LENT 2023 - Jesus Said: I Am The Alpha and The Omega, Part I

LENT 2023 - Jesus Said: I Am The Alpha and The Omega, Part I

Monday March 20, 2023

 

I love beginnings: the beginnings of books and movies, concerts and sports games, holidays and trips - the beginnings of new studies, new jobs, new relationships. There is so much, well, precisely “newness” and freshness, expectancy and curiosity, hope and delight in things that are about to start. 

 

And I pretty much hate endings: the end of a good book or concert or trip often leaves me feeling somewhat deflated and longing for more - the end of a relationship leaves me sad and nostalgic. 

 

Everything in life, as we know it, has a beginning and an end. Nothing has always been - and nothing will always be. There is the “beginning” of birth… there is the “end” of death. And everything in between, at least here on earth, starts at some point in time, and concludes at another point in time. 

 

Only God, the eternal and everlasting One, is without beginning and without end. 

 

The very first words of the Bible read: “In the beginning, God… “. That is to say, when all things began, before all of creation was even created, God already existed - because in the beginning of all things, He was already there. 

 

So the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in Revelation 22:13 are so very significant:

 

“I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, 

the First and the Last, 

the Beginning and the End.”

 

In fact, they are the same words attributed to “the Lord God” in Revelation 1:8:

 

“I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA,

says the Lord God,

who is, and who was, and who is to come,

the Almighty.”

 

And they are repeated again in Revelation 21:6:

 

“… I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA,

the Beginning and the End.”

 

So, what is “Alpha” and what is “Omega”? Why these references to an expression obviously in another language?

 

Remembering that the New Testament was originally written in Greek (whereas the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic) “Alpha” and “Omega” are two Greek words. They are actually the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, respectively. 

 

And, most simply - and as two of the above references already explain - they mean the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

 

Let’s be honest: we finite human beings cannot truly grasp eternity. We can try to wrap our minds around Someone who is everlasting - that is, Someone who lasts forever and ever, who has no beginning and no end. But since all we know in our own finite existence are “beginnings” and “ends” to people and things, it’s not easy to understand a “never-beginning” and “never-ending” Someone. 

 

But that is who Jesus says He is: that Someone who is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End - in the most absolute sense of the meaning of those words. 

 

Jesus is not the Beginning as we understand beginnings, when something or someone originates and first exists. He has always been - He has always existed. He is the absolute Beginning - because everything that is, originates in and comes from Him. He has and He is the First Word, in the universe and in history.

 

And Jesus is not going to have an end as we understand endings, when something or someone ceases to be or to exist. He is eternal, and will therefore exist forever without end. He does not have an end, but He is the absolute End - that is, everything will somehow finish in Him. He has and He is the Last and final Word, in the universe and in history.

 

When Jesus states that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the greek letter “A” and the greek letter “Z”, He is also trying to communicate that He Himself is everything from A to Z. He is not just A and Z, but everything in between as well, because everything from A to Z meets together in Him. Jesus encompasses all things - that is, He incorporates and includes all things. As Colossians 1:17 reads: “He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” And Ephesians 1:10 says that one day, when the times will have reached their fulfillment, all things in heaven and on earth will be brought together under one head, even Christ.

 

Join us again in Reflexiones Para Vivir in ENGLISH on Wednesday March 22 to read LENT 2023 - JESUS SAID: I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, PART II.

 

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