Alpha and Omega
/Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:13
“Of the Father’s love begotten ere the worlds began to be.
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, and ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore.”[i][i]
As we approach another Day of the LORD, its Sunday, the 1st Sunday in Advent. It’s during Advent that the Christian Church makes its preparations to meet and greet the coming One from God who is this world’s Lord and Savior.
Now the manger looks like the beginning of the story of Jesus Christ, but it isn’t. The events surrounding our salvation go back even beyond the beginning of history, beyond the Creation of the world, to the eternal plan of God and to the Son of God who was there before the beginning, and who came when the time was right to make possible a new beginning for all who trust in Him.
Likewise, the cross looks like the end of the “story” of Jesus Christ, but it isn’t. Risen from the dead, He lives and reign eternally. And because He died and rose for us, story too doesn’t end at death, but finds its ultimate end –its goal (that is), in Him.
The record of our salvation, therefore, is bigger than Advent and Christmas… even bigger than Christmas and Good Friday and Easter all taken together. It’s a true story that finds its beginning before the beginning of anything else, and its ending beyond the end of everything else –a real story that finds its source and its conclusion in the One who once entered time for us, to be born as we are and for our sakes, to die as we do and in our behalf, and to be raised as we shall be –the ever-living Christ.
From first to last, from then to now to all eternity, therefore let Him be the object of our praise, the center of our attention, and the focus of our life. This we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
[i][i] A Hymn whose words were written by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens; based on I Timothy 3:16; Revelation 1:8; John 1:1; and Philippians 2:11. Found in the Lutheran Service Book # 384