“I am the Alpha & Omega, the beginning and ending, the first and the last. The Almighty, which is, which was and which is to come” These are the first words of Jesus in the book of Revelation Chapter 1 verse 8. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ repeatedly made this pronouncement several times in chapters 1 and 22. The question is, why repeat himself and assert himself emphatically in such manner in the book of Revelation? When the literary device of repetition is used, it tells us that its a significant fact worthy not to be missed. Our Messiah is telling us look into it further and that is exactly what we are going to do in this article. To dissect and decode the important message Jesus is trying to tell us. Please stick and stay with us.
If we remember Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry did not want to publicly disclose his mission and identity to anyone until after his resurrection. He specifically asked the disciples not to tell anyone — it was after he ascended to heaven that the holy spirit came upon the disciples to disclose the fact.
Therefore Jesus’s multiple pronouncements in the book of Revelation that He is ‘the Alpha & Omega, the Beginning and Ending, first and last, the Almighty’, is a departure of His usual norm. It is not like Him. The answer lies in the meaning of and reason for the book of the REVELATION! He is, as it were, revealing himself to us. According to Google dictionary, the word ‘revelation’ it is a noun meaning;
1. a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way. “revelations about his personal life.” “synonyms: disclosure, a surprising fact, divulgence, declaration, utterance, announcement, report, news, leak, avowal; More
acknowledgment, admission, confession. The making known of something that was previously secret or unknown. “
So from the definition, the book of Revelation can be said to be a surprising disclosure of previously unknown secrets about Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus is drawing us to the fact that He is the Beginning, the first, the Alpha. His use of repetition emphasizes the significance of the fact which he wants us to know. Most of us followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God remember his works in the New Testament, his virgin birth, baptism and ministry and his crucifixion and resurrection and ascension to heaven. What else don’t we know about him already? Well, that is what he is telling us, he is the Beginning, the Alpha, and the First. What do these words mean? To find out we have to literally go to the beginning to find out, to the book of Genesis 1:1.
In Genesis 1:1, the text tells us.” 1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
So it’s evident that it was God that created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. However, the text mentions God and the spirit of God but does not mention whether God the father or the son as creating.
So how we do confirm Jesus’s words in the book of Revelation that He is the Beginning? Let’s go to John 1:1
“1, In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
And in verse 14 he writes, “14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
John clarifies what happened in the beginning in Genesis 1:1 that was not so clear. He confirms that the WORD, which did the creation of the world, of everything we see around us as well as that which we do not see, was, in fact, the Creator and it was that same word which becomes flesh Jesus Christ that dwelt among men!! Praise the Lord! John, therefore, has confirmed Jesus’s assertion in Revelation that He is the beginning, the first, the Alpha!! And that another name of Jesus Christ is the WORD, the Word of God.
This is confirmed from Revelation 19:11-13 “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”
The Apostle Paul also confirms the fact that it was Jesus Christ who created the world in the beginning in Colossians 1:16 “16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him”
That is the attention Jesus is drawing us to when he stated in Revelation that He is the Beginning, the Alpha, the First. And He is the Word of God. He is the God of the Old Testament and the New testament. The Angel of both the New and Old Covenant, surprise surprise!!!
Why is it important that we know this?
Many of us followers of Jesus find it hard to understand or come to terms with the words contained in the book of Revelation. Why is it so? Why does it sound different from the New Testament? It is because, the book of Revelation is pretty much a summary of the Old testament, a book many of us (including myself) have tried to ignore. The book of Revelation alone contains over 500 references taken from the Old Testament (‘Old Testament References in the Book of Revelation’, Fruchtenbaum A. G PhD) out of which 249 are direct quotes (According to the Blue Letter Bible). In comparison to other New Testament book, only the book of Matthew comes close to this number with 96 direct quotes.
The Lord is telling us practically to go back and understand His Words in the Old Testament in order to complete our understanding of the New Testament. The book Revealing Jesus Christ to us is basically a summary of the Old Testament. I know many of you will be a bit disappointed that we have to go back again, but let us see it as Love, Jesus loves us so much He does not want any of us to be left us so He is revealing His truths so that we can have an opportunity to understand Him in totality.
