Alpha & Omega

Intro

You and live in some of the most prosperous times, and in one of the most prosperous nations ever in existence, and that allows us to approach live in quite a different way than many ever have!

If you think about our lives and the abundant wealth we have, and the fact that very few of us worry about where our next meal will come from, or where we sleep, and that we have the government to help out if worse comes to worse, it’s rather incredible

It means that many of us get to think about life in deeper ways that were not very common for common people, it was the business of the rich, the king, the nobles to think about philosophy behind life and its meaning, we were just trying to survive the winter

We even see this recently in the foundation of America, and we celebrate it and call it Thanksgiving, where we were worried about surving the winter, surviving childbirth, etc

How times have changed!

Now instead of those worries, we’ve replaced it with the infamous New Years Resolution, how we will improve ourselves from our prior selves, how will 2025 Kyle make a better version of himself than 2024 Kyle!

The interesting thing is that this idea of seeking out improvement, and what brings us purpose and drive is not new!

The book of Ecclesiasties is an incredibly interesting insight to this, of a King, the wisest King to ever have lived, of what there is to life

We see that king try everything to have meaning: wealth, wisdom, women, work

Yet at the end of the day, he found out that outside of God, it was all as if trying to grab a fistful of the wind, meaningless

So today, it is our first Sunday of the New Year, and our last Sunday learning about the names of God!

So it is fitting that the name we would end our series on, and begin our New Year with is the very name of God that means that

Alpha and Omega means “beginning and the end”

Yet it is not just that, it speaks to God’s very power, ability, and history of bringing the universe into existence, and his future work of bringing forth the new heaven and new earth, completed creation

So maybe you come here like Solomon today, and you are fretting over all the things that seem like trying to grab the wind!

Or maybe, there is personal trouble that seems utterly engulfing, the presure to please others, or your own self set expectations that make you feel like you are drowning

Like you are perpetually treading above the water and able to breathe, but like you have a weight tied around your ankle constantly dragging you down!

So maybe the thing we should do this year is not to keep trying the same old thing, but center our lives on God, rather than us

We might not need another resolution, another way to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, another to-do list and activity on top of the litany of other to-dos

Maybe, we can simply stop, sit and wonder at the majesty of our God, and allowing the wonder of God to wash over us and guide us is the very thing that will bring rest to our restless souls

Our Awareness: Eternal Presence (Rev. 1:8)

If we want to start with the pondering of who God is, then we know we have to turn our eyes to Jesus, who we are told in Hebrews that is the exact representation of God

Revelation is the final book written for Scripture, and it was written by an incredible man, John the Apostle

He also wrote the Gospel of John as well as 1,2,3 John

As you read particularly his epistles, you see his great pastoral heart for people!

When you read his gospel, it is full of amazing stories, and he adds extra to his gospel, since it was written last, and has the most original material

One of the most interesting things is that John was known as the ‘Disciple whom Jesus loved’,

John was the one who was laying on Jesus’ chest at the last supper, John was the one entrusted to take care of Mother Mary, and John was told that he would live the longest, and die a natural death

Yet life was not easy for John!

He was persecuted like all the other aposteles, and they even tried to boil him alive in oil, yet it didn’t work!

So they eventually sent him to exile on an island called Patmos, which is where he received this message

Written nearly 60 years post Jesus’ ascension, he had seen a lot

His brother was killed was killed nearly 50 years prior (See Acts 12)

Then if you notice that John and Peter become very close in the beginning of Acts doing much together, and Peter had been dead for near ~30 years

Many of the other apostles had gone out into the far reaches of the world to spread the gospel and would no longer be easily in contact with each other

John had become a key leader in Ephesus, and so he was a pastor of pastors of the many house churches there, he loved the church!

Yet John also suffered for the church, and ultimately for the one whom loved the church, Jesus!

So imagine these things of yourself, as a young teen you meet and follow Jesus for 3 years, and we see the events of the gospels unfold and the death and resurrection happen!

Then the book of Acts and all those miracles and you see Paul convert from persecutor to proclaimer of the gospel!

