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“I am Alpha and Omega.”

Revelation 1:8

Four times in the book of Revelation our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to John and identified himself with these words — “I am Alpha and Omega” (1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13). There is no hidden mystery in these words. They are simply the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In our language, the words would be, “I am A and Z”. That is, “I am the beginning and the ending, the first and the last.” And as John Gill points out, “These letters, ‘Alpha and Omega,’ being the first and the last of the alphabet, may stand for the whole.” So, that the meaning is — “I am the beginning of all things and the end of all things, and everything between the beginning and the end.”

Our Eternal God

With these words, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending...the first and the last,” our Savior identifies himself as Jehovah our eternal, immutable, saving, covenant keeping God. Indeed, this is what he says by way of explanation: I am “the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” That is one of the ways by which the Lord God identifies himself as the only true God (Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:10-12).

The Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, is God over all, was God from eternity, and is to come as God to judge the world. He is now the Savior of all who come to God by him, was the Savior of all his saints in the Old Testament, being the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and is to come as the Savior of God’s elect, without sin unto salvation.

As these words “Alpha and Omega” speak of the eternality of Christ as God, who is, who was, and who ever shall be, they also describe our Savior’s immutability. He is always the same, unchanging and unchangeable. What he is, he always was and shall forever be. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. His person, his love, his virtue, and his purpose are all immutable.

When the Lord Jesus says, “I am Alpha and Omega” he asserts his own glorious preeminence as the Christ of God. As it has pleased the Father to give his Son preeminence in all things (Colossians 1:18), it is so. Christ is the Beginning of all things, the Substance of all things, and the End of all things.

Our Everlasting Safety

“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’m so thankful that he who ever walks in the midst of the churches and holds the stars of his churches in his right hand, added those last two words for our comfort — “The Almighty!” Our Savior is himself God, “the Almighty!” He is the Creator of all things, the Sustainer of all things, and Ruler of all things. The One whose blood and righteousness we trust, to whose dominion we gladly submit, into whose hands we have committed our souls, is himself God, the Almighty. We have nothing to fear. Our Savior is God. We are safe in his hands (John 10:27-30).

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s