May 12
25
“I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”—Rev. 22:13
Exceeding grandeur marks this designation. The crown fits not a mortal head. The jewel sparkles not on human breast. Infinity is its scope. It stretches from everlasting to everlasting. It cannot belong to less than Deity. The ground is evidently hallowed. Let each step now be taken with reverential awe.
At once the echo of Isaiah’s voice is heard. When the seraphic seer would sing Jehovah’s glory, he sounds this high note, “Who has wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.” (Isa. 41:4) No fitter words could proclaim Jehovah the eternal God. We listen, and again like terms describe Jehovah’s majesty. “Thus says the Lord the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides Me there is no God.” (Isa. 44:6) Again the prophet strikes his harp, and again Jehovah is the subject. But with all language at his command, with choice of imagery as his handmaid, gifted with all the charms of eloquence, he can employ no terms more suitable or more significant. The same sound still reverberates. “Listen to Me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am He; I am the first, I also am the last.” (Isa. 48:12) Such then is Jehovah’s chosen designation.
Before the Revelation closes, Jesus claims this title as His prerogative. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” The truth then shines forth, “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners.” Jesus is Jehovah. He who is the truth claims Jehovah’s glories, takes Jehovah’s name, ascends Jehovah’s throne, wields Jehovah’s scepter, assumes Jehovah’s crown, demands the homage which is Jehovah’s due. Thus adoration is due to Him as the Creator and Preserver, by whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things. He stands before us as “I am that I am.” He manifests Himself in all the incomprehensible glory of self-existent and eternal Being.
Jesus is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” He is the foundation, He is the top-stone. The main parts of it are exclusively His work. He is the Alpha, the beginning, and the first before the foundation of the world. In the counsels of the everlasting Covenant, He presented Himself to be the substitute of His people, to receive all their sins, as truly His own acts, in human form, to make atonement for them, to present satisfaction to every outraged attribute of God, to bear all wrath, to endure the law’s total curse, to pay every debt to justice, to meet truth’s every demand, to render all obedience to the requirements of perfect love, to invest with this robe all the family of faith. To execute this work He came, He lived, He died. He challenged all heaven to bear witness, “It is finished.”
He too shall be the Omega, the end, the last. The day shall come when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; and every foe to the eternal reign shall be forever vanquished, and God shall be all in all; and the last stone of salvation’s pyramid shall be brought forth with shouts, “Grace to it, grace to it.”
In contemplation of this glorious work, faith loudly sings, You are worthy O Jesus, to receive blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and might, for You are “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” of redemption. Henry Law 1877 (extract from Alpha and Omega)