Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ
Revelation 1:8
Revelation 1:8 “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.”
Reading Revelation is like drinking from a fire hose. Every
word, every moment, every jot and tittle, count, with John and Jesus in
Revelation.
As soon as John announces, Behold
He is coming, in verse seven, he
launches straight into the words of Jesus in verse eight.
I AM the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning
and the End…
Opening with those words is not only powerful, but also
personal, intimate, and comforting—a familiar phrase used to reunite fast
friends.
Remember, John, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, opened the
gospel after his name (John), with similar words:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God, John
1:1. And then, John
13:1 says: He (Jesus) loved them to the very end.
Alpha and
Omega. Jesus is our ever-present Friend—from beginning to, and
through, the end. Amen.
When John heard those familiar words, I AM, it must’ve triggered
multiple memories of Jesus. John wrote about them throughout his gospel:
1)
“I am the bread of life.” (John
6:35, 41, 48, 51)
2)
“I am the light of the world.” (John
8:12)
3)
“I am the door of the sheep.” (John
10:7,9)
4)
“I am the resurrection and the
life.” (John
11:25)
5)
“I am the good shepherd.” (John
10:11, 14)
6)
“I am the way, the truth, and the
life.” (John
14:6)
7)
“I am the true vine.” (John
15:1, 5)
And not only are these words a sweet reminder of Jesus, in the
flesh, but a proclamation that He is indeed, Almighty God, The Great I AM, as
introduced to Moses at the burning bush; the One who spoke the universe into
existence.
Jesus repeats these powerful words to John throughout
Revelation:
1) I am the Alpha and the Omega: who is, and who was, and who is to come,
the Almighty (Revelation
1:8).
2) I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I
am alive forevermore (Revelation
1:17-18).
3) I am He who searches the minds and hearts (Revelation
2:23).
4) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation
21:6).
5) I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation
22:16).
Alpha and Omega…
Just uttering the words, I AM,
was a powerful introduction; however, Jesus didn’t stop there. The next phrase
out of His mouth painted a picture that will take an entire lesson to explain,
and an eternity to understand.
Alpha is the
first letter of the Greek alphabet (Α; α). It means; first, dominant.
Omega is the
last letter Ω; ω. It means; great O.
The phrase, “alpha and omega” is where
we get our phrase, “everything from A to Z.”
However, it’s meaning is much
deeper, much more profound. It
originated from the Hebrew saying, “aleph and tav” which is the first
and last letters of Hebrew alphabet.
According to Rabbinical writings,
every Hebrew letter, every stoke of the pen, every jot and tittle, is Divinely
designed to paint a picture, to tell a story.
Jesus said in Matthew
5:18 until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will
pass from the law, until all is fulfilled.
As you may already know, a jot or
tittle, is the smallest strokes of the pen. Like dotting an, i, adding
an apostrophe, crossing a, t. A dot, a dagesh, in Hebrew.
Aleph (also
spelled alef) is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
According to Jewish teaching it
means: Master, Teacher, Wonderous. This coincides with their belief in a 6,000
year Creation Calendar.
From Adam to Abraham represents
the first 2,000 years, where man was master. And, as the story goes,
Adam taught all the animals to bow before God. And of course, Noah, saved the
animals, on the arc.
From Abraham to Messiah, the
second, 2,000 years represents the years of the Teacher, Torah, (the
law). Abraham learned about circumcision, sacrifice and tithing…the laws of God were written on the heart, long before written in stone.
The last 2,000, are the Wonderous,
years of Messiah. Yet, they don’t recognize, Jesus as the One who fits
perfectly in this timeframe. As this 2,000 year era draws to a close
Jews are expecting the appearance of the Messiah, just like, 2,000 years ago,
at the beginning of this era. Which will make them easily deceived, by
antichrist. But remember our last study, we saw how they will eventually see
Him Who they pierced, and recognize Him…and morn.
Jewish children are taught that
each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is by Divine Design and each letter tells a
story, teaches a lesson. Many don’t see it, but by Divine Design, these stories
all point to Jesus.
The aleph is actually three
separate letters.
The letter yud or little jot
above; a yud or jot below; and a diagonal vav, or line suspended
in the middle.
A Jewish website, Chabad.org,
states:
“The
yud above represents G d, Who is above (or beyond) our comprehension. In
comparison to His true essence, our understanding is a mere dot.
The
yud below represents a Yid or Yehudim—Jewish people who dwell on earth.
The only way we can grasp G d’s wisdom—to the extent that a person is
capable—is by being humble. When we realize that we are but a dot or a speck
compared to the All-Mighty and All-Powerful G d, we become a vessel to receive
His Divine wisdom.”
