Sermon: Names of Jesus: Alpha and Omega

Good evening. Glad to see you all back here this evening. Would you please join me on the last page of scripture? Revelation chapter 22. We are gonna consider, uh, just one verse. I read just one verse tonight. Uh, revelation 22, verse 13 as we close out and conclude our evening sermon series. If you were here this morning, we closed out the book of Hebrews studying the book of Hebrews. And the main theme of that sermon, if

I could boil it down, was this. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. And that's the same theme that we're gonna find tonight. It's all about Jesus. So before we read God's word, let's ask for his help and blessing.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. We give you thanks for the gift of a day set apart for our rest, our physical rest, and our spiritual rest, our rest in Christ. Surely we have been the recipients of such great grace that you would pour out by your spirit faith into our hearts that we might believe in your son and find in him our greatest treasure. We pray that as we read this scripture now and hear it, that you would help us to believe it

and that you would help our eyes to see Jesus and to look only to him. And we ask this in the name of Jesus our savior. Amen. Revelation chapter 22, verse 13.

I am the alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Amen. So tonight we're coming to the end of our sermon series and we're finishing uh, the names and titles of Christ and we're finishing it with this one that we find here in verse 13, the Alpha and the Omega, the alpha and the Omega. Tonight as we go along, just so you have an idea of where we're headed, I'm gonna just go through a few observations about this title,

the Alpha and Omega. And then I'm gonna have us consider at the end three particular domains in which Jesus is the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. So the first observation I want us to make here about the Alpha and Omega, this title is that it's a self designated title. It's a self designated title. Here in verse 13, Jesus is speaking, this is the conclusion to the book of Revelation.

We find, and we'll look here in a minute at the beginning of the book, but here at the end we see that Jesus is the one speaking and he is designating himself as the alpha and the Omega. It's a title that Jesus is using for himself and it's not a title attributed to him by another. Now we discern that we have to discern that Jesus is the one speaking here by the context. So verse 12 says, behold I am coming soon. Frequently Jesus is said to be the one

who is coming soon, right? We see that all throughout the gospels. Jesus either says it about himself, I'm coming again, or the New Testament writers will say it about him that Jesus will return and come soon. But then in verse 20, we see the most clear evidence that Jesus is the one speaking here. John writes, he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. And then John, as the narrator of the book ends

and responds by saying, amen, come Lord Jesus. So we discern here that Jesus is speaking through his angel to John for his church. That's the book of Revelation and that's Jesus then speaking these words. So the first observation to make about this title is that Alpha and Omega is a self designated title. Now this title Alpha and Omega is used three times in the book of Revelation. It's not used in any other books of the Bible.

It's only found in the Book of Revelation. And each of the three times, it's a self designated title. I want you to work backwards with me, okay? We've started at the end, the last instance of the use of the title, and we're gonna work our way backwards. So I want you to keep your Bible open with me. Flip one page over to chapter 21 and verse six. We're just gonna read these three instances together, uh, verse five. And then uh, we'll hear the title on verse six.

And he who is seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end to the thirsty. I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. And then flip all the way back to the beginning of Revelation chapter one, chapter one in verse eight,

Chapter one, verse eight, I am the alpha and the omega says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. So there you have it. Those are the three instances where the title Alpha and Omega are used in all of the scriptures. Chapter one, chapter 21 and chapter two. Now I want you to stick with me here at one verse eight

and I'm gonna ask you a question. Who is speaking here? Who is speaking here at Chapter one, verse eight? Hopefully you noticed It says clearly the Lord God. So hopefully you noticed then that the title Alpha and Omega here in this verse and then in verse in chapter 21 and then in 22 are all self designated, but they're all divinely self designated. There's just a second observation. This is a title that's only used by God himself

for himself. It's a title used by God only for himself. And therefore here's, here's gonna be the second observation and we're gonna kind of unpack this for a little bit. Jesus is God, if this is a title used by God for himself only, therefore Jesus is God. So stick with me then in one verse eight, I wanna elaborate on this point just a little bit. There's a difference of opinion between commentators on who it is who's speaking in chapter one verse eight.

Is it God the Father speaking? Is it God the Father speaking? Some say that it is and it would make sense because if you look up to verse four, it's clear there that the grace and peace to you is from God, the Father, the one it says who is and who was and who is to come. It's the same words we find in verse eight associated with the title I am The Alpha and Omega. But some others will say, this is Christ speaking. And of course that would make some good sense too

because we find at the end of the Book of Revelation, as we've already seen, that Christ himself bears these words in this title upon his lips. Now, I'm not bringing up this point about difference of opinion necessarily to solve something with you tonight. The reason I want to bring this up is that the ambiguity I think actually reinforces this observation that I've just made, that it's a divinely self designated title.

