gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy. And keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace beyond you and peace from him, which is, and which was, and which is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne, 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, 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 kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so. Amen. 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, And what thou seest, write in a book, and send it on to the seven churches which are in Asia, on to Ephesus, and on to Smyrna, and on to Pergamos, and on to Thyatira, and on to Sardis, and on to Philadelphia, and on to Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not. I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels or the messengers of the seven churches. and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Amen. And the Lord will bless the reading of His precious Word. Shall we pray? Father, still our hearts in Thy presence, and grant that as we contemplate this great chapter, in this great book, that we will hear that voice, which is as many waters. And may we feel the touch of his right hand upon us. And may our Lord Jesus become increasingly more precious to every believer. Open our eyes that we might see Him. Deafen our ears to every other voice and every other sound except the voice of our Beloved. And grant that this day our hearts will burn within us as the Lord Jesus Himself draws near, walks with us, and opens up the Scriptures, and shows us the things concerning Himself. May this be our experience, we ask in His name, and for His sake. Amen. A lot of fear, a lot of hesitation exists among Christians regarding the book of the Revelation. And it has in turn led to a tendency to neglect this book. But that neglect ought never to be the case. It need not be the case. when the secret or the key to the purpose of this last book of the Bible is grasped. Look at verse number one of chapter one. And the very opening part of the verse will give you the key to this book. The revelation of Jesus Christ. And let me put the emphasis not so much on the word revelation, for that's what fears people, frightens people. But let me put the emphasis on these two words, Jesus Christ. That's the key to the book of the Revelation. The word revelation simply means unveiling or the uncovering. the uncovering of Jesus Christ. This book is not about the beast. This book is not about the false prophet. This book is not about the plagues. This book is not about the vials of wrath or the trumpets and so on and so forth. This book is about Jesus Christ. And if you grasp that, Then you will discover that this book opens up a wonderful source of contemplation and meditation that will encourage the heart of every believer. It is primarily, essentially, the unveiling, the uncovering of Jesus Christ. He is the sum and substance. He is the center and the circumference of this book. This book was written with the intention of showing us the Lord Jesus, and it does that in a marvelous and in a wonderful way. It is the portrait gallery of the Savior. You may have heard of painting by numbers. And I read recently the man who invented that method died a little while ago, not so long ago. But he invented that method by which ordinary people who are not altogether gifted or talented in painting are at least able to produce something that resembles a recognizable landscape. And he would put the numbers on the different parts, and that would signify what you're to paint by. Well, we're not going to paint by numbers when we come to this book. We are painting by words. Because in the book of the Revelation, you will find word pictures. pictures that are painted with the use of words, all the forces of human vocabulary, the nouns, the pronouns, the verbs, the adjectives, the similes, the metaphors, the symbols, they are all marshaled together in this book to present and portray various aspects, various attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ. Word, picture, Pictures that are scattered here and there throughout the gallery of the book of the Revelation. It is the unveiling, the uncovering of Jesus Christ. And my aim today and through these summer months is just to take a walk through this great gallery of Word Pictures. and to consider the Lord Jesus. And the first portrait hanging in this gallery you will find in verse number eight. There are many, and we will take time to look at them one by one. But the first one that I want to draw your attention to is framed in verse number eight. 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 am Alpha and Omega. And right away my point is proven. Word pictures. For we have these two letters employed by the Lord, and he says, I am Alpha and Omega. And what you will find as you go through the book of the Revelation is that this description that Christ gives of himself is repeated no less than four times. Look at verse 11. He says, I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Turn over to chapter 21 of the book. Chapter 21 and verse number 6. At the beginning of this book, you have two references to this description, I am Alpha and Omega. And now at the end of the book, In verse number 6, he said unto me, it is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And then turn to the last chapter, chapter 22, in verse 13, the Lord Jesus speaking again to his servant John says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Four times in the book of the Revelation, the Lord says, I am Alpha and Omega. When the Lord says something once, we should listen. When the Lord says something twice, we should listen more carefully. When the Lord says something three times, we should listen even more carefully. But when the Lord repeats something four times in the one book, then how much attention should we give to that description? I am Alpha and Omega. What does it mean? What did the Lord intend to convey to us when he said, I am Alpha and Omega? What do these words Alpha and Omega means? He's referring to the alphabet of the Greek language. And remember at that time, the Roman Empire was reaching its zenith and the commonly used language Throughout the Roman Empire was the Greek language. 