I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith [the] Lord God, he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
God Himself speaks here in His own voice, naming who He is before the book's visions begin. Two questions arise: what do these titles mean, and whose voice is it — God's or Christ's?
The first words from God's own lips
The first seven verses of the chapter come to us through John. This one comes straight from God.
Our verse gives us the first utterance of God's lips in this wonderful Revelation. The seven previous verses are introductory — an inspired message through the Apostle John. But verse 8 bursts upon us, in deep and divine solemnity, as the true words of the Lord God, the Almighty. He is the Alpha — the great source and originator of all things. And He is the Omega too, the One by whom all things will be wound up and completed. So we do not read "I am Alpha and Beta" (the second letter), as if His aim were to show the beginning and the continuance of His work. That may be true. But if Alpha gives the beginning, Omega shows not only a perfect continuance, but the seal placed on the end of all.
First and last letters, first and last word
These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. They mark where everything starts and where it ends — even for a reader who looks around and sees only ruin.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega" — first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — would show His relationship to creation. God is the source, the beginning of all truth revealed, of all promise given, and of all testimony entrusted to men. In this respect He is "the Alpha." But He is also the end. His glory is the goal. Everything finds its answer in Him. Our course, our testing lie between these points, God the Alpha and God the Omega. In our hands the threads are broken; in His hands they have never been torn. Circumstances have failed and are failing. The Church, in its outward order, is a ruin among the wrecked testimony of the ages. Yet God's voice rings out above the noise and strife.
"Who is and who was and who is to come"
The three clauses in the verse form a title. They unfold an Old Testament name, and their order matters.
This description — "who is and who was and who is to come" — is really a title. It matches the Hebrew name Jehovah. "Who is" is a present participle: He always is. "Who was" is an imperfect tense: He ever was. "Who is to come" is a participle: He always is the coming One. Note the present tense comes first in order. God is the great eternal Present, stretching backwards and forwards over a boundless eternity. And this is the Lord Jesus.
God and Christ, not separated
Is this God speaking, or Christ? The verse refuses to be pulled apart.
We then find, what is so remarkable in John, the mixing up in expression of God and Christ. Verse 8 cannot be said to be one or the other. It is Christ; but it is Christ Jehovah, Almighty, the Lord; who is, and who was, and who is to come; the first and the last.
The One who speaks here stands behind the whole book.
He is the Source and Doer of all. He makes known to man everything that can be made known. He it is who speaks here — the Lord God, the Eternal, the Almighty — putting His guarantee on the book from the beginning… But here it is the divine sanction of every word, whether in setting aside the guilty present or in establishing the future down to the eternal state. None but the true God could speak to it; and John expressly says that Jesus is the true God.
"The Almighty"
The last title is the one His people lean on when the book turns dark.
How fitting that this weighty introduction should close with the title of God as the "Almighty." That title has been a rock of strength to His afflicted people in all ages. "The Almighty" is not simply the witness of unlimited power. It means Almighty in "sustaining resources." In this book the circumstances of God's people make many a demand on this strong Name. So it appears often here, and only once elsewhere in the New Testament (2 Cor. 6:18)… He is Almighty in sustaining His people, yet equally Almighty in judgment on His enemies.
The answer to doubt
Verse 7 announces His coming. Some hear that and wonder whether it can really happen.
Does anyone say, "We know that these things are written in the Scriptures, but is He able to carry them out?"… Well, the Lord pledges His own divine eternal Being on this. He says, "Even so, Amen."… It is the everlasting, self-existent, omnipotent God who speaks. All will have to do with Him. The scribes and Pharisees did not realise that when they despised and rejected Him… Would it not be wise for everyone to have to do with Him in this day of grace?
Summary
- Alpha — He is the source of all truth revealed, all promise given, all testimony entrusted to men.
- Omega — not merely continuance but completion: what He began, He seals and finishes.
- Jehovah — the eternal present, reaching back without beginning and forward without end.
- Almighty — power that sustains His people and power that judges His enemies, from the same hand.
- Christ — you cannot separate God from Christ here. It is Christ, Jehovah, the Almighty, guaranteeing every word of the book.