Alpha and Omega

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New Series: “Great Mercy”

We’ll jump through the beginning of Revelation, we’ll talk about righteousness and holiness, we’ll touch on the book of Amos. Lots going on in our series, here!

Text

Revelation 1:8–18 KJV 1900

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. 9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Intro

Glimpses of the Creator

According to statistics in 2018, 6.53 million people visited the Grand Canyon, 4 million people visited Yosemite National Park, and 4.12 million people visited Yellowstone National Park. Every year, millions of people are drawn from their homes, cities, and countries to experience nature’s beauty. As guests stand in awe of creation’s beauty, the mountains, oceans, canyons, trees, waterfalls, and animals seem to quiet the noise and stress that we all experience in life. When people comment on experiences such as these, they tend to describe their feelings as: cares falling away, clarity of mind, spiritual awareness, coming home, the existence of a Creator, restoration of peace and quiet, finding purpose, inspiration restored, and creativity reignited.

If glimpses of the Creator in what we call nature have such an impact on humanity, how much more does the revelation of the Creator as Jesus Christ impact every person? This revelation of the God of all creation coming to the earth, nailing our sins to the cross, and filling us with His Spirit as a promise of new life with Him should inspire an awe that is incomprehensible. This awe brings an awakening and serves as a hint to all humanity that there is more - there is hope and there is a Creator.

Contemplating the Topic

Psalm 47:1-2 describes God as both terrible and great. To the untrained reader, it may seem sort of odd to think of God in this way.

The NKJV in the same Psalm uses awesome instead of terrible, but awesome has been somewhat watered down by our culture. The meaning it conveys in our present world doesn’t really do justice to God.

There are many fictional books that have been written that include biblical principles and underlying stories. The Lord of the Rings is a prime example. Also, the Chronicles of Narnia. In C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the idea of a terrible and awesome God is expressed through the lion, Aslan. Aslan is described as having terrible paws, unchanging eyes, and a deep soothing voice that casts out fear. In C. S. Lewis’ work of fiction, Aslan is an allegorical representation of God.

We often think of Jesus as the slain and risen Lamb of God. But in John’s Revelation, Jesus Christ is more than the slain Lamb. He is also the conquering Lion of Judah. His very presence brings fear to the evil and overwhelming comfort to the faithful. He represents hope and justice to a world consumed by the power of death because in His hand are the keys of Hell and death. Jesus has conquered death, and He holds power over it to the benefit of all who bear His name and walk in the Spirit!

To The Seven Churches

The seven churches addressed in John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ were real churches with real needs. But, these churches also represent a greater church that spans generations of time from John until now, and from now until Christ’s soon return.

Grace Be Unto You

John began speaking in his introduction of his letter to the seven churches by wishing grace and peace from God to his readers.

The greeting of grace and peace, and similar forms of it was standard in all of the New Testament epistles except for Hebrews, James, 1 John, 3 John, and Jude. The greeting and the following explaining revealed the purpose for the letter and outlined the content that was about to be delivered in greater detail throughout the rest of the book.

Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness

And immediately after the greeting in Revelation 1:4, John stated that the greeting came from none other than Jesus Christ, himself.

This book is The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:4–5 KJV 1900

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; 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,

It’s easy to see how Jesus can be rightly described as “him which is, and which was, and which is to come.” We understand He was prophesied of, then God was manifested in the flesh, and He is prophesied to come again.

But what about the seven Spirits before His throne? The seven Spirits mentioned in Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5, 5:6 are often interpreted as being associated with the seven Spirits mentioned in Isaiah 11:2.

Isaiah 11:2 NKJV

2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Made Us Kings and Priests

So the end of Revelation 1:5 is the beginning of John’s next thought. This verse transitions us from the greeting Jesus gave through John to the seven churches into a praise being given to Jesus as our High Priest.

And though John does not specifically call Jesus our High priest, his language definitely points to the priestly responsibility of atonement. Instead of the blood of a lamb providing atonement for sin, the spotless blood of Jesus - the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world - is the atonement for the whole church.

The blood of Jesus is more perfect than the lambs slain in the Old Testament because the blood of the Lamb is the blood of Jesus: the one, true, living God.

And because the whole church has been cleansed, we have been given the duty to show others the way into covenant with God.

We Are Called to Give All Glory to God

Then, following the talk about Jesus’ priestly actions, John wrote that we have been made:

Revelation 1:6 KJV 1900

6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

It’s important that we understand what we’re reading here. John did not mean God and the Father of Jesus Christ are separate persons, but that God has fulfilled the role of Father because the Spirit of God conceived Jesus in Mary.

And furthermore, the word “him” in verse 6 is singular. If God - the Father of Jesus - and Jesus Christ were separate persons, then John would have said one would need to receive all glory while the other two receive none. But we understand that John was claiming that Jesus can rightly be called both God and Father because He fulfills both of these roles along with the role of High Priest.

My name is Ryan. I am also Husband, and soon to be Father. Those aren’t separate beings. They are roles that I hold. But if you want to say something to me, you call me by name!

Giving glory and dominion to Jesus is the same as giving all glory and dominion to God!

The next two verses give us even more certainty that Jesus, the one who will return in the clouds in the same manner as He left (Acts 1:9-11) and the one who was pierced (John 19:31-37), is the subject being referred to as our God and Father in verse 6.

Revelation 1:7–8 KJV 1900

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. 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.

It is also Jesus whom John referred to as “Lord” when he said He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending.