24 letters in total, different from our English alphabet. In fact, the word alphabet itself is derived from the Greek language. It is the combination of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. And they brought the two together in order to give us the word alphabet, signifying the letters that make up that particular language. Well, we have the first of those letters, the alpha. And then Omega is the last letter. If we were putting it in English, we would put the A and the Z. That's what it means. It is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and it is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. And the Lord gives us that explanation in verse number 8 of chapter 1. He says, the beginning and the ending. Verse 11 of chapter 1, He adds this qualification, the first and the last. Verse 6 of chapter 21, the beginning and the end. And then in the last reference in chapter 22, the Lord puts in both explanations, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He's referring to those letters in their original context as being the first letter of the Greek alphabet and the last letter of the Greek alphabet. The first and the last. That's the context. That's the initial setting for this description. But what is the Lord's significance? What is the Lord's interpretation? Why does he use this description of himself? What was his reason for describing himself as the Alpha and the Omega? How are we to interpret this? Well, although these are Greek letters belonging to the Greek alphabet and the Greek language, they are descriptions which are Hebraisms. And by that we mean they were commonly used in ancient Hebrew communication. If you turn back to the prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 41, I want you to find something here that corresponds with this study in the book of the Revelation, Isaiah chapter 41 and the verse number 4. And the Lord is speaking through his servant Isaiah and he says in verse 4, Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning, I the Lord, the first and the last, I am He. The first and the last. Turn over to chapter 44 of Isaiah. Chapter 44 and verse number 6, Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. Look at chapter 48 of Isaiah. In verse number 12. Isaiah 48 and verse 12. Harken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called. I am he. I am the first. I also am the last. It was a familiar, a commonly used phrase in ancient Hebrew communication, the first and the last, only they would have used the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And you can see how the Lord takes that commonly used phrase and he applies it to himself when he's speaking to Israel, I am the first, I am the last. When we come to the book of the Revelation, when John is in the Isle of Patmos, a Greek island, during the time of the dynasty of the Roman Empire, The time when the gospel is reaching beyond the borders of Israel and Gentiles are being called on to Christ, the Lord appears and he speaks to his church. And what does he use? He uses the same description as he used in the Old Testament. But he applies it in the context of a Gentile audience. I am Alpha and Omega. I am the first and the last. And what is the Lord Jesus doing? He is connecting beyond all dispute the Jehovah of the Old Testament with the Jesus of the New Testament. There's a modern tendency in so-called Christian circles to try and create a difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. And it goes something like this, the God of the Old Testament is the God of law and wrath and judgment, but the God of the New Testament is the God of love and mercy. And they create this dichotomy, this division in the being of God. But in the last book of the New Testament, the Lord Jesus introduces himself with a phrase, with a description that was familiar among Hebrews in the Old Testament era. I am the first and the last. He doesn't use the Hebrew alphabet because this is not directed to the Jews, but to the Gentiles. This is going to the seven churches of Asia Minor, Gentile churches, and so the Lord simply lifts, out as it were, from the Hebrew alphabet into the Greek alphabet, in order to illustrate this great truth. I am the first and the last, the same God, who revealed himself in the Old Testament. What is Jesus saying? He is simply saying, I am Jehovah. The same God who appeared to Abraham, who appeared to Moses, who appeared to David, who appeared to Isaiah, the same God. This is the declaration of his deity when he says, I am Alpha and Omega. It is describing the infinity of God, the immensity of God, the eternality of God. The fullness of deity resides in Him. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And that can be applied In so many ways, the evidence of that claim is manifested in so many ways. He is the Alpha and Omega of creation. Look at chapter 3 of Revelation. Chapter 3 in verse number 14, writing to the church of the Laodiceans, the Lord says, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning, of the creation of God. Now the cults, and you should mark this, the cults who do not believe that Jesus is the God, they will say he is a God. They do not believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and they will always point to a beginning, when he had a beginning, and they will use this text. There you have it. He is the beginning of the creation of God. The first and highest of God's creative work was the creation of the Son, the Son of God. Thereby destroying his co-equality and his eternality as the second person of the Godhead. But remember when you come to this verse 14, remember how the Lord introduces himself in chapter 1. He says, I am the first and the last. I am the beginning and the ending. I am the alpha and the omega. What does he mean? He is the beginning of creation. He is the beginner of creation. That's what it means. He is the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth. He is the Alpha of creation, the beginning, the first cause, the one who brought it into existence. He is the Alpha and Omega of creation. He is the Alpha and the Omega of time. The fullness of all time is in Christ. Chapter 1 and verse 8. He says here, these, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come. And those are the three parts to time, past, present, future. And when the Lord describes himself as the one which is, which was, and which is to come, what he is saying is he is outside of time. He is not related by time. He is the eternal God. All time, the fullness of all time is in Him. He is the first and the last. He's the beginning and the ending. He is the one who created time itself. You and I are restricted by time. We are creatures of time. We had a beginning. Our whole life revolves around time, creatures of time. But Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. He created time because he's outside of it. And he will bring time to its end. The eternal past is his. and His is the eternal future. I am Alpha and Omega." This is the Christ of the Bible. But He's also the Alpha and Omega of power. He describes Himself in that verse 8 of chapter 1 as the Almighty. And I want you to do something when you have a little spare time. I want you to read through the book of the Revelation and find how many times The word Almighty is used. One of those times it is translated as omnipotent. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. But all the other times it's translated as Almighty. And you take a little time and go through the book of the Revelation and discover how many times the word, the description, Almighty, occurs. And the number of times it's used is significant in itself. But the word Almighty means to have dominion over all. because of his power and authority. He is the one to whom all power is given. He has authority over all, whom none can resist, whether men or angels or devils. He is the Almighty. He is the Omnipotent. Think of this, when he says, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, None can stand against Him. None can resist Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Powerful, the One who has dominion over all. That's what this phrase signifies. You can think of Him also as the Alpha and Omega of His law. He is the Lawgiver. He created the law. He is its origin. But he's also its end if you turn to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 and verse number 10. The Apostle Paul uses the word end here in the sense that Christ is the fulfillment. He says here in verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. In other words, He is the fulfillment. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He is the one who gave the law, and He is the one who has fulfilled the law, completed the law, in all of its demands, where we have failed, He has succeeded. He's the Alpha and the Omega. That same law that He gave to rule us, to direct us, which we have broken, and now that law condemns us. He is the fulfillment of that law for our justification. He's the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. And that makes Him the Alpha and the Omega of our salvation, our salvation from sin, our redemption from the curse of the law, is Christ alone, the Alpha and the Omega. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 2. This is the same thought. The Lord says, I am the first and I am the last. Paul says, looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, the author and the finisher of our faith. We're coming very close to the 500th anniversary. of William Tyndale's translation of the Greek New Testament in English. First time that the Bible was translated from the original Greek into English, 500 years ago. And William Tyndale, 500 years ago exactly, was in preparation of that work. And when he came to the Greek word here that's translated author, He had great difficulty. He wrestled with it. How he would translate this? How this would be best translated? What word could he come up with? And he pondered a long time before he made his final translation. And he wrote it like this, looking on to Jesus, the beginner. of our faith and the finisher of our faith. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. You can take that in an objective sense. The faith that we believe, the body of truth, that we believe and rest upon for our salvation. Jesus is the beginner and the finisher. He's the first and the last. He's the sum and the substance. Our salvation rests on Him, looks to Him alone. But it can also be looked at in a subjective way. That faith, that act of believing on Christ originates with Him. He is the beginner of our faith. There was a time when we did not believe, a time when our hearts were at enmity with Him. But then He wrought within us that good work. He planted that seed of faith, saving faith, the gift of God, the operation of the Spirit of God. He is the beginner. Some people have this idea that man has a little spark inside of him, naturally, and all it needs is to be fanned up, and he will believe. The Bible teaches that men have not faith. They cannot believe, because they do not have that seed of faith within them. The Lord Jesus is the beginner. He's the Alpha of our faith, and he's also the Omega. He's the one who will complete it. He will bring it to everlasting glory. What a wonderful description this is. And the evidence of this is seen in so many ways, the Alpha and the Omega. But I want you to notice how it's used in the actual book of the Revelation itself. In chapter 1 and verse 8, we have the first mention of this phrase, Alpha and Omega, in which the Lord reveals himself in his deity. He is life itself. