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What did John mean by calling Jesus the alpha and omega? First we need to understand the Word is not something spoken but is described in Jn.1:1 as a ‘he’, this he was always with God (the Father). It is John that uses the phrase the Alpha and Omega. He began all things to exist and will complete them, this phrase represents the totality or entirety of all. The first AND LAST If one believes the Father is God then certainly there is no alternative but to believe the Son is also. Otherwise they must conclude that the Father is not the first or last either. The one being that is God (unified) is the first and the last. By saying one is the alpha and omega they are claiming to be the eternal one, who has control of history from the beginning to the end. In Rev.1:17-18 shows John falling down at the feet of “the first and last,” as the one “ who lives and was dead and is alive forever more.” (meaning Jesus who died and was resurrected) The Old Testaments phrase “First and the last’ is the same as the New Testaments “Alpha and Omega.” The letters Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In the Jewish mindset, a reference to the first and last letters of an alphabet (in Hebrew, the Aleph and Tau) would include all the letters in between, meaning Jesus is the summation of all. The title “Alpha and Omega” means he is the beginner and end of all things. Alpha means he is eternal, the originator. He pre-existed and is before all things as in John 1:2, “ He was in the beginning” with God. To be called the Omega means he controls the end, He is the Father of eternity (Isa.9:6), the source of all, in him all things consist (Col.1:17). As the Alpha and Omega He began all things to exist and will complete them, this phrase represents the totality or entirety of all. Rev 1:8 assigns him who is called the beginning and the end “the Almighty.” Rev.1:7-8 states “ I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev.22:12 tells us the one who is coming is the Alpha and Omega. It is Jesus, the one who died and was resurrected who is coming, He is the same one who says “ And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Rev. 22:12-13). In Rev.21:6 the Alpha and Omega (called the Beginning and the End) states He will give the water of life freely to him who thirsts (Jn.4:13-15; Rev.7:16-17). V.7: “… and I will be his God (the Alpha and Omega) and he shall be My son .” Scripture teaches us that the Alpha and Omega who is Jesus is indeed God who became man. |
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