And the final part of Revelation 1:8 circles back to John’s greeting in verse 4.

Revelation 1:8 KJV 1900

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.

And so, the one who is greeting the whole church is most definitely Jesus Christ.

In The Spirit On The Lord’s Day

The phrase “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” is most likely a reference to Sunday.

A similar phrase used in the Bible, “day of the Lord” refers to a time when massive, world-changing end-time events will take place. Though John’s revelation is of these events, “the Lord’s day” in this verse is acting as a time marker for when his vision actually happened (Sunday).

Prior to this phrase, John gave his location when he received the vision: the island of Patmos. Other locations of John’s Revelation include “in heaven” and “on a high mountain” just before the Spirit gives to him this end-time vision.

I Am the Alpha and the Omega

Now, alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. This description of God being the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, is also found in Isaiah’s writings (Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12).

While Isaiah used these titles for Jehovah, John used them for Jesus. And that is just another way that John was confessing that Jesus is God!

One Like Unto the Son of Man

The “one like unto the Son of man” found in Revelation 1:13 is a reference to the same “one like unto the Son of man” found in Daniel 7:13.

Daniel 7:13 NKJV

13 “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.

Revelation 1:13 KJV 1900

13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

This Son of man is Jesus, and He stands in the midst of the seven lampstands that symbolize the seven churches and the seven Spirits of God. Keep in mind that seven is meant to represent completion, so the whole church and the Holy Spirit are being represented by the lampstands.

And while Daniel’s vision reported the Son of Man coming in the clouds to the Ancient of Days before being given the everlasting dominion over the kingdom, John’s vision identifies the Son of Man with the same description Daniel gave for the Ancient of Days.

John was saying that the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days are the same!

John Fell at His Feet

John then says that he fell at the feet of the Son of Man, who was just described as being the Ancient of Days. So John was yet again emphasizing that his vision was a vision of God.

His Greatness Should Produce Awe and Wonder in Us

Now, for the scriptures we’ve been reading, many people become confused because it seems like many different things are happening at once, and it’s difficult to sift through it all.

But John was not describing many different things. Instead, he was calling upon multiple descriptions of God from the Old Testament and applying them to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our brother through the new birth, our Father through adoption, the High Priest and the only sacrifice of the covenant, and the beginning and the ending. He is the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days, and the firstborn from the dead because He has the keys to Hell and death! He is in the midst of the whole church, and He also commands angels to do His will!

Fear Not

We shouldn’t fear God in the sense of a peasant fearing a cruel king. We should fear God in the sense of recognizing Him for who He is.

We know both His creative power and the power of His love, grace, and mercy. We know He is the highest form of what it means to be holy, yet though we are flawed, He extends to us the offer of relationship with Him, and eternal life! He chose to bear death on the cross to give us the opportunity to know Him intimately by the power of His Spirit.

God intends us no harm and therefore we have no reason to fear Him, as long as we are in covenant with Him.

I Am the First and the Last

Take a look once again at Isaiah’s titles for God:

Isaiah 41:4 NKJV

4 Who has performed and done it, Calling the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first; And with the last I am He.’ ”

Isaiah 44:6 NKJV

6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.

Isaiah 48:12 NKJV

12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.

The first and the last.

Jesus would repeat the same words for emphasis after telling John to write to the seven churches:

Revelation 1:11 KJV 1900

11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

I Am He That Liveth

Revelation 1:18 KJV 1900

18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

“He that liveth,” meaning, He that was once dead now lives.

I Have the Keys of Hell and of Death

Revelation 1:18 KJV 1900

18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

From the beginning of Creation, humans were meant to be eternal. Though we live with eternity inside of us, our bodies will eventually decay and return to the dust of the earth. When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He did not intend for them to experience the sting of death.

For Adam and Eve, the death of their son Abel must have been horrific. It was then that they realized that there would, in fact, be death and the grave.

But in spite of the facts of sin and death, Adam and Eve were to take comfort in knowing God’s promise: that through Eve, her seed would eventually bruise the head of the lying serpent and bring an end to the grave!d

Eventually, God would speak through prophets such as Isaiah to write of a time of resurrection saying:

Isaiah 26:19 NKJV

19 Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.

Other prophets like Elijah and Ezekiel saw firsthand God’s power over the grave: Elijah saw the son of the widow revived, and Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones come back to life.

But these resurrections were only a taste of what was yet to come! Because those who were revived then did eventually experience final death. But one day, Jesus would holy the weight of sin that He did not commit Himself. He overcame death, hell, and the grave! The grave could not hold Him, and because of that, the grave will not hold us! THERE’S GOING TO BE A WHOLE LOT OF OVERTURNED GRAVESTONES ONE DAY!

We Are Victorious Through Jesus Christ

When we enter into covenant with God, we become heirs to His inheritance of righteousness and life!

In Philippians 3:21, Paul wrote of the resurrection we will have in Jesus:

Philippians 3:21 NKJV

21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

There will be a resurrection!

Like the glorified body of Christ that does not tarnish or fade, those who finish this race of faith, enduring until the end, will also have glorified bodies in the resurrection of the dead.

Conclusion

Internalizing the Message

John’s Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the center and the focus of John’s message to the church.

Revelation is the final act in the story of Jesus Christ.

The name of Jesus literally translates as “Yahweh saves.” In the Book of Revelation, Jesus lives up to the scale and magnitude of His name in every way. Revelation is the book that tells the church of the time when Jesus saves humanity and the world!