Open your Bibles with me to Revelation
chapter 1. The title of the message this
morning is Christ, the Alpha, and the Omega. Alpha and Omega. This is stated in this passage,
verse 8, I am Alpha and Omega. What does that mean? Well, one
of the aspects of that term has to do with the ultimate fullness
and preeminence of Christ in all things. And that's why I
had Brother Randy read that passage in Colossians, because you might
have noticed at the conclusion of those verses that he read,
that's what it says. That the Lord Jesus Christ, in
the glory of his person, in the power of his finished work, has
the preeminence of all things, in all things, in this universe,
in every aspect of it. And we wanna look at that. Before
I get to that specifically, I wanna go back to verse four and just
lead up to it to show some of these issues of what the book
of Revelation is about. I made mention last week that
one of the most common questions that people ask when it comes
to the Book of Revelation is this, who is the Antichrist? And to be honest with you, that's
sad. It really is. Because it shows
that they really don't know the reality of the Scriptures. The
question you need to ask, as far as the Book of Revelation
is, who is the Christ? Because that's what this is,
it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And I made this point,
how it is a revelation that the Father gave to the Son, who gave
to His angel, His servant, who gave it to John. It's from Jesus
Christ. But it's also a revelation of
Jesus Christ, who He is, what He accomplished, why He did it,
where He is now. And the main issue throughout
the book of Revelation has to do with the success, the power,
the glory, the victory of Christ over all that would oppose Him,
including the spirit of Antichrist. You know, the Apostle John, to
whom this revelation was given, he said the spirit of Antichrist
was present in his day. And I hope as we continue through
this book, Lord willing, if we have the time and if the Lord
doesn't come back again, which we pray he does, that I'll show
you that this thing of Antichrist is not just one person, it's
a spirit that pervades today. The term Antichrist just means
simply against Christ. Any spirit, any group, any person
who stands against the Lord God of heaven, The Lord Jesus Christ
is Antichrist. And John says that in 1 John.
So, and in several places. But look here in verse four.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia. These are the churches
that are in Asia Minor that he mentions in chapter two and three.
Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and
which is to come. That's grace and peace from God
the Father who is eternal along with the Spirit and with the
Son, and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne,
the seven Spirits there, that's the one Holy Spirit. Described
metaphorically here by the number seven, which is the number of
completeness, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
He is complete and holy God, God the Holy Spirit. And there's
only one Holy Spirit. But there are seven aspects to
His work, and you can find this in Scripture, and we won't go
to these passages because we don't have time. But He's number
one, He's the Spirit of the Lord. That speaks of His deity. He's
fully God. He's not just a whim or an influence
or some kind of a wind blowing, even though metaphorically He
is described that way sometimes. He's a person. One God, three
distinct persons, and He's the Spirit of the Lord. Number two,
He's the Spirit of wisdom. Whatever wisdom we have that
we find by God in Christ, it's the Spirit who communicates that
wisdom to us, revealing the wisdom of God in Christ, how God can
be just and justify. And then thirdly, He's the Spirit
of understanding. The Bible says that the Son of
God hath come and given us an understanding that we may know
Him that is true and believe in Him. Well, how does He give
us that understanding? Through the Word of God and the
power of the Spirit. Number four, He's the Spirit
of counsel. He guides us as we walk through
this world as sinners saved by grace. And how does He guide
us? By the Word of God. not just by feeling or emotion,
not in dreams and visions. Now, He did that several times
in the Old Testament before the Word came together. But He guides
us by His Word. You want to know the counsel
of God? Right here it is. You've got
it right before you. Fifthly, He's the Spirit of Power.
He's the Applier of salvation and life. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation in the hands of the Holy Spirit, who
brings us to life. He gives us life from the dead,
from Christ, the resurrected life of Christ, given to us,
a new heart, a new mind. And in that spirit of power,
he convicts us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Sixthly, he's
the spirit of knowledge. We grow in grace and in knowledge
of our Savior because the Holy Spirit indwells us. And number
seven, he's the spirit of the fear of the Lord. We worship
God in the spirit and in truth. And then look at verse five,
he says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth, See, our comfort and our peace comes from the Father,
the Spirit, and the Son. And Christ is the faithful witness. If you want to know anything
about God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it comes through Christ.
