Please turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1 beginning in verse 5. and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, and to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so. Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Next week, If the Lord wills, we will be celebrating together the Lord's Supper. And it is a good time for us to consider anew what are we seeking and coming to the table of our Lord. I've mentioned to you in times past that among Presbyterians of our sort, this is about as close as we get to anything like ceremony. and this can become very tempting and very beguiling we can love that certain ceremonial and religious sense that certain things such as this give us and we can come to the table actually seeking that and delighting in that But of course this is not the purpose of the table and this is to fail to discern the Lord's body and his presence in the supper. We can come for all sorts of reasons. We can come because we are fulfilling the expectations of others. We can come because we enjoy the feeling of acceptance from the brethren. there are all sorts of things that can motivate us to come to the table of the Lord but there is really only one thing to be seeking in coming to the Lord's table and that is Jesus Christ himself and this is to discern the Lord's body and his presence because in the supper Christ is set before us Christ with all of his benefits Sermons for the Lord's Supper are typically geared to his benefits and we'll do some of that this morning but this one I wanted to focus on his person. Who is it that we are meeting with in the supper? Who is Jesus Christ? Because at the supper we are seeking fellowship with him and we don't want to be seeking fellowship with a different Jesus. another Jesus, a Jesus of our own imagination, our own inventing, but rather Jesus Christ as he is, ascended into heavenly places, Jesus Christ as he lives now, seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Christ as he is revealed to us in scripture, the real and living Christ. With this in view, I thought we might open up our text again and consider what it teaches us about our Saviour. Remember again we are in the midst of the particular inscription verses 4 through 8 we've had the benedictory greeting in verses 4 and 5 and then the doxological response of John as he responds in adoration and praise of God. And what an amazing thing it is for this great God to speak grace and peace to us. There is no other response that a believer could give other than the praise of God. We considered in the last sermon how verse 7 fits here. Jesus Christ has been described as the prince of the kings of the earth and dominion has been ascribed to him and all of this can appear very untrue. world that does great violence and seeming harm to the church, to his kingdom. But we are reminded that the king is coming to the joy of his people and to the vexation of his enemies. He is coming and his kingship and his coming guarantee to us grace and peace. He is a king that cannot be resisted. Let earthly powers do what they may, yet his will will be done in the earth to the ultimate benefit and happiness of his people and to the overthrow of his enemies. with verse 8 we have a certain similar question this also comes in a very staccato fashion no conjunction no connecting particle whether logical or temporal it's just stated there I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending said the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Let us look at this phrase by phrase, and then consider what this is doing here, and then consider what it teaches us about Jesus Christ. First, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord. We should observe, in verse 7, John appears to be speaking to us, proclaiming to us the doctrine of the coming of the Lord Jesus. but there is a shift here in the speaker that we should observe now God himself addresses us directly and the image that he uses is that of Alpha and Omega most of you will know that these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet respectively and then quickly explained by the beginning and the ending in case you miss the significance of Alpha and Omega I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending what is the significance of describing himself in this way we cannot do all of the work I would encourage you if you have an opportunity to go back and read Isaiah chapters 40 through 48 this is one of the things that distinguishes Jehovah from the idols Jehovah is the God that was able to tell of the events among the ancient peoples in a way that the idols could not do and could declare the end from the beginning the mighty Lord of all of history a speaking God who speaks to all of history so here you see his eternity as it is applied to time and you'll find this very thing that he describes himself as the beginning and the ending which appears to be where John borrows or rather Jehovah here preaching himself once again as he did in the days of Isaiah proclaims himself as the beginning and the ending God is the beginning the origin of all things he is the creator and providential governor so he creates all things and he sets them in motion as being their beginning, their source, their origin all things that are if you think back to our lessons in the confession of faith are rooted in his decree he decrees and his decrees are effectuated creation, providence so here he describes himself as being the beginning of all things which again also speaks to his eternity before the creation and before time is set in motion he is the eternal God he is also the final end of all things all things are moving toward him in the sense that all things are moving toward his glory and the good of his people but primarily again if you read Isaiah 40 through 48 what is the chief end of everything