Revelation 1:8 - Exposition

A prelude to the book. In the simple majesty of its solemn language it reminds us of the opening of St. John's Gospel and of his First Epistle. "I am the Alpha and the Omega" is here not followed by "the Beginning and the End," which the Vulgate and some other authorities insert from Revelation 21:6 and Revelation 22:13 . Who is "the Lord," that utters these words? Surely the Christ, as seems clear from Revelation 22:17 ; Revelation 2:8 ; Revelation 22:13 . To attribute them to the Father robs the words of their special appropriateness in this context, where they form a prelude to "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" as God and as the Almighty "Ruler of the kings of the earth." Yet the fact that similar language is also used of the Father ( Revelation 6:6 ; Revelation 21:6 ) shows how clearly St. John teaches that Jesus Christ is "equal to the Father as touching his Godhead." These sublime attributes are applicable to each. Like the doxology (see on verse 6), the statement of these Divine attributes increases in fulness as the writing proceeds. Here "the Alpha and the Omega;" verse 17 and Revelation 2:8 , "the First and the Last;" in Revelation 21:6 , "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End;" in Revelation 22:13 , "the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." Of these four, the second and fourth certainly apply to the Son, and the third certainly to the Father, the first probably to the Son. The Almighty . With the exception of 2 Corinthians 6:18 , where it occurs in a quotation, this expression ( ὁ παντοκράτωρ ) is in the New Testament peculiar to the Apocalypse, where it occurs nine times. In the LXX . it represents more than one Hebrew expression; e.g. Jeremiah 3:19 ; Job 5:17 .