You cannot know God without knowing His Son as He reveals Himself
in His Word by the power of the Spirit. Do you see how this works?
The Godhead working together. And he's a faithful witness.
He never tells a lie. Have you ever told a lie? I have. I hope I've been ashamed of it. Truly. But he never lies. He's
faithful in his work. He never missed a step in keeping
the law of God and going to the cross to bring forth a perfect
righteousness for his people. He set His face like a flint. And our salvation is based upon
His faithfulness to do what He was commissioned to do before
the world ever began. First begotten of the dead, that's
His resurrection. He died. He was buried. He arose from the dead. Why?
Because He finished the work. He completed it. He satisfied
God's justice, but He did it as my surety. My sins imputed
to Him. His righteousness imputed to
me. My substitute, He took my place on that cross. Bruised for my iniquities. Think
about it. The just for the unjust. And
He did it as my redeemer. I will sing of my Redeemer. Think about it. He bought me
lock, stock and barrel. And if you're one of His, He
bought you too. And it says in this passage,
He's the Prince of the kings of the earth. He's King of kings,
Lord of lords. He earned that right as our mediator.
And unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His
own blood. Think about it. That's the suretyship
of Christ. That's substitution. That's imputation. That's righteousness established.
It wasn't our blood that saves us. It wasn't our works. It wasn't our attempts. It's
totally, completely, exclusively the blood of Jesus Christ. And
verse six, and hath made us kings and priests. Kings in the sense
that we're victorious, like a conquering king. But we're more than conquerors
through him who loved us and gave himself for us. He's the
king of kings. Not just the earthly kings, but
his people whom he made kings in the sense that we have the
authority of the king of kings. And you know what our authority
is? I was listening to a preacher preach the other day, and somebody
asked him, What is the authority of a pastor over the congregation? And you know what his answer
was? And he was right. None. Now that flies against modern religion,
doesn't it? I mean, people in modern religion,
they treat pastors like we're CEOs of a corporation or something. I don't have any authority over
you. God has authority over you. And the only authority I have
is not my personal authority, It's as I preach the Word of
God. Now that's it. And that's the
authority of the Word. And so we're made kings, but
we're also made priests. What do you mean priest? Does
that mean we all should have funny collars? Or funny hats? Or be called brother or father?
No. Here's what it means. If you're
in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
you personally have free, full access to your Heavenly Father
in all that you do in prayer, in worship, in praise through
the blood of Jesus Christ. The veil has been rent in two
from top to bottom. The way has been made plain and
free. He is the way, He is the truth,
He is the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Jesus Christ. But we as priests unto God now
have right and title to come unto the Father by Jesus Christ. No other right. I heard a preacher say one time,
he said, well I had a bad week, thought some bad thoughts, Sounds
like my week's all the time. And he said, I just don't feel
qualified to pray. Well, I didn't say anything. But if you've had a good week,
and in yourself you might think you didn't have any bad thoughts,
you're just fooling yourself, I know that. Would that qualify
you to pray? The answer's no. The only thing
that qualifies me to pray is Christ, my Savior, the blood
and the righteousness of Christ. That's the priesthood of the
believer right there. It's not any authority you have
to interpret the Bible any way you see fit. It's our access
to God through the Son. And it says, to Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. All glory to the Son forever
and ever. No glory for us. You could say
it this way. You could say our glory is His
glory. Paul wrote, God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
look at verse seven. Behold, He cometh with clouds. What does that mean? It means
He's coming from heaven. Let me read you this scripture.
This is Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26. It says about Christ, For then
must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
He the Son of God in heaven, equal with the Father and the
Spirit, before the world ever began, made our surety, having
our sins imputed to Him, And He came to suffer because it
behooved Him. He was indebted to be made like
unto His brethren, but it says, but now once in the end of the
world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. He came from heaven. Now His
humanity appeared on earth, created for Him in the womb of the Virgin
by the Holy Spirit. But the Son of God came from
heaven, having our sins charged to Him, and He came to do what? To put away sin. By the sacrifice
of Himself. And in order to do that, He had
to unite Himself with a sinless human body and soul. That's the
incarnation of Christ. God manifests in the flesh. And
it goes on in Hebrews 9 and verse 27, it says, And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. He came from heaven, once to
bear our sins in His own body on the tree. He died, He was
buried, He resurrected, He ascended back into heaven as God manifest
in the flesh who accomplished the work. Well, He's coming again
and He's coming from heaven in the clouds. To do what? To gather His people unto Himself. And He's coming without sin.