That it's a title used only by God himself for himself. And think about it. If we grant that the subject speaking in chapter one verse eight is God the Father, as some say then for Jesus to take this title upon his lips in chapter 22, verse 13 is to make a stronger claim to divinity, right? If God is the one in chapter one, God, the Father is the one who says, I am the alpha and Omega and it's God the Father speaking.

And then we get to the end of Revelation and it's Jesus speaking using the same title, he is making the same claim that God the Father is making and therefore Jesus is making the claim. I am God.

We're gonna keep going here on this observation, but I'm just gonna repeat it again. The observation number two is this, Jesus is God. That's what this title Alpha Omega is saying to us is teaching us. Now, it doesn't have to be that God the Father is the one speaking in one verse eight for this claim to work that Jesus is God. The point in all of revelation is that Jesus is God, right? We find all throughout the book that Jesus is worships

the angel when he receives worship for John from John says, do not worship me, worship God. And then when we get to the angels coming around the throne of the lamb and they are ascribing to the lamb, worship Jesus is not, the lamb is not turning it away. Jesus is not turning away worship. So Jesus is God. That's what the title Alpha and Omega is teaching us. Now, some have claimed throughout history that Jesus either earned the title of God

or assumed the title of God based on the success of his work. When he finished his work, when he was raised from the dead, it was vindication. And then he received the title, then he could finally earn the title of God.

But Jesus is God, he always has been, and he always will be very God, a very God. He is the eternal son of God. Co-equal with both the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one living in true God, the one with no beginning and no end.

Now Alpha Omega, what it stands for as a title actually reinforces this point, helps us to understand this point. If there are any here who are or have been involved in Greek life, you could tell us what, what does Alpha and Omega stand for?

And I'm not gonna leave it as a rhetorical question. How about any who know what Alpha and Omega stand for

A to Z? All right, good. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet Z, and omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. So A to Z would be our equivalent in English, A being the first letter of our alphabet, Z being the last letter of the alphabet. And here's really what I think helps us from Revelation 22, verse 13. It still doesn't seem exactly clear. What? What does it actually mean that Jesus is the alpha and the Omega, the first letter of the alphabet

and the last letter of the alphabet. And I think this is where those two other titles in verse 13 help us. They are, I would say designations, other designations that offer the best elaboration and interpretation of what Alpha and Omega mean, what they stand for. Jesus says, I am the alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. They're equivalents, they're like synonyms. Alpha being the first letter, the beginning,

omega being the last letter, the end. Jesus is both the beginning and the end. The first and the last, the alpha and Omega. Now we're still on observation two. Okay, hang with me. We got a little bit more to go on this one. This title, these titles I think are meant to draw upon the Old Testament statements, the Old Testament statements where God himself says, I am the first and I am the last. I want you just to reference these for later.

We, we don't have time to go to them right now, but three passages in Isaiah where God makes this statement bears these titles. This title Isaiah 41 verse four, Isaiah 44, verse six, in Isaiah 48, verse 12, okay, you can reference these later, but what you find in these passages when you look at them is God speaking, God speaking. So again, this is a, a title of self designation, divine self designation. And what God is speaking about, what he is proclaiming

in these verses, surrounding these verses is the uniqueness of his being, the uniqueness of his being. So he says things like, I am the only God, there is none like me. And then he explains how in several places, well for one, he's the creator of all. God is the sovereign and the Almighty, he's the one who bears authority, absolute authority over the nations. And he is the God who declares what is to come. And then is the God who brings it to pass.

So he is unique, he's unlike any other God.

So if we had a little bit more time to elaborate on these New Testament texts, we would find in Revelation 1 21, 22, that these declarations and actions are the exact same, the exact same as those passages in Isaiah, the uniqueness of God, his being that he's the alpha and Omega, the one who bears absolute authority over the nations, the one who created them, the one who will declare what is to come and will bring it to pass.

And so you see, when Jesus says, I am the alpha and Omega, we have to conclude, we have to conclude as Jesus intends for us to do, that he is God, that He is God. So again, this is observation two, by using the divinely self designated title, alpha and Omega, Jesus is claiming that he is God. Alright, here's a final and much shorter observation. Number three. The title Alpha and Omega makes the point that Jesus is the focus

that he's the center.

Alpha and Omega, I've already said are at, at the opposite ends of the alphabet, right? They're, they're opposite extremes and they're meant to be all encompassing. Okay? So this is a common literary device in the Bible where two opposite extremes are meant to be all inclusive. So you think of this example from uh, the Old Testament, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. And the point is that God is not just everlasting in the

beginning and everlasting in the end. He is everlasting everywhere in the middle. Or here's maybe an example for us in our world, in our country, in the US will use sort of the same sort of literary device. You'll often hear people talk about coast to coast, right? Coast to coast. So you're, you're thinking about New York, you're thinking about California, but you're not meant to think about just New York and just California.

