The Alpha and the Omega
Read: Revelation 1; 21; 22
The Alpha and the Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and a name we find multiple times for God in the book of Revelation. It is often paired with the phrases “The First and the Last” or “the Beginning and the End.” The “first and last” language parallels language found in Isaiah, where God refers to Himself as the first and the last multiple times (Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12). These opposite terms “express totality, fullness, or completion” (Lexham Bible Dictionary). It indicates that God is the Lord of all time, all of the universe.
This was a week when I needed this reminder. Between terrible things in the world at large and terrible things closer to home, I needed the reminder that God is eternal, sovereign, and almighty.
Often, I feel like we focus more on how personal God is. And He is. God desires an intimate relationship with us. He wants us to approach Him boldly and with confidence as beloved children. However, it is short-sighted of us to view God only as our Father; He is infinitely more.
We have so many names for God because there is no single name that can encompass the totality of who He is. The name He gave Moses in the desert is the closest any of us can get – I AM WHO I AM. (Even within this name, there are variations in translation.). In the book of Revelation, God says, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega…the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (1:8). At the beginning of Revelation, God the Father uses this name for Himself. In Revelation (22:13), the same name is used for Jesus, John shows once more the divinity of Christ by equating the Son with the Father. Hebrews describes Jesus as God this way: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:3a). There can be no question – Jesus is God.
The Alpha is the beginning since He is the source and sustainer of all life. The Omega is the end because He is the Creator and author of all time, the final Judge before whom we must give account of our lives. The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia states, “As the Alpha, He alone is in possession of the knowledge of the origin of the earth and man; and having absolute authority over them, He alone has the power to make all things new.” Describing the Omega, the authors state, “As the Omega, the last, He is in possession of the future and alone can ‘tell us what is yet to be.’” Within this one name, we see an emphasis on God’s eternality and, also, His sovereignty.
Sovereignty is not really a term I tend to think of very often. It means to have supreme authority over others. The U.S., as a democratic state, does not have one all-powerful person heading the government, so the idea of sovereignty may seem to clash with the idea of autonomy. Yet, to view God as our Sovereign is to acknowledge Him as the one true God – there are no others besides Him. Our God is a jealous God demanding our full submission to Him, aligning our will to His. He has every right to make this demand of us since He is our Creator, our Sustainer, our Provider, our Redeemer, our Healer, our Everything.
God is sovereign over all of time and the universe. On the days when I don’t want to get out of bed because I do not want to hear or experience even one more bad thing, I can remember that there is Someone in charge, and while He might permit the evil for now, in the end, all are answerable to Him.