Because He's already put it away. He's already satisfied law and
justice. It's an assured fact that Christ
will come again. He said that in John 14, I go
to prepare a mansion for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I'll come again. In the book of Acts, when He
ascended unto the Father, the angel appeared and said, He's
coming from heaven in the same way. What does it mean He's coming
in the clouds? Well, these clouds will shut
the sky and the heavens from our view so that the only majesty
and glory that we'll see is Christ. Christ alone. It says here in verse 7, every
eye shall see Him. This is no secret coming. He's
not going to sneak up on you. He'll come when we least expect
it, as a thief in the night. But when he comes, every eye
will see him. Every eye. And that seeing him
in that second coming will be the greatest comfort and joy
for the people of God. But it'll be the greatest terror
to those who are without Christ. That's why Paul said, knowing
the terror of the Lord, we do persuade men. Think about that. Think about meeting God without
Christ. Our God is a consuming fire to
all who meet him, who come before him without Christ, without his
blood and his righteousness. It says in verse seven here,
they also which pierced him. That's speaking of his cross.
It speaks specifically of those who were instrumental in the
death of Christ. But it really speaks generally
of all who stand in opposition to Christ and who, as evidenced
by their unbelief, were complicit in his crucifixion and who would
crucify him again. if the Lord wouldn't let them. The Bible says that God's people,
who in essence we see ourselves responsible for the death of
our Savior, though we know it was a work of God, it was his work, purpose from
the very beginning for the salvation of his people. But it was our
sins by which God justly put Him on the cross and brought
His wrath down upon Him. And when God the Holy Spirit
brings us to faith in Christ and repentance of our dead works,
we look upon Him whom we have pierced and we sorrow. But in
our sorrow comes the joy of salvation. But when He comes a second time,
all who have found Him without Christ, Oh, what a terror. It says here in verse seven that
all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so,
amen. The kindreds of the earth, the
kindreds of the earth are those who are so tied to the earth,
to this sinful existence, that they have no love for or faith
in Christ. All who are of the world in unbelief.
All who are ignorant of and not submitted to the righteousness
of Christ as the only way of justification before a holy God. As I said, they're tied to the
earth. They're opposed to believers who are not of this world. Remember
Christ said, we're in the world, but we're not of it. And he says, even so, amen. That
means it's a certain. So be it. There's no way of getting
around this. And then, He identifies our Savior,
our Lord, as Alpha and Omega. Look at it. Verse 8, I am Alpha
and Omega. The beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the
Almighty. This is Christ identifying Himself,
and He does this in three other places. One right here in our
text, verse 11, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last. Revelation 21.6, Revelation 22.13,
He says, I am Alpha and Omega. Alpha and Omega, what does that
mean? Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Omega
is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. What is this telling
us about our Savior? It's telling us that He's the
first, the last, the beginning, the ending, and everything in
between, He's the whole of it. In other words, it's saying it's
all about Him. It's not about us. It's about
Christ. And if it's about Christ, in
essence, it is about all for whom he lived and died, was buried
and rose again, because we're in him. One old writer said that
every word in the English language is found in our alphabet. A,
B, C, D, all the way to Z. Well, every word from God is
found in Christ, the Alpha and the Omega. Let me give you a
few aspects of this. Christ is all, everything, the
Alpha and the Omega in the eternal purpose of God. Look over at Ephesians chapter
one with me. And this states it out so beautifully. It talks about how everything
that God purposed before the foundation of the world, especially
in the salvation of His people, was in Christ. Verse 3 of Ephesians 1, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings, Now think about it. What are
these spiritual blessings? It's salvation. It's every blessing,
every benefit, every aspect of salvation in heavenly places
in Christ. 2 Timothy 1 and 9 speaks of this
salvation which was given us, God's people, the elect of God,
the redeemed, the justified, given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Verse 4 of Ephesians 1, according
as He hath chosen us in Him. Even our election is in Christ. It's the election of grace. It's not the election of future
foreseen works? God looking down through a telescope
of time and foreseeing what we would do? No. God is a God of
purpose. God works all things after the
counsel of His own will. And all of that is in Christ.
Chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. That we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Verse 5. having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."
See, He's all, He's the Alpha and the Omega. "...to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved." Verse 7, "...in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." He's
all. in God's purpose to forgive His
people. According to the riches of His
grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of His will. You want
to know the mystery of God's will? You'll find it in Christ. According to His good pleasure,
which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of the times eternity in time, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ. See his preeminence in the eternal
purpose of God, both which are in heaven and which are on earth
and even in him. That's an amazing thing. Christ himself is eternal, the
Alpha and the Omega. He's the glorified God-man. Look
back at it. Verse eight, the alpha and the
omega, the beginning and the ending, the Lord which is, the
Lord which was, the Lord which is to come. He is right now. We serve a living Savior. He
was in the first coming to put away our sins, but He was before
the foundation of the world. He is to come. He's coming again. And He's the Almighty. The Alpha
and Omega is God Almighty. That speaks of His omnipotence,
His power. And we see this in Christ's fullness,
in His person. And in His work, as God manifests
in the flesh, He has the preeminence. Look at that passage that Randy
read in Colossians 1. He created this world. The Father,
the Son, and the Spirit all worked, were complicit in the creation
of the world. And the Son has the preeminence
because He's the Savior of the world, the world of His people.
It says in verse 16 of Colossians 1, for by Him were all things
created that are in heaven, in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers. All
things were created by Him. He's the Alpha. All things were
created for Him. He's the Omega. See that? And He's before all things. He's
the Alpha. And by Him all things consist.
He's everything in between. And He's the head of the church,
the body, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that
in all things He might have the preeminence. You see it? He's the embodiment of the Word
of God. Everything that God has for us
by way of communicating the glory of His person is in Christ. So
He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the Alpha and the Omega
in our justification. It's by His righteousness alone.
He's the Alpha and the Omega in righteousness. He's all my
righteousness by which God is just to justify sinners like
us. That's his righteousness imputed.
This is an imminent reality in the mind of God that he gives
us through Christ. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's the Alpha
and the Omega in our faith, the author the beginner and the finisher,
the completer of our faith. That means he began it and he
carries it through to completion. The only reason we're saved is
because Christ is the Alpha and Omega. The only reason that we
stay saved is Christ is the Alpha and Omega. And the only reason
we'll come to glory in the end is because Christ is the alpha
and the omega. Remember Paul said, for I know
whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. So he is
the preeminence. And then he's the alpha omega
in the fulfillment of God's word and in the heart of the gospel.
This book, is a book of Christ, from Genesis to Revelation. Every passage has something about,
in, or from the Lord Jesus Christ. He told the Pharisees, He said,
You do search the Scriptures, for in them you think you find
eternal life. They are they which testify of Me. Old Testament,
New Testament, the Gospel itself. Paul said, We preach Christ,
Crucified. Risen from the dead. He's the
Alpha and the Omega in the Word of God. Look back at Revelation
1. Let me conclude. And I'll come back to these verses.
But John said, I, John, who also am your brother, that's a brother
in Christ, your companion in tribulation, in trouble, trials,
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." That's the kingdom
of Christ and the endurance of Christ to save us, to keep us,
and to bring us to glory. He said, I was in the isle that
is called Patmos. He'd been exiled there by the
emperor Domitian. And why was he there? For the
word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. And he says,
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. I believe he's saying that
he had a revelation here from the Spirit of God and it was
on the Lord's day. I don't believe he was talking
about Saturday or Sunday. I believe he was talking about
this is a day when the Lord determined to reveal these things to me.
And think about it. Every day is the Lord's day.
And he said, I heard behind me a great voice and a trumpet. announced with majesty, saying,
I am Alpha and Omega. See how that's stressed? The
first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and
send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, and here are
the seven churches, under Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And if the Lord gives us another,
Lord's Day to me, I'll pick up there next week. All right.