Okay, we're going to our main sermon now. So once again, if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Revelation chapter one, the book of Revelation and chapter one. So we're going right to the back of our Bibles and Your Bible, if it's like mine, might say the revelation of Saint John the Divine. Well, that's not what I call this. I call this what John called it, the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Certainly it was given by the Apostle John, but it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. We're going to read a few verses from the beginning. So we're in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, and to him that loveth us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word. Having spent some time on the Lord's seven I am sayings in John's gospel, I thought it appropriate to add a further two I Am titles supplied for us by John, the same writer, in his revelation of Jesus Christ. So this is the revelation of Jesus Christ or the revelation of John, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the final book in our Bible. And here, John is the writer. John wrote his gospel. He wrote the book of Revelation. He wrote three little epistles, three little letters as well. And here in this book of Revelation, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of by John as giving us another two I am sayings. Here in the verses we've read together, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last. Later on, he will tell the church, I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. God willing, we will return to this saying about the bright and morning star next week. But today, I want to begin this message on the Lord's statement, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, by reminding us all of the objective truth of these sayings. When the Lord tells us, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, He is conveying to us the truth about himself in exactly the same way as he ministered in his life, in his ministry before his crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension back to glory. He ministered those seven sayings, the I am sayings that we've been thinking about in recent weeks. I am the vine. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the door. I am the bread. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I've forgotten one, but you'll forgive me. As the Lord spoke about these aspects of his nature, he was explaining to his people elements, aspects of who he was and that is the same here in Revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ is conveying to us the truth about himself. Communicating to his church the reality of his identity. Telling us about his nature, his character, his attributes. He is saying This is who I am. And he is God who cannot lie. So we take that on board. When we read these I am sayings, we are thinking to ourselves, this is who the Lord is. He says, this is who I am. And he is telling us, I am Alpha and Omega. An atheist will tell us that he does not believe there is a God. An agnostic will say it's impossible to know if there is a God. A deist will say there may very well be a God but he is distant and unknowable and he doesn't affect our lives. But as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we take Christ at his word. And we believe there is a God who has spoken. He is the living word. He has revealed himself as the eternal spirit in three persons. He has revealed himself in making the world. and all that we see in the created order, the created universe. He has revealed himself in our flesh by entering time and coming into this world as a man. And he teaches us by the things that he has said and done to know him as the one true and living God. infinite, holy, eternal, unchangeable, gracious, and supremely loving. When we come to God's word, we discover an unfolding revelation in which God has spoken throughout time by patriarchs, by prophets, who foretold a Redeemer, who pointed in prophecy and type to the coming of Christ into the world to deal with the problem of man's sin. The Messiah, God's anointed representative, would open a way of salvation for sinners who had rebelled and who had become separated from God by their sin. And we believe the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as our substitute is that essential means by which God's mercy and grace is shown to sinners. while justice is satisfied and God's holiness is honoured and vindicated. The opinions of atheists, agnostics and deists notwithstanding, we believe there is a God who is personal and loving. He is knowable and has made himself known. God has spoken by his Son who has revealed himself as God, one with his Father and the Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and he has taught his people by his words and actions who he is and how he has accomplished our salvation. In his covenant role as God's ordained way of salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled three principal offices. As our Great High Priest, he offered his own precious blood as a ransom for our sin. As our Sovereign King, he established his own kingdom and populated it with all those chosen to be his people from the foundation of the world. As our great prophet, he has revealed God to man, preached the truth in this world, and taught us the way of life. