description of God as being the first and the last.  Jesus uses something very similar in Revelation 1:17-18 to describe Himself.  Regardless what is true about Revelation 1:8, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, is deity.  He is also the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

For the sake of discussion, I will assume that Christ is speaking in Revelation 1:8.  I would like to consider 1:8, 17, and 18 together.  The book of Revelation comes at the end of the Bible for a reason. It is the final, all encompassing revealing of the Second Person of the Trinity.  Thus in that vein, Jesus tenderly and yet powerfully comes to His faithful and enduring Beloved Disciple. It has been many years since John has seen Jesus face to face.  John now sees Jesus in a way that he had never seen Him before. The image painted by Revelation 1:13-16 is awe inspiring and fear inspiring.  John falls at Christ’s feet like a dead man.  Jesus, in conjunction with this sight, comforts John in verse 8, 17, and 18.  What Jesus is telling John is summed up in verse 18.  What I believe Jesus is saying to the Beloved Disciple and to all His beloved disciples is: “It’s really Me, the One you saw killed, buried, and resurrected.  I am the answer to everything.  I am the answer to everything forever.  I am the answer to your greatest problem.”  May we never forget His wonderful promise!  Whatever your problem, whatever your dilemma, whatever your predicament, Christ is the solution.  He has power and authority to solve anything that comes into your life.  He proved His love for you in the most dramatic way possible.  He longs to come to your aid, to rescue you from whatever it is that has you in its clutches.  Simply throw yourself on His mercy, confessing to Him that you have sinned against Him, and that you want His forgiveness based on His dying in your place.  He has never refused anyone who has come on that basis and He will not refuse you. Cast your cares on Him because He cares for you…………… pastorsteve8800@gmail.com