Alpha and Omega

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Revelation 22:9

Then said he to me, See you do it not: for I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers the prophets…

I. Bring certain truths to the text.

1. Our Lord may well be described as the Alpha and Omega in the sense of rank. He is Alpha, the first, the chief, the foremost, the first-born of every creature, the eternal God. But though our blessed Lord is thus Alpha — the first — He was once in His condescension made Omega, the last. Marshal the creatures of God in their order, in the dread day when Jesus hangs upon the Cross, and you must put Him for misery, for weakness, for shame as the last, the Omega.

2. Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega in the book of Holy Scripture.

3. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the great law of God. The law of God finds not a single letter in human nature to meet its demands. You and I are neither Alpha nor Omega to the law, for we have broken it altogether. We have not even learned its first letter — "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and certain I am we know but very little of the next — "thy neighbour as thyself." But if you would see the law fulfilled, look to the person of our blessed Lord and Master.

II. Now we will take the text itself, and show what are THE TRUTHS WHICH WE ASSUREDLY BELIEVE TO BE IN IT.

1. Our Lord Jesus is Alpha and Omega in the great alphabet of being. Reckon existences in their order, and you begin — "In the beginning was the Word." Proceed to the conclusion. What then? What is the Omega? Why assuredly Jesus Christ would still be "God over all, blessed for ever. Amen."

2. Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega in the alphabet of creating operations. Who was it that began to make? Not an angel, for the angel must first be made. Did matter create itself? Was there an effect without a cause? It is contrary to our experience and our reason to believe any such thing. The first cause stands first, and the first cause is God in the Divine Trinity, the Son being one Person of that Trinity. He is Alpha because His hand first of all winged angelic spirit, and made His ministers a flame of fire. As He alone began, so His power maintains the fabric of creation; all things consist by Him. If this world shall be rolled up like a worn-out vesture, He shall roll it up; if the stars shall wither, it shall be at Jesu's bidding. He shall do it all, even until the end shall come, for He is Omega as well as Alpha.

3. Christ is Alpha and Omega in all covenant transactions. Everywhere the Lord Jesus is to be considered not as the friend of a day, or our Saviour only in His life on earth, but as the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, the anointed Mediator set up from everlasting days.

4. Jesus Christ is certainly Alpha and Omega in all salvation work as it becomes apparent in act and deed. If you have been led to know your own emptiness — if you have received from His Spirit a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness, go not to the law; look not within; but come to the Alpha, drink and be satisfied. If, on the other hand, life is near its close; if you have been preserved in holiness; if you have been kept in righteousness, remember still to trust in the Omega; for these words follow — "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son."

III. A FEW THINGS WHICH FLOW OUT OF THE TEXT.

1. Sinner, saint, let Jesus be Alpha and Omega to thee to-day in thy trust.

2. If you have trusted Him, let Him be Alpha and Omega in your love.

3. Surely He should be the Alpha and Omega of our life's end and aim. What is there worth living for but Christ?

4. He should be the Alpha and Omega of all our preaching and teaching. If you leave out Christ, you have left the sun out of the day, and the moon out of the night; you have left the waters out of the sea, and the floods out of the river; you have left the harvest out of the year, the soul out of the body; you have left joy out of heaven, yea, you have robbed all of its all.

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