What does it mean that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega?
Near the very close of the Bible, Jesus stacks three titles on top of each other and applies them to Himself — and each one, in the Old Testament, belonged to God alone. The words come attached to a promise of His return, so they are not abstract philosophy: they tell us who is coming, and what He can be trusted to finish.
Two letters that measure eternity
Alpha and Omega were the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the everyday ABC of the world John wrote in. One writer draws out what such a picture is stretched to carry:
A J PollockAlpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, but here human language is used to present to us the thought that with the Lord there is no beginning and no ending, that He is from eternity to eternity. We do not read that in the beginning is the Word, but that "in the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). That "was" stretches back without a beginning. In this verse our Lord is described as having a present, a past, and a future, and in that order — a present that is always a present; a past that never had a beginning; a future that will never know an end.
A name God keeps for Himself
The phrase "the first and the last" is not new here. It is lifted straight out of Isaiah, where God says it while insisting there is no other God beside Him:
Edward DennettHe is the One who was before anything had its existence, who will be after all created things in this scene have passed away, and who exists through all time and all eternity, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all existence, the eternally self-existent One, who contains all being in Himself... The last two titles are found in Isaiah: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god" (Isaiah 44:6). No terms could more clearly convey the truth of the Person of our blessed Lord, or more plainly assert His true and proper deity.
Before all and after all
The title is not only a claim about Christ's dignity. It changes what fear can do to a believer:
Walter ScottAs the "FIRST," He is before all, and above all, and the One from whom all proceed. As the "LAST," He is after all, and in Him all things centre. He is the source and sum of universal creation. What cause for fear then? In the calm contemplation of this magnificent title, claimed and borne by Jesus of Nazareth glorified in the heavens, fear disappears like mist before the rising sun. Here is a rock of strength for weary feet and for life's heaviest burdens.
The source and the goal of everything
If He is the beginning and the end, then nothing in history runs off the edges of His purpose — and no failure along the way decides the outcome:
Walter ScottCreation, providence, promise, history, prediction, prophecy, testimony, love, and grace each have their source in God, and in Him their end. Nothing on the divine side really ends in failure. God is seen to triumph at the end. The administration of these things on earth shows, as was the divine intention, the weakness and imperfection of the creature; but that in no way hinders or thwarts the ultimate purpose of God.
He finishes what He starts
One writer notes that the title is deliberately not "Alpha and Beta" — not a beginning plus a continuation, but a beginning plus a completed end. In a book full of judgments, that is a warning as much as a comfort:
J Wilson Smith"It is done!" He is seen to be the Omega as well as the Alpha — the end as well as the beginning. The mighty Hand that began the task is the Hand that gave the finishing stroke. Its power survived every shock and overcame all opposition. Today that Hand is one of patient grace — stretched out all day long in mercy. Then how different! Its grace, so winsome, may be spurned; but its retribution, who can withstand?
The end God is aiming at
The "end" in view is not simply a stopping point in time but a goal. What God has been driving toward from the first page is one Person:
F. A. HughesIn chapter 3 of the same book we read that Christ is "the beginning of the creation of God," and we learn from Colossians 1 and other Scriptures that "by Him all things were created," and "He is before all things." He who is the beginning is also the end... God has been pleased to make "known to us the mystery of His will," that in the fullness of times He will "head up all things in the Christ."
Summary
- Alpha — the first letter says He is the source: before creation, before time, with a past that never had a beginning.
- Omega — the last letter says He is the finish, not merely the continuation; the title is not "Alpha and Beta."
- Jehovah — "the first and the last" is God's own self-description in Isaiah, where He denies there is any other; Jesus takes it as His own.
- Certainty — because both ends are in His hand, no failure in between can thwart the purpose; God is seen to triumph at the end.
- Comfort — the same voice that says this also says He is coming soon, so the hand that began is the hand that will finish, and fear loses its grip.