chief end of the creation the glory of God chief end of providence and his government his glory what is the chief end of the destruction of the wicked his glory what's the chief end of his salvation his glory and this is largely portrayed in these beautiful chapters of Isaiah sometimes called the gospel of Isaiah interestingly enough Paul presents all of this to us in a very summary fashion for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen Romans chapter 11 verse 36 all things are of him he is the source they consist and continue through him and they are all oriented toward him. They are moving toward him and his glory. This description is very fitting right after the declaration of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought not to be surprised that he would here be declaring himself to be the Omega and the ending of all things. So you see a certain fittingness for this declaration to be placed here. But we should take some time to consider who is the Lord? It says, I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending Seth, the Lord. Some interpreters have thought that this is simply God, or maybe even the person of the Father. But to me it seems that The balance of evidence indicates that this is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaking and addressing us. Some of the data points, if you go back to verse 1, Jesus Christ is portrayed as the revealer. The ultimate source of this book is the Father, but the Father sets it in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ to be opened and revealed to His people. And this precedes speeches by Jesus Christ Himself. there is a shift at verse 9 John describes his encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and in the midst of that encounter Christ describes himself in these terms as being the first and the last the beginning and the ending so all of this points to the fact that this is Jesus Christ but to my mind the parallel in Revelation chapter 22 had quite a bit of effect. If you'll turn there with me, Revelation 22 verses 12 and 13. And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. the first and the last. So here Christ clearly takes these titles to himself but what made this so persuasive is the parallel. Verse 12 you have the description of the return of Christ and here he describes it himself and not through John but he describes it himself and then immediately the same thing I am the Alpha and the Omega, I am the beginning and the ending, I am the first and the last. and again very appropriate when you consider him portraying himself first as the end of all things in his return and then taking these titles for himself. What has occasioned the difficulty I think for the interpreters is the next description, which is and which was and which is to come. Why would this be a difficulty? Because this was the description of the father, the description that the father took to himself in verse 4. we won't go back and do all of this work again but this is basically a Greek way of saying Jehovah if you remember our lessons from Exodus chapters 3 and 6 God who was in ancient times delivering the promises to the fathers the God who is active in the life of the church bringing those promises to pass and present to the church in the future the God who is to come God present at the consummation of all things bringing all of his promises to full ultimate completion so this is Jehovah as eternal but as present to all of time with his people the mighty Lord of history some have looked at this and said this was applied to the father so here we have the father speaking But I again think that on balance that's not persuasive. Why is that not persuasive? Because these are titles that the Lord Jesus, the first titles are titles that Jesus Christ took to himself and I say no difficulty but great meaning and that he would take the titles that have just been attributed to the Father, to himself, the mighty Lord of history. And again, as we look at the way that these other titles have been applied, they do apply to Jesus, the mighty Lord of history throughout all of the book. There's one final title that is taken, and that is the Almighty. It speaks of his omnipotence, that nothing can thwart his purposes or his design in providence because nothing can resist his power. And so this raises the question again, what is verse 8 doing here? How can we be sure that grace and peace will be ours? How can we be sure of his return? History is complicated and wild, untamable. There's a lot of things going on. How can you guarantee an event so many hundreds or thousands of years in the future when there's so many forces and factors involved in the world it's so complicated you just think of certain plans that you've made in your lifetime whether you plan to do a certain thing as a vocation or you wanted to move to a certain place even something small All things speaking, how frequently we are frustrated in our purposes because providence is so large and there's so many things involved and we are frequently waylaid by things we did not foresee or things that we cannot control. A lot can happen before the end of time. So what is our guarantee that there will be grace and peace for the church both in time and in the end? How can we be sure of his return? and here we have this proclaimed to us in very large and comprehensive terms he is the sovereign over all history he is its origin and he is its end and he is present to all of it almighty and irresistible with respect to it so here we have a very large and satisfying answer to what could be a question or a doubt in the mind a sovereign over all, the beginning and the end of it, present to all of it, almighty and irresistible. Here we come to some very basic foundational and central doctrine of the Christian faith. Jesus Christ is God. If this is a description of Jesus Christ, and