Skip to main content

Alpha And Omega


I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 
                                                                                      (Revelation 22:13)
Alpha, Omega, First, Last, Beginning and End
          Have you ever been involved in something, and had someone who was there at the beginning of the project walk out? Give up? Have you ever been involved in something and had someone show up half way through and take control without having any idea what had happened before? Sometimes those departures or arrivals are for the better, but in today's passage we find Someone who started it all out, and will see it through to the end. In fact, He has seen it through to the end, because He's outside of time and we are  with Him then as now, even though our current self doesn't experience that reality yet.
         Because of recent shifts in meaning, "Alpha" tends to have a negative connotation. It's a hard-driving, ruthless, all business, control mentality. Part of that is because we've encountered alpha types who think they're God, and part of that is because we don't like the fact they're taking godhood away from us. The good news is that even though we must give up our godhood to Jesus, His Godhood isn't hard-edges and rough cut. He is not the raw material, He is the finished "product" (and always has been.) Not just the Alpha, but also the Omega.[1]



[1] I do not mean this to suggest that He has undergone a process that has changed him into something better than He started out. He always has been the finished product. The comparison is not between Jesus as Alpha and Jesus as Omega, but between human Alphas who never become Omegas, but always remain the same hard-edged and rough cut, unfinished product.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...