What the Bible says about Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega
(From Forerunner Commentary)
This verse marks which member of the Elohim Family is the Creator God. He is Yahweh Elohim, the Lord God. The entry in Strong's for “Jehovah” (Yahweh) reads: “(the) self-Existent or Eternal: Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:—Jehovah, the Lord.” Zodhiates says of Yahweh, “The covenant name of God most prominently known in connection with His relationship with the nation of Israel.”
From the Bible, we see that Christ is the Creator God (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16) and that the Creator God is Yahweh—the God of the Old Testament. Therefore, it follows that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament.
As further confirmation, notice two verses:
» “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last.'” (Isaiah 44:6)
» “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, 'These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life.'” (Revelation 2:8; see also Revelation 1:11, 17; 22:13)
Yahweh of the Old Testament and Christ of the New refer to themselves as “the First and the Last” because both are the same self-existent, eternal Being.
Pat Higgins
The God of the Old Testament
Verses 4-8 comprise an extended greeting to the seven churches in Asia (later specifically named in verse 11, as well as in chapters 2 and 3). As the human author of the book, John includes himself as a sender of the greeting, but the bulk of it reemphasizes the real authors: God the Father, shown as eternal and sovereign, and Jesus Christ, extolled as "the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth" (verse 5).
John ensures that we understand that Jesus is the same One who exhibited His love for us by sacrificing Himself for the forgiveness of our sins and made possible our future glorification (verses 5-6). In verse 8, he carries the identification even farther by quoting Jesus' own words: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,' says the Lord, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'" Lest we misunderstand, John makes certain that there is no doubt that Jesus is the Lord of the Old Testament, the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6; 41:4), the Almighty God, who "declar[es] the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure'" (Isaiah 46:10). This extensive greeting certifies, not only that the prophecy has its source in God, but also that it will come to pass.
The greeting also includes "from the seven Spirits who [or which] are before [the Father's] throne" (verse 4), a quite controversial phrase. Commentators are divided among four interpretations, which can be summarized as angelic, symbolic, mystical, and Trinitarian. Understandably, the Trinitarian view—that "the seven Spirits" identifies a so-called Third Person of the Trinity—has the support of most Catholics and Protestants. Their primary reason centers on the fact that this phrase appears between greetings from God the Father and the Son of God. They contend that this phrase refers to the sevenfold description of the Spirit of the Lord in Isaiah 11:2.
The book of Revelation itself identifies the seven Spirits as equivalent to the Lamb's "seven eyes, which are . . . sent out into all the earth" (Revelation 5:6). These "seven eyes" probably allude to Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10, where they are shown to be "upon the stone," a symbol of the Branch or Messiah, and directly described as "the eyes of the LORD which scan [or rove] to and fro throughout the whole earth." In addition, Revelation 3:1 states Christ "has [or possesses] the seven Spirits of God," and Revelation 4:5 calls them "seven lamps of fire . . . burning before the throne."
This may indeed be a description of the Holy Spirit, not as a "Person" somehow divided into seven parts, but as a seven-branched conduit of God's communication to the seven churches mentioned earlier in the verse. Thus, John includes "the seven Spirits" as a source of the prophecy to specify how it was imparted to the seven churches. The apostle Paul pens a similar greeting in II Corinthians 13:14, in which he writes of "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit," meaning that God's Spirit is the means by which Christians can have a relationship with God.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The All-Important Introduction to RevelationRelated Topics: Alpha and the Omega | Firstborn from the Dead | Holy Spirit | Jesus Christ as Firstborn from the Dead | Jesus Christ as King of Kings | Jesus Christ as Lord of Lords | Jesus Christ as Messiah | Jesus Christ as Revelator of God | Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega | Jesus Christ as the Beginning and End | Jesus Christ as the Branch | Revelation | Revelation of Jesus Christ | Revelation, Seven Churches of | Revelation, Symbols of | Seven Candlesticks | Seven Churches of Revelation | Seven Eyes | Seven Lamps | Seven Spirits | Trinity
In Revelation 2-3, Jesus leaves a few clues about the letters' primary application:
» Revelation 2:16 (to Pergamos): Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. (Emphasis ours throughout.)
» Revelation 2:25 (to Thyatira): But hold fast what you have till I come.
» Revelation 3:3 (to Sardis): Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
» Revelation 3:10-11 (to Philadelphia): Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon all the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
» Revelation 3:20 (to Laodicea): Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Now notice Revelation 2:23 in the letter to Thyatira: “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.”
As the italicized phrases in the first five passages show, each an admonition to a different church, the similarity is that He mentions His imminent return directly or strongly alludes to it. Then, Revelation 2:23 more than implies that “all the churches” exist at the same time. Understood in tandem with the first five passages, Revelation 2:23 reveals that “all the churches”—all seven—are not scattered over long eras of time but exist together at the end time!
This understanding parallels the reality of the seven churches in the first century. When the apostle John wrote Revelation, they all existed simultaneously in the western portion of Asia Minor (today's Turkey). Ancient Roman documents record they were all stops on the same circuitous mail route through that region.
John records Jesus Christ saying of Himself in Revelation 1:11:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
The book of Revelation, like a letter carried along a mail route, was to be sent to all seven churches at the same time. It is unlikely that the apostle sent it through the postal system of the day but had it hand-delivered by one or more of his companions. This verse confirms that the seven churches existed concurrently in the first century.
John W. Ritenbaugh
A Truth About Revelation 2 and 3