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.
So for God to give himself a name is impossible because God cannot be limited to a point or object in His creation. That is why we find many different names to describe the attributes of God. Therefore, when Moses said, “Who is it that is sending me?” God gave him a literal non-answer, “Just tell them I AM sent you.” What God was telling Moses is that He is self-existent. He has no origin - no beginning or end.
Secondly, the Tetragrammaton speaks of His immutability - God never changes. For example, in Malachi 3:6 God affirms, "I the Lord do not change." (See also Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Isaiah 46:9-11; and Ezekiel 24:14.)
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:17 LSB)
God’s immutability is crucial to understanding prophecy and as people of faith. He doesn’t change with the seasons. He’s not shifting from one fad to another. He is the same from everlasting to everlasting (Palm 41:13).
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it? (Numbers 23:19 LSB)
Before the mountains were born Or You brought forth the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Psalm 90:2 LSB)
And if God never changes, His Word never changes, His promises never change, His covenants with His people will not change, and the Prophetic Words that He spoke and told us never change.
“In a chaotic world that is constantly changing, nothing can be more comforting than to know there is a God who never changes and to have a secure relationship with Him.” (Dr. Harold Sala).
We have a steadfast hope - one that never changes. It is God’s plan. It will never change, and He will never change. That is something that we should always cling to.
Also, I AM WHO I AM means that God’s power is Inexhaustible.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:28 LSB)
“And if he is the Creator of everything, then all energy — all motion and combustion and fusion and fission — originate in him. Somehow all the energy in the universe must get started. And since God is the first and absolute reality, it all starts in him. He is an inexhaustible reservoir of power.” (John Piper)
With that, we must conform and change ourselves to God in our lives, hearts, and minds. But with that comes a perfection we cannot obtain on our merit, holiness, or righteousness. Therefore, God came to us. This infinite, all-powerful, immortal, Almighty God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ.
The Gospel of John describes Jesus as the “WORD” and tells us “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1-2 (Strite)
Colossians 1:17 says that Jesus "is before all things."
In the Gospel of John, we find 7 I AM statements made by Jesus:
“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51).
“I am the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5).
“I am the door” (John 10:7 and 9, ESV)
“I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14).
“I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
“I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
“I am the true vine” (John 15:1, 5).
There are two more “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. These are not metaphors; rather, they are declarations of God’s name, as Jesus applies to Himself. The first instance comes as Jesus responds to a complaint by the Pharisees. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus says, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58)
So when Jesus uses the phrase “I AM...”, Jewish readers would immediately know what he is saying - I AM the Almighty God. Indeed, Jesus never said the words in the Bible, ‘I am God.’ He didn’t have to; his very word made that statement. “Take for example, the words of Jesus in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” We need only to look at the Jews’ reaction to His statement to know He was claiming to be God. They tried to stone Him for this very reason: “You, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33, emphasis added).” (GotQuesetions.org)
Now, in light of all of this, let us reread Revelation 22:13:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13 LSB)
If Jesus is not God, then all that we have read and all that we have studied is in vain. It cannot be trusted. But Jesus IS GOD and has provided undeniable evidence through his first advent, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, continuation of work in the Church, and the evidence of today’s events according to his words.
The most important reason that Jesus must be God is that, if He is not God, His death would not have been sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2).
“In Jesus Christ, we who are born of God have the unspeakable privilege of knowing Yahweh as our Father.” (Piper)
So Jesus was “THE BEGINNING” of all things… and Jesus will be THE END of all things. The last words of the book of Revelation are these: “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Revelation 22:20-21
That’s all great, but what does that all mean to us? What does it mean to us that Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last??
And, in the first chapter of Revelation, we find these words: “‘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
He is the between the Beginning and the End of time, and His story makes its way through Scripture like a common thread. So, for Jesus to claim to be the Alpha and the Omega was for Him to declare that HE WAS GOD in the flesh.
And because He was God, and because He IS the “Alpha and Omega” and the “Beginning and the End,” - He IS IN CONTROL because He has me surrounded. And because He is before and behind and all around us, that makes it so that I can TRUST Him; therefore, I don’t have to be afraid.
(A significant contributor to much contained in this section, unless otherwise noted, is courtesy of Jeff Strite, Sermon Central. I couldn’t find better words to use - he NAILED IT. For his message on this passage, visit: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-beginning-and-the-end-jeff-strite-sermon-on-fear-246949)
“in verse 13. “I am the Alpha and the Omega” means I am the first and the last; I am the beginning and the end. That’s just three different ways to say the same thing, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning – that is to say the source of all things. He is the end – the goal of all things, the consummation of all things. He is the eternal, transcendent, infinite God. That kind of designation identifies completeness, timelessness, and sovereign authority. He is not just another man. He is not an angel. He is not a created being. He is not some superhuman genius. He is not a distinguished martyr. He is God eternal and almighty. The beginning and the end, the first and the last.” (MacArthur).
Well, it reminds us AGAIN that Jesus is God. The terminology used in Revelation 22 is the same that’s used to describe God in several other places in Scripture.
In Isaiah 44:6, GOD declares, “I am the first and the last.”
And Psalm 90:2 states: “From everlasting to everlasting You are God.”
Do you remember the time of the lockdowns? (Who wouldn’t). Do you remember the level of fear they deceptively Some shared that many people were afraid because of the news they were constantly watching and hearing through social media and radio, and TV? People expressed the fear in our community, and you can understand why. But as Christians, we shouldn’t let that fear control us. As Jesus tells us in Revelation 1:17-18 “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
With that, we will pick the rest of the Chapter Next week as we look at the final invitation of Christ to the world, “The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come.” (Revelation 22:17).
