QUESTION: In Revelation 1:8 the Lord is described as the Alpha and Omega. What does that mean?

ANSWER: Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Greek was one of the well-known languages of that day. (You remember that the inscription on the cross was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, John 19:20.) Alpha and Omega signify that our Lord Jesus is the First and the Last, or the beginning and the ending of all things. This title reminds us of the eternity of His being.

He is First. He is the eternal Son of God. We can go back before the creation of the world and He, our Lord Jesus Christ, was there. As we read in John's gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). He is, as we read in Colossians 1:15-18, "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, … all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."

It is good to notice the preceding words in Revelation 1:5,6: "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." These words tell us of His perfect humanity, His glorious resurrection and His supremacy over all the kings of the earth. Then we have that wonderful doxology that reminds us of His love and His work on Calvary. "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Who is this One who lived, died for our sins on the cross and rose victorious over death and the grave? He, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Alpha and Omega. What a Saviour is Jesus the Lord!

He is also the Last. He will bring all things into subjection to God. The book of Revelation describes for us in detail how our God will set up His earthly kingdom upon this earth and finally bring everything into that eternal state where righteousness will dwell and there will be peace forevermore. This peace cannot be accomplished without God's awful judgments falling in ever-increasing severity upon this guilty world. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who will accomplish all of this to God's honor and glory. The beginning and the ending of all of God's counsels will be carried out and completed by our Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed the Alpha and Omega. He is the creator of all things. He upholds all things by the word of His power and in the fulness of times God will gather all things together in Christ.

In Revelation chapter five, Jesus Christ alone is the One who is worthy to open the seven-sealed book of God's counsels and program for setting up His kingdom. When the Lord Jesus opens that book, the twenty four elders fall down before the Lamb and sing a new song, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood." Dear Christian friend, those twenty four elders are a picture of us in that day so soon to come. Shouldn't we start praising Him now?

—John D. McNeil