You're meant to think about everything that's in the Middle Coast to coast. And so here's the point of this observation. Jesus is the center. It's all about Jesus. He's the alpha, the beginning, he's the omega, he's the end. And everywhere in between Jesus is the point. He's the focus. He's the center. Alright, so having made three observations about the title, I want us then to consider three domains, three particular domains in which Jesus is the alpha

and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. And here's the first. First is this. Jesus is the beginning and the end of revelation of revelation. And I intend here to have a double meaning. We're gonna speak about the Book of Revelation and then also revelation as in divine revelation concerning the Book of Revelation. Jesus is the beginning and the end. Hope you have your Bibles open still. Go with me to the beginning.

Revelation chapter one, you read Revelation one, verse one.

It says The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place prominent in this very first verse of revelation. The name of Jesus stands out, doesn't it? The revelation of Jesus Christ in the Greek, the revelation of is just one word. So the very, the second word in the Greek is the word Jesus, the name Jesus. And then flip with me to the end, the last two verses of Revelation 2220,

verse 20 and 21. We find he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. The beginning of the book of Revelation begins with Jesus. The end of the book of Revelation begin ends with Jesus. And here's the point, both in the introduction and in the conclusion where Jesus is the point, so too is he the point of the center of revelation, all

of Revelation, the entire book is all about him. But Jesus is not only the beginning and end of this book, the real point that I wanna make to you is that Jesus is the point of all revelation of all divine revelation. Remember what Jesus says in John chapter five, he's sort of rebuking, uh, the religious folk. And he says to them in John chapter five, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And then Jesus puts in the punch. And it is they that bear witness about me. It is they that bear witness about me for if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. So just like in the book of Revelation where we find Jesus standing at the very beginning and then at the very end, so too in the book of Revelation, the entire book, we find Jesus at the very beginning and at the very end, that's what Jesus' point is

to these religious folk. Even in the writings of Moses, the writings of Moses, those first five books of the Bible, he was writing about me. I am the point now until Jesus comes in his incarnation, this revelation is veiled. We don't see the full fulfillment of the Old Testament until Christ comes. But what Jesus is saying in John five, and then what all the New Testament writers are saying after him is that he's the fulfillment of every promise.

All the people, all the events, all the sacrifices, all the feasts, foreshadowed in the Old Testament find their fulfillment in Jesus. He is the point. So I wanna ask you, boys and girls, young people in this room, if someone were to ask you maybe after this service, what is the Bible all about? I need help understanding what the point is of this book. Can you tell me what would you say? What would you say? There's many way, there's many answers

that we could give that would be just appropriate to that question. But the answer you're probably thinking of, that's exactly right. Is that so-called Sunday School answer, Jesus. Jesus. It's not too simplistic to say that Jesus is the point of the Bible. That's what it's all about. Jesus is the point of God's revelation. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Secondly, Jesus is the beginning and end of history.

He's the beginning and end of revelation. He's the beginning and end of history. Now I wanna so start this point. I just wanna read a quote for you from a man named Paul Jones. He was a scholar on Augustine. This is a, a quote that I think is particularly helpful that I found from, uh, from his work as he's talking about Augustine's work, the city of God. I think it's just, it's pithy, it's short. And it gets to the point of what I want to try

and get us to here in just a moment. So this is what Paul Jones says. History had at its beginning the creation at its center, Christ. And at its consummation, the judgment and transformation history had at its beginning the creation at its center Christ and at its consummation, the judgment and transformation. Now, what this quote is getting at that I think is spot on is what it says in the beginning and in the end, and then we'll get to the middle here.

But Jesus is present at the beginning, right in the creation. John one, one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And there was nothing that was made without him. Jesus. It says at the beginning of John, one was present in creation, he was creating the creation. So Jesus stands at the beginning of history and Jesus stands at its consummation at the end, revelation 21, when the new heaven or when the first heaven

and the first earth pass away in the sea is no more. Jesus is present. He is present at the beginning and at the end of history. But the quote really makes the point that I wanna make that Christ is at the center. Christ is at the center of history. When I mentioned those passages in Isaiah where God is said, says about himself, that he's the first and the last one of the emphasis or themes in those passages is how God declares what is

to come and then brings all of that to fulfillment. He brings all of it to pass. Not one thing that God declares is undone. And the point then is this, God is not absent in his creation. He is not absent in his creation. Everything that happens in the world, every single event fulfills God's intentions. And so God writes, or, uh, Isaiah writes what God says in chapter 46, verse 11, I have spoken, I will bring it to pass.

I have purposed and I will do it.

History, you see is simply the unfolding of God's purposes, the unfolding of God's purposes.

