Having spent some weeks upon the Lord\u2019s seven \u2018I am\u2019 sayings in John\u2019s Gospel, I felt it suitable to add a further two \u2018I am\u2019 titles provided for us by John in his \u2018Revelation of Jesus Christ\u2019, the final book in our Bible. Here the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, \u2018I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last\u2019. Then He says, \u2018I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star\u2019. We shall come to this latter saying next week, God willing.<\/p>\n
<\/b>God with us<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
Running through all the Lord\u2019s \u2018I am\u2019 sayings is an emphasis on our Saviour\u2019s divine nature. Each is built upon the Lord\u2019s name revealed to Moses in Exodus, \u2018I AM THAT I AM\u2019. \u2018And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.\u2019 Here in Revelation, Christ\u2019s divinity is, once again, asserted prominently. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, Omega is the last. Like A and Z in our English alphabet, there is nothing that comes before, nor anything that comes after. There is no one comes before our Saviour and no one can come after Him. He is the eternal, everlasting God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>First and Last<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n This is the language of our Great God in both testaments. He tells Isaiah in chapter 44, \u2018Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God\u2019. Christ our King and Christ our Redeemer is, with the Father and the Spirit, the One True God. Here, as John opens His Revelation of Jesus Christ, it is to confirm to the Church that Jesus Christ is Jehovah from the beginning and shall be evermore.<\/p>\n <\/b>Christ\u2019s own testimony<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n Our Lord Jesus Christ assumes these titles to Himself without reservation or limitation because He is the eternal God. They are His attributes by right. He is first and last in all things. He is the beginning and the ending of all things. It is not John the Apostle who speaks these words of Christ. The Lord Himself is the speaker as though present with John. Christ\u2019s words are interjected between John\u2019s tributes to the Saviour in verse 6, and his explanation of his commission in verses 7ff., where he is told, \u2018What thou seest, write in a book\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/b>Our superlative God<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n Alpha is by usage a term for excellence and primacy. It denotes that which is first and best, the most prominent, the highest in quality, distinction and merit. Christ is the Alpha, the chief as to His divine nature, \u2018who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.\u2019 He is unique above angels and men as the Son of God. In His Mediator offices He is King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the Great High Priest, the great Prophet and Preacher of His church. He is \u2018highly exalted\u2019, with \u2018a name which is above every name\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/b>Our condescending Saviour<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n Christ may also be said to be Omega, the last, in His humanity, being made lower than the angels and despised and rejected of men. Christ\u2019s was a double humiliation. He humbled Himself first and was \u2018found in fashion as a man\u2019, then again \u2018he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross\u2019. He was born in the lowliest of circumstances. Though He was rich He became poor. He had nowhere to lay His head. Even His clothes were taken from Him and He was laid in a borrowed tomb.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>Our all-encompassing Christ<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n Our Saviour may also be considered to be the whole in the sense that Alpha and Omega encompasses all else. All revelation concerns Him who is the living Word with God. Every phrase, every sentence, every book and all spoken words are comprised of letters encompassed and contained within the confines of Alpha and Omega. Nothing can exist outside of Christ. \u2018All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.\u2019 He upholds all things \u2018by the word of his power\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>Potentate of time and eternity<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, tells us He is \u2018the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty\u2019. Christ is eternally Almighty. The Potentate of heaven and earth. He is omnipotent and omniscient now, in the history of the world, in all the affairs of men in time. He was so before time began, before He created the world and all that in it is, and before Man fell. He was so on the cross when He purchased our redemption. He will be so when He comes again to judge the world in wisdom, righteousness and power.<\/p>\n <\/b>Far above all<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n It has been said, \u2018your God is too small\u2019. Who among us is not guilty of limiting our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is infinite in faithfulness, mightiness, goodness, wisdom and love. The extent and dimensions of Christ\u2019s primacy and superiority is beyond what we can humanly conceive or imagine. He is, says Paul, \u2018Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come\u2019. All things are under his feet. He is \u2018the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all\u2019.<\/p>\n Amen.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n