I think there is little reason to doubt of it, consider what has been said of him. He is before all things and the beginning of all things. You remember the preaching of John the Baptist. One is coming after me that is greater than me, for he was before me. It's that paradox of there's one coming after me, who was before me, so here Jesus Christ is portrayed as being before all things in the beginning of all things the creator Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 and there is no other creator besides Jehovah our God he is the end to which all things are moving his glory is the point of all history and you remember that Jehovah in Isaiah said he would not share his glory with another here Jesus Christ not in this particular verse but in the preceding verses has been portrayed as the Savior and you remember in those same chapters of Isaiah Jehovah said that he would not share his glory with another with respect to salvation that he was the Savior and there was no other Savior besides him but here he is portrayed as Savior in that grace and peace is sought from him, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is by his shed blood that we are washed of our sins. He is portrayed as the returning judge, but Jehovah throughout all the scripture is portrayed as the judge of the whole earth. You think of Abraham, will the judge of the whole earth not do? Right? Of course he will, as he spoke to Jehovah our God there. He is portrayed as eternal and unchangeable. Is and was and is to come. Eternal and present to all of history and unchangeable. He is not changing in those various time periods. And He is Almighty, the Omnipotent One. If Jesus Christ is not God, to ascribe these divine attributes to him, which are incommunicable, would be blasphemy. This is not simply to say that he was powerful, but that he is almighty, which cannot be communicated to a creature. Creator cannot be ascribed to a creature, you see. He is described as eternal. in a shorter catechism question it's frequently been observed that those first attributes infinite, eternal and unchangeable or incommunicable attributes and then the rest communicable or can be communicated to the creature the creature can partake of them in some measure but here these are incommunicable attributes that are ascribed to him he is very God or this is blasphemy And we would say that the word of God is not to be doubted. And Jesus Christ's witness concerning himself, we have already been assured, is true. He is a faithful witness. Interestingly enough, if you consider these, and we have not talked about this, but just in these verses, we see a very full picture of our Christology. This precious doctrine concerning our Savior. Jesus Christ is fully man. He had blood that could be shed. He is described as one who has been pierced and wounded. This cannot be said of the divine nature, at least not properly. It's not the divine nature that bleeds and dies. So we see his humanity portrayed to us here, his full and real humanity. But we also see that Jesus Christ is portrayed as fully God. Both of these precious truths. Is it not well said that, is John not well called the divine, the theologian to have in such a short space portrayed so much theology in such rich terms. But here in a very short space we have the mystery of the incarnation. One person, two natures without mixture or confusion but also without separation and division. Beautiful truth. I bring all of this up not only to exegete the text but this is the Jesus that we go to meet in the Lord's Supper and not another. We go to commune with our great God the Lord Jesus Christ and it is an amazing thing to be invited to commune with such a one. Here our only response could be our unworthiness. and what are we that thou wouldst be thus mindful of us and yet he has been thus mindful consider what we've already had in this short space of text this great God incarnate to rescue us from our sins and to reconcile us to himself promising us grace and peace so that we might exist in a blessed and a happy fellowship with him and this is part of what the Lord's Table is meant to remind us of. We come to the table and this great God invites us to come and commune with him. A remarkable thing. And this communion is not just for the present time but also forever. This communion with him goes on and on. it's an interesting thing that he's not only promising us fellowship and life with himself but the great God comes to the table of the Lord with promises and here you remember here held forth to us is the preaching of the gospel broken body and shed blood and as we had it already in our text shed blood that washes away the guilt of our sins our great filthiness and he comes with promises to sanctify and to strengthen us we'll look at John 15 in just a few moments but he invites us to feed upon him by faith he is the source of our spiritual life if we should be cut from him we are lifeless branches but engrafted into him there is a constant source of life If I might mix metaphors, it's also described in the life of the believer like a continual fountain or well. The Lord Jesus Christ is the source and this life is always springing up in us. And in this table he invites us to draw that life from him. He holds it forth to us and we receive it by faith. A second doctrine and then we will conclude. Jesus Christ in this text has been portrayed as the Alpha and Omega of all of history. We could also say that he is the Alpha and the Omega of all of its several parts, so not just in whole but in parts, and in particular he is the Alpha and the Omega of the believer's faith. He is frequently portrayed in this way in the scriptures, author and perfecter of the believers faith is its origin and he is the end to which it is moving so first consider Jesus Christ as the alpha of our faith and first objectively he is the