“I am…the Beginning and the End.” 

“Alpha and Omega.”  “The First and the Last.”  “The Beginning and the End.”  These 3 couplets all appear together and all appear most prominently in Revelation.  All are ways of saying the same thing – that God is sovereign, that he is the supreme, and as Francis Schaeffer used to say, “God is back of [behind] everything.”

God began the first large-scale specific revelation of himself when he gave the Old Testament Law.  Numerous times throughout Exodus and Leviticus God highlighted and punctuated points with the phrase, “I am the Lord your God.”  This seems to be a kind of an exclamation point or neon sign that God used to say to the reader, “Listen, what I just said is really important.  Pay attention to it.”  Later we will see how this also fits the contexts of Revelation where the 3 couplets appear.  Let’s consider all three.

“Alpha and Omega.”  These two words are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  There were a total of 24 letters in all.  English has 26 letters.  The English equivalent would be, “I am the A and the Z.”  Through endless combinations of letters words that capture thoughts and ideas are transmitted.  Therefore, since God is Alpha and Omega, he is the sum total of all ideas, all creative thought and all communication.  He was the first to speak in creation:  “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).  And he will have the last word at the final judgment (see Revelation 20:11-15).  Clearly God’s sovereignty is the focus.

“The First and the Last.”  This is an Old Testament description found in Isaiah.  In 41:4 we find the first usage of this phrase.  Here God is directing the pagan King Cyrus and blessing him with triumphant military campaigns.  In 44:6 we find Isaiah using the phrase a second time contrasting the living sovereign God to lifeless idols that cannot “foretell what will come” (verse 7).  In Isaiah’s day idolatry in Israel had become commonplace.  The phrase points to God’s exclusivity—“apart from me there is no God.”  Isaiah was reminding them who was really in charge and whom they needed to heed.  Lastly in 48:12 Isaiah links “the first and the last” to creation:  “My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together” (verse 13).  Obviously the phrase again speaks of the unique sovereign power and position of Almighty God.

“The Beginning and the End.”  John opens two of his letters with the word “beginning” – John 1:1 and 1 John 1:1.  The former says, “In the beginning was the Word.”  The latter reads, “That which we have seen from the beginning…”  The former speaks about the origin of the space-time-material universe, the latter about the Gospel message that is resident in the person of Christ.  Neither speaks of Christ being “the Beginning.”  Whatever beginnings we find, the sovereign God is always present.

In Revelation 22:13 we see the last appearance of “The Beginning and the End.”  The context?  The return of Christ, who comes to reward his people.  What person can come and go from the earth as he pleases?  Only Jesus!  (Pity those who have been deceived by the idea of reincarnation.)  Who is it that can reward “everyone” for his or her deeds on the earth?  Only God, for no one else has the capacity or this authority.  But in the text Jesus speaks:  “Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me…” (verse 12).  “I am … the Beginning and the End.”

From the Scriptures’ own commentary this threefold description declares the position, authority and power that is God’s alone.  It is his signature of sovereignty.  It completes what he began with the Old Testament law signed with, “I am the Lord your God.”

Incredible, amazing and awesome God!  He is back of everything visible and invisible, everything we can think and dream about, and everything we will never figure out.  He is there, and not only there, but there for us!  Have you stopped and worshipped the Alpha and Omega?  The First and the Last is sovereign.  Have you chosen today to delight yourself in he who is “the Beginning and the End”?