Jesus Christ is ALL
By David A. DePra
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is,
and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
I John, who also am your brother,
and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great
voice, as of a trumpet,
Saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.”
Of course, ALPHA is the first letter in the Greek
alphabet. And OMEGA is the last
letter in the Greek alphabet. So in
using that simple example, Jesus is saying that there are none before Him – HE
is the first, and there are none after Him – He is the last.
And He is likewise all that is in between.
In short, since an alphabet is the means of expressing WORDS, and
expressing thoughts, Jesus Christ is God’s FIRST word, and Jesus Christ is God’s
LAST word – Jesus Christ is the ONLY Word of God.
Indeed, Jesus is the ONLY LIVING Word that God has for humanity – Jesus
Christ is the only PERSON God has for humanity.
Now, what this does is gather up the entire book of
Revelation in Christ. As noted, the
book of Revelation is a revelation that Jesus gave John of HIMSELF.
But it also includes the impact of Jesus Christ – in His Redemptive work
– upon nations, believers, and the enemy himself.
And we need not read far to realize that when John stated at the outset
of this book, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day,” that he is telling us that what he is recording is a SPIRITUAL vision.
Thus, rather than be some sort of prophecy chart, this revelation is a
spiritual vision of the impact of Jesus Christ from the perspective of God.
Of course, there is much that could be said about this
book. But for now, we want to limit
our scope to the declaration of Jesus about Himself:
“I AM the Alpha and the Omega.”
This declaration is a revelation of Christ all in itself.
It occurs at the beginning of the book of Revelation, and at the end of
the book of Revelation. Thus, it is
a declaration that governs the entire book – but more, it is a revelation that
governs ALL THINGS. Jesus Christ is
LORD OF ALL.
This Truth of Jesus as the Alpha and the Omega has
eternal ramifications, but as noted, it has practical application.
It reveals to us HOW God works.
For example, whenever God involves Himself in a life, or in a situation,
Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end – and Jesus Christ governs all that is
in between. God STARTS with Jesus
and God ENDS with Jesus – or to put it another way – no matter where we are in
life; no matter where we are in our understanding – God will begin with us on
the basis of Christ and Christ alone, and the end, or goal of what God is doing,
is Christ and Christ alone. And
God’s means of achieving Christ in between the beginning and the end will
likewise be UNTO Christ.
For example, all of us, to one degree or another, have
been blind, ignorant, or just plain deceived.
That may be OUR starting point with God.
What does God do about this?
Well, He has to take us right where we are – He certainly cannot take us where
we are NOT! But even if OUR
starting point is error – even if it is error in our own unbelieving heart –
God’s starting point in dealing with is will always be TRUTH – He will begin
with us with something of His Son – He will bring some conviction or stirring
intended to lead us OUT of our blindness and INTO His Son.
Sometimes God will begin by showing us our error –
because in error is where we are – but even that is the result of seeing some
Truth – we are seeing that our error IS error.
God may show us error in many ways – including allowing us to come to the
end of ourselves in our error. He
may allow us to fail; to be exposed.
But all of this is nothing more than God starting with Christ – and that
will begin to bring us out from where we are to Christ.
And since Christ is God’s ONLY Word, and is God’s beginning, middle, and
end – we will spend all eternity LEARNING CHRIST.
If there is one thing we ought to see here it is that God
NEVER affirms error. Despite that
fact that God takes us right where we are, it is never to leave us there.
At some point, if I begin to see Jesus Christ, I will not be able to
continue in the same error, and in the same ignorance.
For Jesus Christ is God’s only Word – He is the only Truth.
God wants to make Him MY Alpha and Omega – which means the end of all
that is NOT of Christ in my life.
This principle of Jesus as the Alpha and Omega applies to
many things. One thing it certainly
applies to is REVIVAL. There have
been numerous happenings throughout the last century, and the last decades, that
have been labeled REVIVAL. Caught
up in these movements are many people with differing beliefs.
Some are not believers in Christ – others are involved in various
denominations. There are also those
who are entangled in great error.
And when these, “revivals” spring up, people always ask one question more than
any other: Is this REVIVAL is OF
GOD?
The question is easily answered with another question:
Is Jesus Christ being revealed and expressed as, “The Alpha and the
Omega,” in that revival? Or is
Jesus secondary – merely a, “means there unto?”
As the result of this revival, has Jesus become ALL to those who were
involved? Or again, is the
emotional experience, and the desire to keep the revival going, become the
focus?
The work of the spirit of God is to reveal the Truth that
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega – both TO people and IN people – God wants to
reveal Jesus as ALL to each person.
But that is not something that God does only in a supposed revival.
It is something He is ALWAYS doing.
The question is whether we believe Him and will open ourselves to Him.
We do not need something dubbed a, “revival,” to do that.
That door has ALWAYS been open for Christ and God’s purposes through Him
by the grace of God.