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December 19, 2001
Advent #3
Revelation 1:8
Pastor Joel Zank

Jesus Christ is the Alpha & Omega!

(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."

In Christ Jesus whose name spells salvation, dear fellow redeemed,

"Class, line up!" Do you remember hearing that in school? I do. It seems like we were always lining up for something. We would line up to go out to recess or for lunch. We would line up to use the bathroom or to get on the bus. I never minded lining up. I was pretty quick as a child. I could position myself at the front of nearly line, unless, of course, after telling us to lineup, the teacher would add those three dreaded words, "...in alphabetical order." When your last name is Zank that's about the worst thing you can hear. Do you know how much of my life I've spent standing in line? It's given me plenty of time to think about changing my name. I've actually considered just dropping the Z. Instead of Zank, I'd be Ank. I would go from being last to first just like that.

That would be quite a trick wouldn't it! But it's nothing compared to what God has done with his name. I could be last or first in the alphabet. But God is both at the same time. That's what it says in our text. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Alpha and Omega, what kind of name is that? As we shall see tonight, it's a title that among other things means that Jesus' name is to be the first word in worship and is to be the last word on faithfulness.

It is St. John who reports the mystery of Christ's birth in such a unique way. He says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). Jesus whose birthday we will soon celebrate is the living Word of God. It seems so fitting that One who is called the Word should choose to identify himself with the first and last letters of an alphabet.

The Greek letter Alpha tells us that Jesus is first. He comes before everything else. He even comes before time, meaning that Jesus is eternal. Moses says in Psalm 90: "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God" (Psalm 90:2). No one other than our Triune God can claim to be eternal. Therefore there is no other God. Our Lord says in Isaiah 43: "Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me" (Isaiah 43:10b). Again he says in Isaiah 44 "I am the first and I am the last, apart from me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6).

As our eternal God, Jesus is completely independent. He relies on no one else for his existence. We on the other hand owe our very lives to him. Paul says in Colossians 1, "For by him all things were created...He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17).

As people who are completely dependent on Jesus, the living Word of God, we are to give him first place in our lives. In fact he insists on this, saying through the Prophet Isaiah, "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:8). He whose very name is Alpha demands that his name be the first word in our worship. His is to be the first name on our lips each morning as we acknowledge that the new day is his creation. His is the name that we are to call upon, asking for his blessings on the day so that we do not live it in vain. His is the name to be praised for providing us with food and shelter and everything else we need to stay alive. The name of Jesus is to be credited for our every success; and to be shared with everyone we know and meet. This is what Jesus demands. This is what he deserves.

But it isn't what he gets. Oh his name is often the first thing that comes to our lips, but in the form of cursing rather than praise. We call on him for help, but so often only as a last resort. We don't think to credit him for the good that comes into our lives, but how quick we are to blame him for the troubles and sorrows caused by our sin. Jesus doesn't take first place in our lives. Most days he doesn't even finish a distant second. But that doesn't seem to bother us.

Isn't it something how we can go about our lives often oblivious to the shabby way in which we treat our God. But be summoned into his presence and everything changes. Just ask the Apostle John. In the last book of Scripture, John comes face to face with our God. The Lord's bright holiness exposes the sinner's every damning fault and John faints away, melting in fear. He says: "When I saw [the Lord], I fell at his feet as though dead." Tonight God's law summons us into the Lord's holy presence. The commandments accuse and convict us of our sin and, then, they condemns us, reminding us that we're not getting away with anything. The words of our text come leaping out at us. He who demands first place in our lives is eternal, he is and was and is to come. He's here every moment to see the sin going on in our lives and when all is said and done, he's going to be around to do something about it, having the power to do something about it. For he is as it says, "the Almighty" who with wave of his hand can banish sinners to hell forever. No wonder John fainted.

But the punishment John feared, the punishment he knew he deserved never came. Instead he tells us, "Then [the Lord] placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last'" (Revelation 1:17). What an amazing thing! Jesus' name, Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, isn't meant to destroy us. It's meant to do away with our fear of sin's punishment. How we need to hear this name!

Because of the sin that we have inherited and the sin we commit, we human beings are subject to a fleeting present, an irretrievable past and a dark future. We can't go back an undo yesterday's sin. We can't unburden ourselves of the guilt we carry this moment. We can't prevent the hurt and pain sin will cause us tomorrow. But what we cannot do for ourselves, God has graciously chosen to do for us. He is eternal, he was and is and is to come. It boggles the mind, but that makes it no less true. Our God occupies the past, present and future all at once. Before our world was created, before our first parents or we ever sinned, God put in place a plan to rescue us from hell. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, "[God] chose us in [Jesus] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace..." (Ephesians 1:4-6).

Consider the comfort and encouragement that is ours in Jesus' name, Alpha and Omega. As one who is First, who is before all things, he was there to plan our salvation. As one who is eternal, his plans do not change. God himself tells us in Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" You and I are influenced by so many things. Our thinking depends on the changing circumstances of life and is often swayed by sin's temptations. We change our minds all the time. But not God. He's not influenced by sin. His plans aren't affected by time. He uses time to accomplish his purposes. That's what Christmas is all about. For a brief period of human history the eternal Son of God stepped into time to carry out his eternal plan. Every moment he spent here was devoted to our salvation. He lived for us. He died for us. He rose for us. It was all for us.

Nothing can change this, not the passing of time, not our sin, not even our lack of appreciation for what God has done for us. For you see, God's faithfulness doesn't depend on us in any way. Speaking of his plan of salvation, God once told Israel "For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last" (Isaiah 48:11-12). Here Jesus is telling us that his name is to be considered last word on faithfulness. Jesus is faithful to us, because he's faithful to his name. He's Alpha and Omega, the one who finished what he begins. The New Testament Scriptures tell us the same thing. Paul says to Timothy, "...if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). God does not flip back and forth, one moment offering us sinners forgiveness and the next moment withdrawing his offer. His love is constant. His desire to have us in heaven is unwavering.

This, of course, does not mean that we sinners cannot forfeit God's saving blessings. We can and we do walk away from the grace he offers us all the time to our great shame and eternal danger. But for his name's sake Jesus calls us back to his promises again and again. He does so tonight. His name spells faithfulness. He will not let that name be defamed. So the days, months and years that lie wasted and ruined by the sins of our past, God declares them forgiven by virtue of Christ's sacrifice as our substitute on the cross. The sin is gone and so it the guilt. We no longer need to carry it. And Our reputation? It couldn't be better. We're holy in God's sight. Christ's perfection is ours through the faith God has given us. And our future? It's bright! For our timeless God is already there, taking sin's hurts and pain and making them a blessing to us before they even occur. Even death will not separate us from him who is the Resurrection and the Life.

With past sins forgiven and future blessings guaranteed, we're left with the present, the here and now. What will we do with it? I know! We will fill it with praise! This is our time to thank our God with words and actions. It's our time to praise him by making his name first in our worship, calling on him at the start of each new day, looking to his Word for strength, pleading for his forgiveness in prayer and trusting that is ours for the best reason of all, because his name is the last word on faithfulness.

As we live each day in his grace and by his power, before you know it the last day will be upon us. I can see it now, we'll be lined up at heaven's gate, no doubt in alphabetical order. But that won't matter for whether we are first or last in line, together with one voice we will shout eternal praises to him who has planned and carried out our salvation from beginning to end. All glory be to Alpha and Omega now and forever. Amen.