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ said and did reveals some aspect of his infinite glory and divine majesty. Every word from the lips of Christ teaches us more of himself and his two natures, divine and human, so that when Christ speaks, God speaks, and this is particularly seen in Christ's I Am statements. Now, we have noted this, this self-revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ running through all the Lord's I Am sayings. We saw that in our studies in John's Gospel. And here again in Revelation, Jesus Christ shows us, emphasises his divine nature. Each I am phrase builds on the Lord's name revealed to Moses in Exodus. There at the burning bush, Moses said, who will I say sent me? And the Lord said, I am that I am. He said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And here in the revelation of Jesus Christ, John's revelation of Jesus Christ, Christ's divinity is once again asserted prominently. He tells his church, I am Alpha and Omega. What an extraordinary statement that is. What an astonishing claim to make. It is a clear declaration of Christ's divinity. Now, I mentioned before, alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. like A and Z in our English alphabet. There's nothing that comes before A in the alphabet and there is nothing that comes after Z in the alphabet. And there's nothing that comes before Alpha and nothing that comes after Omega. There is no one comes before our Saviour and no one can come after Him. That is the significance of this saying. The Lord Jesus Christ is telling us He is eternal, the everlasting God. Now this isn't a new fact to us. Perhaps you remember how the unbelieving Jews of the Lord's day attacked the Lord Jesus Christ in John 8, telling him proudly that their father was Abraham and they were his children. And in verse 58 of John chapter 8, Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, that is truly, truly, He's telling them to note what he's about to say. He is making it explicit. He is being as clear as he can possibly be. Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. There's that phrase again. And the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was claiming because we read that immediately they took up stones to cast at him. They knew that he was claiming to be divine. They knew that he was claiming to be God. Before Abraham was, I am. They knew that because this is the language of God in the Old Testament as well as we have seen in the New Testament in the life of Christ. This is the language of God in both testaments. What Christ is to his church in the New Testament age, he was to his church in the Old Testament as well. He tells Isaiah, for example, in chapter 44, and there's several occasions in Isaiah where he does this. I'm just quoting Isaiah 44 at the moment. That is what the Lord told Isaiah. Christ our King and Christ our Redeemer is, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one true God. Jesus Christ, who bore our sin and carried our sorrow on the cross, is truly God. Jesus Christ, who has established His Kingdom and reigns over it in sovereign majesty, is our God. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last. And here, as John opens his revelation of Jesus Christ, it is to confirm to the church that Jesus Christ is Jehovah from the beginning and will be evermore. And we should note This is Christ's own testimony. Otherwise we wouldn't have it as an I am saying. But it's his own testimony. Our Lord Jesus assumes these titles to himself without reservation or limitation because he is the holy eternal God. They are his titles by right and describe his attributes and his divine nature. He's first and last in all things. He's the beginning and ending in all things. And it's not John the Apostle who speaks these words describing Christ. It's the Lord himself who is the speaker. And the words are spoken as though Christ is present with John there in his Patmos Island prison cell. Christ's words are interjected between John's tributes to the Saviour in verse six and seven, and his explanation of his commission in verse nine following. There in verse nine and afterwards, John is told, what thou seest, write in a book. The revelation of Jesus Christ, what thou seest, write in a book. John saw Christ. And he tells us that Christ is Alpha and Omega in this book because that's what Christ told him he was. The book of Revelation is what John saw in his vision. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ because it was given by him. It centres on him because he is the focus and object of it. He is the focus and object because he ever was and he ever will be and he is now. Let us take a few examples of what that means to us as believers in Christ. Christ is the beginning in creation. This is what the Lord is telling us by this title. He is ever present. He is the everlasting, always living God. He was before the world was made, and he shall be after the world is destroyed. The Bible begins in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. The Bible begins with a simple statement. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God created. But let us drop off the created for a moment. In the beginning, God. and our Lord Jesus Christ is that God. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. In the beginning, God. Christ is that God who was with his Father and the Holy Spirit and he dwelt outside of time, outside of our universe because the universe was not yet created. There he dwelt with the Father and the Spirit in a spiritual realm of perfect harmony. He was there in the beginning. He is the beginning. And without him was not anything made that was made. Those things which exist all around us today, you and me, as we exist in this world, we exist because our Lord Jesus Christ is the alpha, the beginning. And Christ is the end. He is the end in judgment. This world will come to an end as he created it, so he will bring it to an end because he is the omega, the ending. and we all are answerable to him. He will still be the ever-present, everlasting God when this world comes to its end. The Apostle Peter, we've been thinking a lot about John in these statements, but the Apostle Peter also has something to contribute here in 2 Peter 3. He says this, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. That's the physical things of this world, will melt away with fervent heat. And the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Peter goes on, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, all these physical things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, he says, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning and the ending, and he will be there. That is the day of the Lord that Peter is speaking about. We all shall stand before Christ the Omega. He will judge this world and all men and women in