Alpha and Omega
Partial outline: FULL PDF HERE
Rev. 1:1-18 (text v. 8)
A great passage on the person and offices of Christ—“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which IS [He is now Priest], and which WAS [He was Prophet], and which IS TO COME [King of kings], the Almighty.”
This is also a great text on deity of Christ.
God the Father is called “Alpha and Omega” (Rev. 1:8; 21:6). The name also is applied to Jesus (Rev. 1:11-18; 22:12-16).
Likewise, both God the Father and the Lord Jesus say they are “the first and the last” (cf. Rev. 22:12, 13, 16). Either there are two firsts and two lasts…two alphas and two omegas…two beginnings and two endings—OR, Jesus and the Father are one.
Jesus identifies Himself as two letters in the Greek alphabet. What a profound statement of Christ’s eternal existence. Jesus Christ is the beginning and ending of all there is. He began all things and He will end all things. All things find their source, support, and end in Him.
The English alphabet has 26 letters—“A to Z.” The Greek alphabet has 24 letters—“Alpha” to “Omega.” These two Greek words—“Alpha and Omega” express totality—The beginning and the end includes everything in between. When we say, “Someone knows it all from A to Z,” we mean he knows all there is to know about a certain subject—he knows it from start to finish. That expresses the totality of Christ—He is “all in all.”
Jesus is Alpha—Omega; First—Last; Beginning—End; Commencement— Conclusion. He is “the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith.”
Be encouraged—What Jesus starts, He will finish! SALVATION started with Jesus (not you) and He will complete it! “He which hath BEGUN a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ!”
I. “ALPHA”– FIRST.
A. “First”in the sense of being SOVEREIGN. He does not give account to anyone. God is responsible to no one.
There were none before Him. There was no “before Him.”
“He is BEFORE all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:17).
B. “First” in the sense being the SOURCE—everything originated with Him. As every word comes from the alphabet, so everything comes from Jesus.
“First born” of every creature. No angel can compete with Him—“Being made so much better than the angels.” “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou are my Son, this day have I begotten thee?… And again, when he bringeth the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.”
Partial outline: FULL PDF HERE