Yet things get hard, your brother dies, and slowly you are spread far and wide to spread the gospel, you hear periodic reports from the brothers you learned under Jesus with, until you don’t, or hear of their deaths

Then you are captured, and they try to silence you and boil you alive, but God has you miraculously survive!

Only to be exiled later on, and in this point, when you are the last original apostle, you receive a grand vision from God, and more importantly from Jesus

So Jesus appears to John as he sees this vision, and what are the first things that we see Jesus say to John?

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

Then later on in that introduction, Revelation 1:17–18 “17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

What encouraging words God gives to John, the first thing is in v.8, that he is the Alpha and Omega!

The Amighty, the One who Is, Was and Is to Come, it’s an heavy allusion to the divine name of YHWH!

So why does Jesus want to use this to give to John?

It is about God’s eternal presence, God is eternal, he always has been always will be, he has no limits of knowledge or power, he is working

He is working even when it doesn’t seem like he is!

It moves John so much that he falls on his face like a dead man, but Jesus told him not to be afraid

Not of the death of his brothers

Not of the burns that cover his body after trying to be boiled alive

Not of if the church in Ephesus was well during his abscence, no

It was his master Jesus, who walked among the churches, and knew them far more intimately than John did, and he cares for them more than John could

What do we learn from John here at the beginning of Revelation in relation to Alpha and Omega?

For John for us, it might seem like God has abandoned us our own island of Patmos, it might seem like the church is on the verge of being extinguished, it might look like a giant failure by all human standards

Yet, it is not human standards that drive our measurement of sucess or failure, of faithfulness to God or infidelity, only God can know where our hearts lie with him

What this tells us that God own’s the universe, the one who creates, the one who ends, and the one who controls all the process in between

Since God is outside of time, time is not a constraint on him, and so we can remember that he is working on his timeline, which is outside of time lol

Jesus is reminding us that he holds the universe in his hands, and so we can trust him, he is worthy for our trust, and trusting in him in the uncertain times, is far better bet than whatever else we grasp at for hope and salvation

What else can we trust in? Politics? Our own ability? Social Justice? Money?

What can they do for us?

Our Anchor: Exclusive Power (Is. 44:6)

Well that moves us to our second point, to cosider the power of the God that we worship!

Isaiah 44:6–8 “6 This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Armies, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but me. 7 Who, like me, can announce the future? Let him say so and make a case before me, since I have established an ancient people. Let these gods declare the coming things, and what will take place. 8 Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other Rock; I do not know any.”

This verse shows a number of things about God, his uniqueness, his power to do what he decrees, is unmatched, unequal, unheralded, utterly, Holy God

Isaiah was working during a very difficult time as a prophet of God, where the people had forsaken God, and where compromised at best, totally paganized at worst

It was not just some people, but everyone from the local farmer all the way up to the priests and king were ignoring the commands of God, and worshipping demon gods, and trying to use these gods to get what they wanted

In fact, when they would ‘worship’ God, it was all a song and dance to make God into their genie, and this made God incredibly angry

Malachi says this of how they have dishonored God: Mal. 1:8-10

Malachi 1:8–10 CSB

8 “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies. 9 “And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies. 10 “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

When we forget, or ignore, that God has power to do what he wants, it leaves us searching for our answers in all the wrong places!

In this time of New Years Resolutions, one of the biggest and most common is getting in better shape! Joining the gym, going on a diet, etc!

Story of Cam and getting into better shape with food plus gym

The point is that we know what we need to do, but we don’t really believe it to be true, otherwise we would change our actions!

What is the thing that should anchor us to Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the End?

What anchors us, what keeps us grounded is that God is in control

When we realize that the story doesn’t revolve around us and our ability, it frees us to stop our striving and from our self-imposed perfection

When we realize how vast and powerful God is, it allows us to anchor ourselves into God’s mighty hand

It allows us to be honest with our sin since God already knows it, and so to bring it before him to be dealt with

The only way it can be dealt with, with God himself taking it away

It is this God that anchors our very being, and as Martin Lloyd Jones says

“We are not meant to control our Christianity. Rather our Christianity is meant to control us!”