Now, God intended, as we read in the scriptures, God intended that all of his purposes would be worked out in time and space, in time and space. And as good Bible readers, we know that one of God's chief purposes in all of history is to have a people for himself, right? That's why he created Adam and Eve to walk with them in the garden. And then we find at the end of Revelation 22, the dwelling place of God is with man.

One of the chief purposes is for God to have a people for himself. But in order for God to have a people for himself, the son of God had to, to enter the creation, he had to enter time and space to redeem sinners and to reconcile them to God. And the Old Testament is all about how God is directing history, directing all of history to this very point where Jesus comes, where Jesus will be the point, the fulfillment. So listen to how Galatians four, four states it.

I want you to hear about this time language, the the fulfillment language. Galatians four, four, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. The fullness of time, the fullness of time. God, there implicitly in Galatians four, four is, is that very point that God is directing all of history

to this very point in history where Jesus would be born of a woman, that he might redeem those who are under the law. And so we find then, we find then that Jesus is not only existing at the beginning of history. He's not just existing at the end of history. All of history actually finds its point, its goal. It's terminus in Christ. In Christ.

Alright? The third and final thing that Jesus is the beginning and end of then is the beginning and end of human destiny. Jesus is the beginning and end of life, of life. Now, the focus of Revelation we have said is on Jesus. It's on Jesus. And what verse one of chapter one says it's, it's on what Jesus will do. It's, it's on what will happen when Jesus comes back, when he returns. And verse 12 of chapter 22, succinctly summarizes what's gonna happen

when Jesus returns. Jesus says, behold, I am coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. Jesus is saying that when he comes back, when he returns, he will come as a judge. He will give to each one what he or she deserves. Every single person who lives now, who has ever lived, who will live to come in the future, every single person will stand before Jesus in the final judgment.

Now you know this because it's written on your heart. Your life is to be lived for God. That's why you exist. Your purpose, as our catechism said, says, is to glorify and enjoy God. That's your whole aim in life, your chief good. And this is an all encompassing purpose. Whether you eat, whether you drink, whatever you do, all can be done to the glory of God.

So God is to be Jesus is to be your beginning and your end. The first and the last, the alpha and the omega of your lives. Everything about your life is to be about Christ, about Jesus.

But we all know what happens. And that's what Revelation is about. It's about the fall of mankind and how God in Christ will redeem those who have sinned and those who have fallen short of the glory of God. And verse 14 makes it plain. Unless you have trusted in Christ by grace alone to wash away your sins, you will be barred from the heavenly city. You will be condemned to eternity away from the presence of God.

That's Jesus's right, that's Jesus's right as the eternal son of God. The one appointed as the Savior, the one appointed as the judge. It is his right to condemn those who deserve everlasting punishment to declare it to be He is the beginning and the end of human destiny.

But those, it says in verse 13, uh, verse 14, I'm sorry, those in verse 14, who have washed their robes. They are the blessed ones. They are the blessed ones. Those who have their robes of sin, their sin stained lives washed in the cleansing blood of Jesus, they will be permitted, welcomed in to enter the city by the gates and they will dwell with God forever. They will dwell with God forever. At the end of human life, at the end of our human destiny,

Jesus stands there ready to offer a last word, the final word on your eternal destiny.

It's an amazing end to the Book of Revelation. 'cause there's an invitation. There's an invitation to all. The invitation is this, come, come. Let the one who hears come. Let the one who is thirsty come let the one who desires take the water of life without price. You see the invitation, the fact that those robes are washed, clean in the blood of the lamb. The point is this, it's all by grace. It's all by grace. You didn't earn it.

Your robes were needing to be washed. The water of life, you were not entitled to it. It was a gracious invitation made to you.

And the fact is, Jesus is going to get all the glory. He is going to get all the glory in the end because it is all by grace. Jesus is the beginning and the end of human destiny.

Dear friends, we've spent 12 weeks studying the names and titles of Jesus. We focused on just 12. If you were to read the New Testament, we would find many, many more of which we could study. The goal of this study is was simple. It was for you to get to know Jesus, who he is and what He does. That's been the goal. And hopefully as you've seen tonight, everything is all about Jesus. Everything is all about Jesus. He's the beginning and the end.

He's the point of revelation. He's the center of history. He's the goal of our lives.

And Jesus, my and Jesus my friends, is coming back. He is coming soon to make all things new, to receive all the glory and all the praise. Let's pray and let's ask God to come quickly. Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks for your word. We thank you that in it we find the message of life, the message of life about Jesus, the Christ. And we thank you that in it we find an invitation for us to those of us who are thirsty to those of us who long

to see the fulfillment of all of your work. And Father, we thank you for your son. We thank you that in this revelation of scriptures, we can get to know him, not just in name only, but who he is and what He's done for us and what he will do for us when he returns, we pray, oh Lord, earnestly and longingly that Jesus would come soon for we ask this in his name. Amen.