The Final Invitation Part 1 - The Alpha And Omega Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work. 13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. 16 “I, Jesus, sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes receive the water of life without cost. 18 I bear witness to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. 19 And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. 20 He who bears witness to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:12–21 LSB)

I AM The Alpha & Omega?

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8 LSB)

Back in 2008, there was a surprise best-selling book entitled: “Not Quite What I Had Planned - 6-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure” Notice the first SIX words of the title. “Not Quite What I Had Planned.” The book essentially asked people to sum up their lives in 6 words. Amongst the entries were these:

• Stephen Colbert wrote, “Well, I thought it was funny.”

• A USA Today writer who reviewed the book offered this statement: “Dad was Santa. Downhill from there.”

• Another writer summed up their life this way, “Never really finished anything, except cake.”

• Someone else wrote, "Followed yellow brick road. Disappointment ensued.”

• And still another commented, “Should have risked asking, he sighed.” (Ed Sasnett, Sermon Central)

The book's author didn’t ask for Jesus’ reply, but Jesus might have said: “I Am The Alpha And Omega.” That 6-word statement sums up Jesus’ life. ALPHA was the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and OMEGA was the last of that alphabet. So Jesus said: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13).

This is the last “I AM” statement by Christ in Scripture. And it was how the Bible presents Jesus to us. Jesus was the beginning of all things. In the Old Testament, God revealed His name to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14).

Whenever you see the word LORD in all capital letters, you know this name is behind it. In Hebrew, the name had four letters — YHWH — and may have been pronounced like Yahweh. The Jews came to regard this word with such reverence that they would never take it upon their lips, lest they inadvertently take the name in vain.

“Contained in the name Yahweh is the first and most important truth about God: he exists. And for those who will stop pursuing their glory and their private pleasure long enough to consider it, that makes all the difference in the world.” (John Piper)

Throughout history, the Bible has been translated into dozens of languages. As a result, God has acquired a number of names: Dios, Apajui, God, Enkai, Dieu, Gott, and so on. However, the Torah, written in Hebrew, did have a specific name for God. When we see the use of God’s name, I AM, this way (YHWH), we call that the Tetragrammaton.

There are some important characteristics of the Tetragrammaton that we need to bear in mind before we continue into the implications of Jesus applying it to him

First, there is no adequate name to give God. This was a vital characteristic of the Jews, who, by all intents and purposes, never identified God by a specific name. In the Bible, a person’s name is a description of their character. Names carry with them a specific meaning. Your last name identifies you with your family in most cases. In places like Guinea-Bissau, you are named according to the circumstances of your birth. For instance, Lalas means beautiful land because flowers were blooming outside of his hut when he was born.