December 30 - Revelation. God.

December 30 – Revelation. God.

In Revelation 1:8, God is identified in three separate phrases. First, He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” Next, He is the One “who is, and who was, and who is to come.” Finally, He is “the Almighty.”

Let’s start with the Alpha and the Omega. In the Greek language, these are the first and last letters of the alphabet. For me, the is immense. Between these two – the beginning and the end - lie all of the necessary letters to create words. The Word of God (Jesus Christ) is what God spoke when He brought creation into existence.

John 1:1 says that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” God is the first and last letter of all things that are words. The Word that spoke us into existence. The Alpha and Omega is more than just the beginning and end of time. The spoken Word, encompassed by the Alpha and the Omega is creation itself.

When God says that He is the One “who is, who was and who is to come,” this is a repetition from Revelation 1:4. Do you remember the basic parts of your English language lessons? I’ll never forget “is, are, was, were, am, be, been.” In French, the first thing I learned was the verb ‘to be.’

In Exodus 3:14, God identifies Himself as “I Am.” Jews still can not name Him. He is too great. Jehovah or Yahweh. We’ve added vowels to a word that is made only of consonants (YHWH). God is greater than any word can contain.

Sometimes I think we’ve gotten too comfortable with God. The Israelites couldn’t contain Him. He traveled with them as a pillar of fire or cloud. When He came to them, they had to take precautions before approaching Him or they would be destroyed.

Jesus acts as a bridge to give us immediate access to God, but we reduce Him to the beginnings of curse words or see Him as a doddering old man who can no longer wield His staff of authority over the world. Are we in awe as we come into His presence?

God told Moses that none could see Him and live. We still can’t see Him, but when Jesus died and the curtain to the Holy of Holies was split, we were finally allowed to present ourselve before Him. We come before Him with awe.

God’s identification as “The Almighty” is an Old Testament title. We see Abram face down before El-Shaddai in Genesis 17:1-8. El = God, Shaddai = Almighty. The root word ‘shad’ translates as ‘breast.’ A mother’s breast is all-sufficient for her child’s nourishment. God is all-sufficient for His people. God Almighty is all-sufficient for His creation.

God is the Alpha and Omega, who, through the Word, spoke Creation into existence.

God is the one who is, who was and who is to come. He is timeless, before creation, He is present now and will be here long after we cease to exist on earth.

God is the Almighty. He is our all-sufficient provider.