Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

I am the Alpha and the Omega ... These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet used idiomatically to express comprehensive completeness. In this prophecy it is found in Revelation 1:8; 1:10,11; 21:5,6; 22:13. We agree with Barclay that, "There is more than one idea here. There is the idea of completeness, of eternity and of authority.[62] Actually, all three statements in this verse are parallel aspects of one great truth.

CHRIST; THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA

"I am the Alpha and the Omega." This is one of the most intriguing things Christ ever said. Of course, the idiom of so using the first and last letters of the alphabet is perhaps as old as language itself. A similar use was made of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, as when Abraham was said to have kept the law from Aleph to Tav; and Psalms 119 is written on the pattern of the same alphabet from Aleph to Tav. Colonial literature in America had the expression one still hears now and then, "From A to Izzard," Izzard, of course, being the old name for Z.

I. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega with reference to his eternal existence. He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). Christ is "before all things" (Colossians 1:17), and was "in the beginning" (John 1:1f). He is the same "yesterday, today, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8).

II. He is the Alpha and the Omega with reference to the atonement for man's sin. The sins of Abel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of all the pre-Christian world, their sins, no less than ours, are forgiven only through the blood of Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega concerning human redemption.

III. He is the Alpha and the Omega with reference to the word of God. He was the first to declare fully God's word to people. In a very real sense, Jesus was God's first complete word to men. But if the word in Jesus is first, it is also the last. He revealed that, "The word that I speak, the same shall judge him (man) in the last day" (John 12:48). People shall never be through with the word of Christ; it shall confront them in the final judgment.

IV. He is the Alpha and the Omega of the Christian faith. As the writer of Hebrews said, "He is the author and finisher of our faith (KJV)" (Hebrews 12:2). Regarding the personal redemption of every man, Jesus is the all in all, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega.

V. He is the Alpha and the Omega as regards the resurrection of the dead. Paul wrote the Colossians that Christ was the "firstborn from the dead," which does not mean that his was the first resurrection of a mortal, but that Christ was the first to be raised from the dead upon whom death would have no further power. Lazarus and others who were "raised" died again, but not so with Christ. He shall be the last in this regard, because it is his word that shall summon all the dead to the final judgment.

VI. He is the Alpha and the Omega in the New Testament. His name is in the first verse and in the last. His titles mark the opening words, and his blessing closes the sacred canon of the New Testament.

VII. He is the Alpha and the Omega in the final judgment. The eternal judgment shall begin with the body of Christ (the church), as indicated by 1 Peter 4:17; and the final word of it shall be pronounced by the Son of God because the father hath committed judgment to the Son (John 5:27). Christ will be the Alpha and the Omega in the eternal judgment.