Lord is saying He is the same God who created the whole world from the beginning and gave Grace to the faithful people of God in the Old Testament, those who loved and faithfully obeyed Him. He is the God who gave mercy and Grace to the pagan nations for about 400 years after which He judged them. His same Grace provided Egypt 400 years before their judgement. He is the same Jesus that is giving us His Grace today to repent and turn back to Him before its too late for us. He has not changed, He is the same God of today, yesterday and forever. The everlasting God. The book of Ecclesiastics tells us that “what has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be done, and that there’s nothing new under the sun”.
So we should not be surprised. That is why the bible tells us that, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeded from the Father, by Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. Your bible! Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the father, except by me. What is the truth? According to John 17:17, the Word is the truth.
We cannot leave any part of the bible out and claim to believe or love Jesus. When we leave out any part, we cut away from the Son of God. Just as in the book of 1 Kings 3:16 two women brought a dispute of a child to King Solomon, claiming to be theirs, we found out that the woman whose baby had died wanted the baby cut in two or divided.
While the woman who’s child, it was said that the baby should not be cut but rather given to the other woman just to save her baby’s life. She was willing to give away her most precious possession the baby just to save its life.
It is a prophecy of the end time; the baby represents the son of God, Jesus Christ, who is The Word of God. The women represent the two types of churches in the end time.
The first church wants to ignore or leave out or cut out a part of the word of God, or to change a part, while the second church will be prepared to lose everything it has got in defense of the Truth the, Word of God. Which of them loves the Word of God. Who did the King rule in favor?
So we already know the verdict of the KING if we decide to cut out any portion of the bible. If we don’t understand any part of the word, let us pray for wisdom and revelation but let us not deny any part of it. God said, let anyone that lacks wisdom ask me for it.
That is why in court we swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. Because anything less that the whole truth is a lie even 99.9% and that is what the devil, satan wants to do to us.
Every book and chapter of the bible and chapter testify about Jesus Christ, and it can be shown that after creating the world, Jesus did not sit but actively played a role in the lives of people of God from visiting Abraham to wrestling with Jacob, to meeting Moses as a burning bush. He judged Pharoah and the Egyptians and delivered the Israelites from bondage and met Joshua at the borders of Jericho as well as many more.
When Jesus said my people perish because of lack of knowledge, he was not talking about knowledge in science, engineering, or finance but knowledge about Himself Jesus Christ who he truly is!! We do not know who it is !! But He is calling us his children and followers today to find Him and know Him while it’s still daytime because nighttime is coming very soon when no one will be able to do that! John 9:4.
He loves us so much, and He is calling us to come back to Him, He is our first love, He is our groom. He is telling us that He is the Alpha, the Beginning, the First to draw attention to Him. No hidden agenda, no secrets anymore, he is revealing Himself to us ultimately. Amos 3:7 tells us that the Lord will do nothing until He reveals His plans to His servants the Prophets. Through His Holy Spirit, God is revealing His truth to us today, so we will not be taken by any surprises. God loves us so much, and He does not want anyone to be left out. He is calling us His bride to leave spiritual Babylon so we can be married to Him. Just as He called his faithful servant Abraham out of Babylon to the Promised Land so must His faithful servants listen to Him and in faith and move out of Babylon to be able to inherit the promised land.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Do we believe in Him? in His word? The 66 books of the bible?
It is never too late to turn back to him. He says even though our Sins are red like scarlet, it will become white as snow; even though it is like crimson, it will become like wool. My sins were red as scarlet, and He has given me snow in the Great White North, so can He do the same for you if you turn to Him.
If you are reading this article today would like to share a word of prayer with you. God may your child reading to this message hear you speaking to them and may we surrender and come in perfect repentance to you so that you provide us with your amazing fountains of living water in our hearts and give us new lives. This, we pray in the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for joining us, Shalom!
Revelation by Grace Ministries 