I Am Alpha And Omega
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 19th October service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
I Am Alpha And Omega
Having spent some weeks upon the Lord’s seven ‘I am’ sayings in John’s Gospel, I felt it suitable to add a further two ‘I am’ titles provided for us by John in his ‘Revelation of Jesus Christ’, the final book in our Bible. Here the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last’. Then He says, ‘I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star’. We shall come to this latter saying next week, God willing.
God with us
Running through all the Lord’s ‘I am’ sayings is an emphasis on our Saviour’s divine nature. Each is built upon the Lord’s name revealed to Moses in Exodus, ‘I AM THAT I AM’. ‘And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’ Here in Revelation, Christ’s divinity is, once again, asserted prominently. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, Omega is the last. Like A and Z in our English alphabet, there is nothing that comes before, nor anything that comes after. There is no one comes before our Saviour and no one can come after Him. He is the eternal, everlasting God.
First and Last
This is the language of our Great God in both testaments. He tells Isaiah in chapter 44, ‘Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God’. Christ our King and Christ our Redeemer is, with the Father and the Spirit, the One True God. Here, as John opens His Revelation of Jesus Christ, it is to confirm to the Church that Jesus Christ is Jehovah from the beginning and shall be evermore.
Christ’s own testimony
Our Lord Jesus Christ assumes these titles to Himself without reservation or limitation because He is the eternal God. They are His attributes by right. He is first and last in all things. He is the beginning and the ending of all things. It is not John the Apostle who speaks these words of Christ. The Lord Himself is the speaker as though present with John. Christ’s words are interjected between John’s tributes to the Saviour in verse 6, and his explanation of his commission in verses 7ff., where he is told, ‘What thou seest, write in a book’.
Our superlative God
Alpha is by usage a term for excellence and primacy. It denotes that which is first and best, the most prominent, the highest in quality, distinction and merit. Christ is the Alpha, the chief as to His divine nature, ‘who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.’ He is unique above angels and men as the Son of God. In His Mediator offices He is King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the Great High Priest, the great Prophet and Preacher of His church. He is ‘highly exalted’, with ‘a name which is above every name’.
Our condescending Saviour
Christ may also be said to be Omega, the last, in His humanity, being made lower than the angels and despised and rejected of men. Christ’s was a double humiliation. He humbled Himself first and was ‘found in fashion as a man’, then again ‘he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross’. He was born in the lowliest of circumstances. Though He was rich He became poor. He had nowhere to lay His head. Even His clothes were taken from Him and He was laid in a borrowed tomb.
Our all-encompassing Christ
Our Saviour may also be considered to be the whole in the sense that Alpha and Omega encompasses all else. All revelation concerns Him who is the living Word with God. Every phrase, every sentence, every book and all spoken words are comprised of letters encompassed and contained within the confines of Alpha and Omega. Nothing can exist outside of Christ. ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.’ He upholds all things ‘by the word of his power’.
Potentate of time and eternity
Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, tells us He is ‘the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty’. Christ is eternally Almighty. The Potentate of heaven and earth. He is omnipotent and omniscient now, in the history of the world, in all the affairs of men in time. He was so before time began, before He created the world and all that in it is, and before Man fell. He was so on the cross when He purchased our redemption. He will be so when He comes again to judge the world in wisdom, righteousness and power.
Far above all
It has been said, ‘your God is too small’. Who among us is not guilty of limiting our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is infinite in faithfulness, mightiness, goodness, wisdom and love. The extent and dimensions of Christ’s primacy and superiority is beyond what we can humanly conceive or imagine. He is, says Paul, ‘Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come’. All things are under his feet. He is ‘the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all’.
Amen
Hymn 857
Praising Christ. Rev. 1. 5, 6; 1 Tim. 6. 16
J. Hart 7s
1
Jesus Christ, God’s holy Lamb,
We will laud thy lovely name;
We were saved by God’s decree,
And our debt was paid by thee.
2
Thou hast washed us in thy blood,
Made us kings and priests to God;
Take this tribute of the poor;
Less we can’t, we can’t give more.
3
Souls redeemed, your voices raise,
Sing your dear Redeemer’s praise;
Worthy thou of love and laud,
King of saints, incarnate God.
4
Righteous are thy ways, and true;
Endless honours are thy due;
Grace and glory in thee shine;
Matchless mercy, love divine.
5
We for whom thou once wast slain,
We thy ransomed sinner-train,
In this one request agree,
“Make us more resemble thee.”
Hymn 1053
“I will love him.” John 14. 20-23
C. Wesley 8.7.
1
Love divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down!
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion;
Pure unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation;
Comfort every sinking heart.
2
Breathe, O breathe thy blessed Spirit
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in thee inherit;
Let us find thy promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
3
Carry on thy new creation;
Pure and holy may we be;
Let us see our whole salvation
Perfectly secured by thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place;
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.
The glory and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ is beautifully expressed in this wonderful revelation of the Lord's true identity. He is the Creator of men and He shall be the Judge of men. He is the pre-eminent God and the humble Substitute. He is All in All, the Author and Finisher of our faith.