It is part of that Gospel truth that by realizing our own insignificance in the scope of the universe, we end up finding the most significance in our insignificance

Our Assurance: Effectual Faith (Heb. 12:2)

So when we understand the basis of Alpha and Omega, it helps ground our faith in God’s power and control to deal with all that life brings our way!

One of the greatest parts of God being Alpha and Omega is that he has the power to finish what he starts, and that even means dealing with us

I don’t know about you, but I think I am a bit of a mess at times, so that promise is a cherished one!

The author of Hebrews says this about Jesus Heb. 12:2

Hebrews 12:2 NET

2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus is the one that shows us how to live out our faith by his example, but he is also the one who perfects our faith through the cross and resurrection!

Jesus is the one who has the power to finish the work that needs to be done in us because he has power over the most powerful thing of all that we experience: death

Our faith is imperfect, but it is being made more and more effective each and every day, since the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End is our savior!

Part of what helps this be a more effective is when we help and seek to grow our faith!

If you are seeking to do anything this year, growing closer to God is a good place to start, and one of the best ways to know God is to know his word!

So join me to read through the Bible in a year this year!

You might say you don’t have time or that’s a lot of reading!

Well, it’s not that much time, maybe 10 minutes of reading a day

If reading is not your thing you can always listen to the Bible in various versions, so you also can read in a translation that helps you best grasp God’s word

On top of that, it’s not just a long run through each and every book chapter by chapter, but combines OT with NT and Psalms so you can get over that Leviticus hump!

Not only that, there are periodic videos from the Bible Project that will help you understand Scripture and the Bible in deeper ways than you probably ever have!

And one final caveat, is that this a Chronological plan, so it will be base on the timeline of history rather than the order of the books of the Bible in Scripture!

Join me, it will be amazing for your life and help you know the God you serve better as we have been seeing who he is through this study!

Let’s dive head in and seek to be willing participants in making our lives more like Jesus each and every day, by studying and learning about who our God is!

Our Anticipation: Effectuated Promise (Rev. 21:6)

As we turn to the final point of Alpha and Omega, we have seen how it helps anchor our faith and drive our purpose, and God has the power to take all that life throws at us and yet still use it to help deepen and refine our faith!

The final part of this idea is that it gives us hope, hope that this is not all there is!

Even on the best days of this life, things can go wrong!

Many of us suffer from a bit of rose-colored nostalgia on many things

That job we hated, we remember the good times and relationships we made!

That terrible movie we remember as having a few funny parts, well until we try to watch it again!

A terrible family vacation, was actually the best vacation you can remember!

Yet even with this we can see God working!

When we started in Rev. 1 notice what we didn’t really touch on, that Jesus says to John that he is coming soon

He is, He Was, and He is coming soon!

Now we know that soon to a God who is outside of time is a statement which is easily misunderstood by many

Yet, these are some of the last words of Jesus once all the prophecy of Revelation happens

Revelation 21:5–7 “5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

What this brings us is hope

No matter how terrible life might be, or injustices abound, or evil seems to win, or your life seems to stay in perpetual purgatory, it will come to the ending it deserves

God will right the wrong, evil does not win, injustice is answered for, and that is why we ca

n gratefully worship God, he doesn’t let evil win, God wins!

What Alpha and Omega remind us of, is that all of creation, ourselves included find our purpose and meaning in God

God brings all things into existence, and so he will bring all things to their final consumation

What God commenced with ‘in the beginning’, God will direct to its God driven conclusion!

Application

As I was doing Devotionals this week, I decided to start reading through AW Tozer’s book “My Utmost for His Highest” again

I came across this on the 12/31 devotional

Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.

Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.

So this year, remember that the God you serve, the God who died for us, is Alpha and Omega

The pain, the worries, the scars and baggage that follow us, and maybe even haunt us, are as powerless as a raging snowflake falling into an erupting Vesuvius

Nothing can derail what God wants to do!

The future is unknown to us, but we have a God who holds the very future in his hands, and he will continue to guide our steps

Ultimately, as this names of God series has shown, today is the only time we can live in, and we have a God who is with us, each and every breath and moment we live!

So I close with the final words from AW Tozer on this 12/31 devotional:

Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him, our Alpha & Omega