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, which is to come, the Almighty. He is life itself. And outside of him there is no life. The second time that he uses the description, it is in reference to the Word of Life. Verse 11, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book. And now that life is communicated to us in written form. And the foundation of our faith is the Word of God. given by the Alpha and Omega, what did Jesus—what is that title that's given to him by John in his gospel? In the beginning was the Word. And what is a Word made up of? It's made up of letters. And Jesus said, I am Alpha and Omega. He is the Word. And now he says to John, I want you to write my word and send it to the churches. Turn to chapter 21 and verse 6, and you'll find the third reference of this description. What is it connected with? It's connected with the gift of life. Verse 6, he said, "'Onto me it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life,' really. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the life. And he has revealed that life by his Word. And when you open the Word and you read the Word, what do you read about? You read about the gift of life. that is found in Christ alone. And then you come to chapter 22 and verse number 14. And this time, the reference is used in relation to the right to life. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life. that they may have the right, that they may have the authority to the tree of life. This is symbolic language, the water of life, the tree of life, but it's referring to the fact that this life, which He is the source of, revealed to us in His Word, is a gift And when he gives it to us, then we have the authority, we have the right to enter in through the gates into the city of God. He's the Alpha and the Omega. And there's so many other ways that we could develop that. You think of it in terms of letters and words. Letters make up words, and words make up sentences, and it's by sentences that knowledge is communicated and conveyed. Turn over to Colossians chapter 3. We were in this epistle last Sunday night, in which Paul is magnifying the person of the Lord Jesus. He is all and in all. And you could say this, he's all knowledge, he's all wisdom. He's the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. Look what he says in chapter 2 of Colossians, chapter 2 and verse 3. Speaking of the Lord Jesus, he says, In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Where will you get true knowledge and true wisdom? Not in the universities of this world. The Alpha and the Omega is Jesus Christ. It's knowing Him. He is the source of all truth. He is the sum of all truth. And the treasures, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him. He's the Alpha and the Omega. Well, how do we apply that? How do we apply that to ourselves? If Jesus says he is the Alpha and Omega, then we must make him so in a practical way. Some begin not with Christ, but with themselves, with the church, with the law. But listen to what he says, I am Alpha. I'm the beginning. Our salvation must begin with him, by looking to him as the source of life, the origin of the gift of life, eternal life that comes from God. He is the first. He's the Alpha. But he's also the last. He's the Omega. there's some who begin with Christ, but then they try to finish without him. And they try to make it along the path of holiness and the path of faith by themselves. Having begun in the Spirit, they try to perfect themselves in the flesh. But listen, he says, I am Alpha and Omega. He is the first and the last. He must be the beginning and the ending, the beginning of our salvation and the ending of our salvation. It must be all him, all him. And if he is the Alpha and the Omega of our salvation, then he must be the Alpha and the Omega of our heart, our heart's affections, the first and the last. We must love him first, and we must love him to the very end. And when the Lord is Alpha and Omega of our hearts, when he is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, then our love for all others will find its rightful place. Love for spouse, love for offspring, love for family, love for friends and neighbors. All those other manifestations of love will find their rightful place when He is first and last, when He is the Alpha and the Omega. And the reason why you have so many problems in society is because others take that place that belonged to Him. He says, I am Alpha and Omega. This is His message to the church. I'm convinced more than ever, I'm convinced more than ever, that it's the very same message needed today as was needed back then when this letter was first, or this book was first written. The Lord is still saying the very same to his church today. He must be the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending. Is the Lord the Alpha and the Omega to our hearts today? That's the application. That's the question. And when the Lord is Alpha and Omega, then what a difference that will make.