righteousness and truth. He will separate believers and unbelievers, righteous and wicked, sheep and goats, to their eternal destinies. With Christ in heaven or separated from him in hell. and it is Christ the Omega who will take the central role and sit on the throne of judgment in the last day. These things are revealed to us that we might know and that we might prepare for them. Alpha and Omega, these titles taken by the Lord. Alpha and Omega also speak of Christ's divine nature and his human nature. His preeminence and his humiliation. His perfect holiness and his sin-bearing shame. Alpha was a term for excellence and primacy used amongst the Jews. If something was alpha, it was the best. And we use that today just the same. If something is good, we say it's A1. When we take an exam, we all like to get an A. An A student is a top student. And so alpha corresponds to that which is first and that which is best and that which is most prominent, the highest in quality, distinction, merit. And Christ Jesus is all that. He is the alpha. He's the chiefest amongst 10,000. He's the captain of our salvation. He is the head of his body, the church. who is over all God blessed forever. Amen. That's what Paul calls him in Romans chapter nine. He has the preeminence. Christ is unique above angels and men as the Son of God. In his mediator office, he is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Great High Priest, the Great Prophet and Preacher, highly exalted with a name which is above every name. Christ is the Alpha. Yet he is too, he is also, he is as well, our condescending Saviour. in which sense Christ may be said to be the omega, the last or the least in his humanity, being made lower than the angels, despised and rejected of men. Indeed, Christ's was a double descent, a twofold humiliation. He humbled himself first and was found in fashion as a man, And then he humbled himself again and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He was born in the lowliest of circumstances. Though he was rich, he became poor. He had nowhere to lay his head. Even his clothes were taken from him and he was laid in a borrowed tomb. he was made sin for us. He was cursed by men and God as he hung on the tree. He declares prophetically, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. He who was first was made last. that we who were last should be made first. And may we not say that these titles also suggest the all-encompassing nature of Christ? He who is said to be the eternal word In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He who is the eternal Word is represented here in that claim, I am Alpha and Omega. Our words, the things that we say, they're all vanity. So much of what we say could well be left unsaid. Our words are vanity. His words, His words are enduring. He is the whole in the sense of Alpha and Omega encompassing everything else. All scripture tells of Him. All prophecy points to Him. All revelation relates to Him who is the living Word of God. Every phrase, every sentence, every book, all spoken words comprise of letters encompassed and contained within the bounds of A and Z. and all truth, all beauty, all glory is found in Christ. The Alpha and Omega. Nothing can exist outside of Christ. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. He upholds all things by the word of his power. The Apostle Paul tells the Philippians, Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. He might have said, think on Christ. Or as the writer to the Hebrews says, consider him, consider him, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. For he is true, and he is honest, and he is just, and he is pure, and he is lovely, and he is reputable, and he is virtuous, and he is praiseworthy. He is the alpha and omega of every glorious attribute and perfection of God. And I want to make one final application for this phrase with respect to the blessedness of the church and all the privileges of love and grace and mercy that we possess as the body of Christ. Brothers and sisters, everything we have which is at all commendable and acceptable to God is Christ's gift to us. From first to last, it is all of Christ. If we are saved and converted, We must trace all our spiritual life to him who is first and last. He's the source of all life and all spiritual life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. If we have spiritual new life, it must have come from Christ. It was when we were dead in trespasses and sin that Christ sent his Spirit to quicken his redeemed people. When our sin is cleansed by blood, it is Christ's precious blood that cleanses us. When we're clothed in righteousness and made acceptable to God, it is Christ who grants and bestows the righteousness, covering His people, covering us. For without that covering, it is impossible to see God. When we first need faith, faith to believe, it is Christ who supplies the gift of faith, without which it is impossible to please God. It is he who renews his blessings every morning. It is He who is faithful to us and promises never to leave us nor forsake us. He is all our righteousness. He is all our sanctification. He is all our redemption. He is all our spiritual wisdom and knowledge. Christ is our all. And then when we come to the end of our lives, It is Christ who is waiting for us in the twilight. It is Christ who comforts us and draws near when doubts rise and nature rebels. when this flesh cries out. It is Christ who bears us home like the lost sheep on his shoulder to the fold. It is Christ who welcomes us into his Father's house. It is all Christ. The Lord is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending. He is all in all, and we who know Him shall never be out of His protecting hand, from beginning to end, from first to last, and throughout all eternity, we are His. How blessed the church is that the Lord Jesus Christ took this name and told John his servant to tell us. So may this, I am saying, amongst all the others that we've learned about, sweeten our days and remind us that he who is the beginning and the ending is with us and shall never leave us. Amen.