This school of thought agrees with New
Testament Scripture. Jesus tells in Matthew 23:12; whoever
exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 1 Peter 5:6 Humble
yourself under the Mighty Hand of God and He will lift you up, in due season. James
4:6 teaches, God resists the proud and gives grace to humble.
Vav.
Here’s where it gets interesting; where Jesus comes into the
picture.
The Jews teach that the diagonal
line, the vav, represents their faith and/or the Torah,
(Word) and is what unites them with God.
Once again, this school of
thought agrees with Scripture—they just don’t know how much.
Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God, Romans
10:17.
The Word (Jesus) became
flesh and dwelt among us, John
1:14.
Jesus the only Mediator
between God and man (1
Tim. 2:5), hung between heaven and hell, to reconcile us back to
our Father (Colossians
1:19-20).
Only most Jews don’t see (yet)
that Jesus Christ, their Messiah, connects the dots and jots, and unites them
with their Father.
We must not forget, their blindness,
is temporary, for our sake.
Romans 11:25-26 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness
in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel will be
saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And
He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
Some day, in that day,
they will see the One they pierced, recognize Him, and mourn.
In that Light, does, the aleph,
resemble the shape of something, leaning forward, pointing toward a hill called
Calvary?
…the place where Jesus, said, “It
is Finished.”
Which brings us to the, tav.
Tav…
The twenty-second, and last,
letter of the Hebrew calendar, is tav. It is made up of two letters; a dalet,( ד) and a
nun(
ן).
The dot, in the middle is called, dagesh; inserted for emphasis.
Now watch how God, ties it all together.
The
two letters that make up the tav; spell the name, Dan. Dan was the last
tribe to pack up in Israel’s wilderness wanderings and the last to
receive their inheritance.
Dan would
see what others left behind. Good or bad. You can tell (judge) a
lot about a person by picking up their trash.
Dan means judge. Coincidence?
Or yet another Devine lesson by Providence?
As we studied in verse seven, Behold He is coming, all will see Him, even those who pierced Him…will mourn because
of Him.
At the end of this age, the end
of the Tribulation, and at the Great White Throne, Jesus is coming as Judge.
 |
| Timeline by permission. Pastor Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Chapel |
One last personal observation,
relevant to our text, and to the current events of today.
Omega…NOT omicron
When omicron was named, folks thought
it meant, the end. But they confused omicron, the 15th letter of the
Greek alphabet, with Omega, the last (24th), letter.
Because of that confusion, I did
a little research. They both do the job of the letter o. Omicron makes the
short vowel sound and Omega makes the long o sound. O-mega means great O;
whereas, o-micron, by definition, means little o.
Who cares? What does that have to
do with our Bible study?
That’s what I thought. But as I
researched, I heard a lesson from the Lord.
He who has ears, hear what the
Spirit is saying to the Church.
When naming the invisible enemy
variants, the WHO followed the Greek alphabet; alpha, beta, gamma, delta…but
then they skipped Nu and Xi and went to omicron. They didn’t want folks to
think nu, meant new. And (for some strange reason) they didn’t want to
offend the Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping.
Omicron was named out of line, out of place. Flaunted as Omega, feared like Omega…tried to be raised to a throne not its own, like the invisible enemy of our soul tried to do. It is being manipulated and used as a little imposter, a tool, of a deceptive fear fueled agenda, to take eyes off Almighty Omega and onto little omicron.
There is an agenda that has nothing to do with finding a cure or a vaccine for the virus. It has a goal to manipulate the masses by injecting fear.
God’s goal is Love; which casts out all fear.
The only other research I did was
at the very beginning, when it was still called the Novel Corona virus.
Novel; means, new. Corona; means, crown. Put it together and you get, New
Crown.
As soon as I discovered that, I sensed,
there would be a new crown. Not in a good way. At that time, we were in the
midst of a heated battle for the presidency.
Note: Three years
to the day, from Trump’s inauguration, was confirmation of
America’s very first coronavirus case.
The Word, still speaks. God’s not dead. He’s still reaching, speaking, revealing, to us, here and now, today. Day by day, line upon line, precept upon precept, the headlines are unfolding History. Isaiah 28:10.
Whoever has ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Revelation 1:8 ends
with a powerful word: Παντοκράτωρ (Pantokratōr). It’s only used ten times in the entire New
Testament. Nine of those times is in Revelation. It paints a powerful picture
of what we’re about to see.
We’ll discuss that and more, next week as we see Jesus, through the eyes of John.
I love you.
More importantly, Jesus loves
you.
I will never leave you or forsake
you (Deuteronomy 31:6). Our
loving God is an ever-present help in time of need (Psalm 46:1).
Hebrews
12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author (Alpha) and finisher
(Omega) of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
Philippians 1:6 He who
began (Alpha) a good work in you will complete (Omega) it, until the day of
Christ Jesus.
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