A to Z
The book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible, completing the books of the New Testament of Jesus Christ. This book was written by John around 90 AD, about 60 years after Jesus’ death, resurrection and return to Heaven. The writing is an account of a vision John experienced while exiled on the isle of Patmos. Apparently you can exile a man of God but you can’t exile God, for the Lord reached out to John on that little island and gave him a revelation that has instructed Christians for generations upon generations.
At the beginning of the book John greets the intended audience of the letter, “the seven churches that are in Asia”. Later in the letter, through John, the Lord dives deep into the character of each church and provides a personal message for each one. Those messages and indeed even the characteristics exemplified in each of the churches are just as relevant today as they were to the churches in the days of John. We as Christians would do good to heed the messages to the churches.
But for the purpose of this blog entry I want to focus on the beginning of the greeting. In verse 8, John quotes the Lord with the following statement:
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Now right off the top that seems like a pretty redundant statement. After all it is likely that the community of believers within the churches were aware of who God was and of His almightiness. But hold onto that thought and put yourself in the position of those believers for just a second. Jesus, the Son of God, had come into the world with great power and signs and wonders. Many who were with Him had now passed on to the eternal life Jesus spoke of and to which his disciples testified. Most of those disciples were now gone, killed by the authorities, and personally many of those to whom this letter of revelation was directed were under threat of destruction themselves. Things did not seem to be going the way it should. Uncertainty was likely eating away at the hope given by the Gospel. In that light, the Lord’s greeting, His announcement of who He is, was an encouragement, not a routine declaration.
In fact, if we dig a little deeper into this greeting we can find a very important proclamation of hope involving 3 distinct messages. So let’s get our shovels out!
Message One: Letters - “Alpha and Omega”. Not just any letters, the first and the last letters. In the modern english language we define the word “Alpha” as meaning a leader, the first of the pack or someone with an aggressive nature. Alpha is cool. But the real origin of Alpha is from the Greek alphabet. Alpha is translated “A” in english. On the other end of the Greek alphabet is Omega. We may think of a watch brand today, but before the timepiece company used the word it was around as the final letter of the Greek alphabet. It is our english “Z”. Why would God declare Himself to be the first and last letters of the alphabet? “I am the A and Z” just does not seem to have much of a ring to it. Popular consensus agrees that this phrase is referencing the Lord as the beginning and the end. I like that one too. But I also believe the Lord was intending to say something else.
In his Gospel, John starts out with the statement: “In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1). He goes on to explain that the Word was with God and it was God and nothing was made that was made except through the Word. The Word came into the world and brought light but the world rejected that light and the Word. Of course the Word is Jesus Christ, the same One who greets the churches at the beginning of the book of Revelation. So the Word is now saying to His people, I am the A and the Z. All things were created through me and not only that but nothing can be created, except it be created through me. That includes words. Said another way, no declaration can be made by any earthly power that is not made through Me. If any word, declaration, pronouncement, law or ultimatum is to be issued it will involve the Alpha to the Omega, and I control all that.
So churches, fear not the proclamation of the governments of man. My power is preeminent over all their words. I am the Alpha and Omega, the A and Z, the Ah and Yah, the A and Zeta, the Teit and Ayin, the Aleph and Tav, the Kha and Kaaf, etc. Even those complicated languages with their out of control writing systems are covered. Man can say what he wants, but nothing said will have authority without the approval of the Alpha and Omega. What a hope filled message to those who had heard the declaration of destruction from the earthly powers governing them. There is One above all power on earth and every word will only be allowed through His power. Man holds no power, not even the power of the letter.
Second Message: Time - Is, Was, Will be. God is not confined by the limitations of time. He said it once before, “I am.” He said it again in Revelation, “who is, who was and who is to come”. People, it may have been a long time. But remember, your Lord is not limited by your idea of time. God is not deluded. He has not gotten lost or forgotten you. God is still and always will be aware. God is now present. He was before you existed, or anything else for that matter. And don’t ever forget and never fear, your God is coming. He will be here.
It is interesting that the Lord starts out with “who is”. The natural progression would be who was, who is and who is to come. Nice flow to that. But instead, Jesus tells His people that He is first. I think He was emphasizing the present because that is what we need to know most. Our God is! He is present. He is with us. He is, right now, by our side. After all, it is nice to know that God existed before now and we certainly like knowing He will be around in the future. But there is nothing greater than having a God that IS with us!
And just in case those points did not sink in,
Third Message: Power - Almighty Power! There you have it. I am the Almighty. Don’t we sometimes need reminding that our God is the Almighty? We have a tendency to forget. Believe me, the churches in Asia definitely had some things going on that would put into question the Almightiness of their God. Apostles dying. Churches being persecuted. Stuff was going on that said God is not in control. Almighty? Look around, He is not in control, Church. You are following a dead God.
So, Jesus steps in and gives a Revelation. Notice how there is no God at the end of the statement. The Lord just states “‘the Almighty’”. Why? Could it be that Jesus did not want to qualify the term with God because He did not want man’s concepts and interpretations involved in the reference on this occasion? Could it be that the Lord simply wanted His people to understand that He was the Almighty - period. You can have your interpretations of God. You can have your preconceived ideas of what God is like and what He would do. But the Almighty. That is straight to the point. It does not matter what I think of God or my ideas of what He will do. The Almighty does what He wants, when He wants, how He wants, to whom He wants, etc. Make no mistake, Christian, you are serving the Almighty, and while doubt, fear, worry and all the rest will afflict you in this world, it does not affect the Almighty. He will do what He will do. No power, no authority, nothing on earth or below earth or above earth will stop Him - or start Him. The Almighty is completely powerful.
I am not sure what you are going through today. But take heart, Christian! If it involves words or time or anything under the Almighty’s control, Jesus has you covered.