Alpha and Omega
Vicky MootsKingman, Kansas
Rev. 22:13: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Alpha and Omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. This is Jesus’ speaking. How can someone who has no beginning or ending be the beginning and the end? He is speaking in relationship to time on earth and to His dealings with us in our lives. I would like to discuss what the Scripture has to say regarding some of the ways in which He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last to us.
Genesis 1:1 reveals the very first beginning: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” We know by John 1:1-3 that Jesus, the Word, was involved in that first creative event, for it states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
Mankind had a physical beginning because of Jesus who created all things by the Word of His mouth. When we are born into this world, we become a part of that earthly creation. When we are born again, we become a new creation, as Paul declares in II Cor. 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” Christ, therefore, is our new beginning; it is “in Christ” that we become new. And at the same time, He becomes the end of our old life, for “old things are passed away.”
Hebrews 12:2 describes for us another beginning and end which is found in Jesus: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” Our faith begins with Jesus, and He is faithful to bring it to completion. He is the Author and Captain of our faith, and He is faithful to lead us through life all the way to the end when we shall see Him face to face. At that point, faith will no longer be needed. He will have brought us by faith to the finish line.
Jesus is always faithful to finish whatever He has started in our life because He is our Alpha and Omega, our Beginning and End. Paul confirms this for us in Phil. 1:6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Jesus begins working in our lives through the Holy Spirit after we are born again, to draw us closer to Him, to conform us into His image. We are changed little by little, from glory to glory. He will continue to perform the work in us until our race is finished, when our life on earth is ended or when He returns. Our part is to allow Him to do the work, to let Him be the Alpha and the Omega to us.
Next, let us take a look at I Cor. 1:30, from which we learn that Christ is the beginning of righteousness: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness…” We have no righteousness of our own outside of Christ. It is only in Christ that we become righteous, as Paul states in Phil. 3:9: “And be found in him [Christ], not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ…” Paul further clarifies this in Rom. 10:4: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The law could only produce self-righteousness through self-works in those who tried to keep it. So, Christ became the end of self-righteousness and the beginning of true righteousness.
Another important way in which Christ in the “First” is related to the resurrection, as we read in I Cor. 15:20: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” The term “slept” refers to believers who have died. If Christ is the firstfruits, then that means that there will be more to follow, who will also be resurrected. This is declared by Paul in vv. 22-23: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive…Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” Paul sums all of this up in Col. 1:18: “And he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…” Because of His resurrection, Christ has brought an end to the sting of death for all Christians. Hallelujah!
And last of all, because He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, there will one day be no more death, as we read in Rev. 21:4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain…”