beginning of it objectively he covenanted with the father eternally for the salvation of his people for the salvation of his elect and he was incarnate to accomplish their redemption I say that here he is objectively the alpha of our faith because without this there is no gospel there is nothing to be believed for salvation apart from his covenant with the father with respect to salvation and then being incarnate in time to accomplish that redemption. So he is the source or origin of our faith in that regard in that sense he goes before our faith. but also subjectively I hope it is now well ingrained in you the doctrine of man's inability to do any spiritual good with respect to his salvation we can't conjure up faith in ourselves we are disabled hostile enemies but the spirit of Christ working by the word of Christ works faith in the heart creates it where it was not and he creates it in the hearts of those for whom he covenanted and those that he died for so he is creating faith in the hearts of his people by his spirit and his words so subjectively he is the alpha of our faith it does not arise from us it arises from him I would have you to remember this in the supper because part of the significance of the supper is we remember what he has done for us. We remember incarnate to take away the guilt of our sins, a broken body and shed blood, the fulfillment of the eternal covenant which he had made with his father for the redemption of his people. And when we consider these things, when we consider what He has done, when we consider that faith is a gift that is given to us, we have to come to the table in great thanksgiving. That is the right manner of approach. Consider all that He has done for you, objectively what has been done for you. And even the faith in your heart that makes it possible for you to receive also comes from Him. the working of his mighty spirit. Jesus Christ is also the omega of the believer's faith. As I mentioned earlier, he is the continual supply of spiritual nourishment and strength portrayed in a whole host of ways in the Gospel of John. In John chapter 6 Jesus Christ portrays himself as spiritual food and drink to be feasted upon by faith. but spiritual nourishment for his people like the rock in the wilderness or like the manna from heaven. John chapter 15 as I mentioned earlier he portrays himself as the vine continually supplying life-giving sap to the branches those that are grafted in him. This year I had an opportunity to see this played out in a lively way before my very eyes most of you know we had these very massive tomato plants that we tried to put frames around but they were so massive that they were outgrowing the frames and what would happen is that the arms of these great things would go over so far and the weight of the tomatoes would be so heavy that they would break now interestingly enough if it was simply more like a bend then they would go on living. But if the break was decisive and they were cut off from that life-giving root and sap, everything on it would perish. And here we have a very lively picture of what the Lord is teaching us in John 15. I am the vine, ye are the branches. If ye abide in me, Then ye shall bear much fruit, spiritual life, a constant source of spiritual life bearing spiritual fruit under the glory of God in the earth. But apart from me ye can do nothing, broken branches, dead and unfruitful. So we see here that Jesus Christ is the continual supply of spiritual nourishment that takes us both individually and corporately so that we grow up as Paul says in Colossians to a complete man the full image of Jesus Christ but he is also the goal to which this growth is directed we have been predestined to be conformed to his image both individually and corporately and as we are being conformed to his image both the progress and completion of this brings him great glory which is the end of all things in those chapters of Isaiah and even beyond that the great promise of the father to the son was that he would receive a people and from that people and their salvation he would receive great glory in the earth and then finally Jesus Christ is the omega of the believer's life and that he is the end of the matter. Heaven for us is life with him. And no longer enjoying this life with him looking through a glass darkly, but seeing him as he is. Glorifying him and enjoying him forever. I've sometimes heard people say that You know, we need to do things in our worship to make it more exciting for people. But all we really need to satisfy the Christian heart in our worship is Christ. And if you can't be satisfied with that, you won't be satisfied nor take much of a liking to heaven. Because this is heaven for us. Listening to His voice and responding to Him with our prayers and with our praises. This is heaven and this is a picture and a foretaste of our eternal life within. If you find great satisfaction in having Christ in the worship, then that's a good sign about the condition of your heart. But if you find yourself dissatisfied with Christ in the worship and wishing that there were other things, this ought to disturb a person concerning the state of the soul. Do you really have a longing for heaven? For this is its foretaste. When you think of heaven, what is it that you desire? Is it the Elysian fields of the pagan? Pleasures? Baudelaire? Forevermore? Or is it eternal life with Jesus? That is the Christian heaven. With all of this in view, Jesus being the Omega of our faith, we ought to come to the table with an active and lively faith coming feeding upon him seeking to be further conformed to his image and again with an active faith seeing that this indeed is a foretaste of our heavenly communion with him are you coming to the table to enjoy him and to glorify him These are great and precious uses of the supper, proper uses. Let us pray together.