Jesus: The Alpha and the Omega

Revelation 22:13

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. Greek writers used the phrase “alpha and omega” to convey a sense of completeness. We use a similar expression when we say something like, “She has everything covered from A to Z.” With this phrase, Jesus is saying that He is sovereign over every area of life: the beginning, the end, the highs, the lows, and all points in between.

Here’s what it means for Jesus to be the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and end: He becomes my whole life, from A to Z.

A – He is the absolute authority in all areas: my attitude, my afflictions, my anxiety, my anger. My Almighty ambassador is always above me, ahead of me, and all around me. And His Agape love is all I need anywhere and anytime.

B – He is the God over my baggage, my body, my behavior. He bears my burdens in baptism and I become His beautiful bride. It boggles my brain that because of His blood my bonds are broken and I am bereft of blame.

C – He is the Christ, the crown with a capital C. I am called by His cadence to come and commit to the cause, to cast my cares in exchange for His certain compassion and comfort. My champion challenges me to change, to choose to chuck the chains that choke and chafe. He calls me to carry my cross and to celebrate in communion.

D – His decrees are my deepest desires. He is the God over my dreams and my drives, my distresses and my doubts, my do’s and my don’ts. He defeats death, He decimates darkness, He defends me from danger and delivers me from damnation. He decides my destiny and determines my days.

E – He is my everything, from everlasting to everlasting, the God of my everyday ethics who educates my ego. His embrace is encouraging and eternity is His especially epic and extraordinary encore.

F – He is faithful in the face of all my failures, my faults, my filth and my fears. I fervently feel the favor of His fellowship. He is fiery and fierce but He is my friend and I’ll follow Him to the finish.

G – My great God graciously gives good gifts. I can’t wait to get a glimpse of His glory.

H – He is holy, my Helper and my Hero. He habitually holds my heart in His hands and heralds the hope of heaven as my home.

I – Jesus is the image of the invisible God. I find His invitation irresistible. My imperfections are never an imposition to the immortal One who is the most important One in my life.

J – My God is jealous but joyous. He joins me in my journey, His judgments are just.

K – He is the King of kindness.

L – He is the Lord of light who leads me to the land of the living, the long-suffering Lamb who lays down His life so that I might be liberated, the Lifter of my head who listens in love.

M – He is the Master who mends my mind, my Model whose meditations are merciful, my Maker whom I magnify. I am a miscreant who misses the mark. I maliciously malign His moral mandates. But my mistakes make up the measure of His mission. Where I am messy, He is mighty. His ministry is miraculous. He is my matchless, magnificent, majestic Messiah.

N – The noble Nazarene was nailed up naked to neutralize my narcissism. He makes all things new: new beginnings, new creation.

O – He is the object of my observation, the only One who can save me from the obscenity of my offenses and the oppression of my opponent. I ought to be oriented around His oracles because He forgives me over and over and over again.

P – He is my Prince of Peace who promises me a permanent place of provision and protection. He paid the price for my propitiation, He is passionate about His plan for my prospering, He is patient in my pleading and my pain. I will persistently profess my praise for His powerful presence.

Q – He is my God of great quality and great quantity.

R – He redeems me, renews me, reconciles me, recreates me. He gave His life as a ransom in order that I might be recovered. He rules in righteousness and He requires radical repentance to rescind my rebellion. He is risen and He reigns over me in royalty.

S – He is the Savior of my sinful soul. He shatters my shackles and shreds the shroud of my shame. He shields me with shelter and shows me what I should do. His singular sacrifice is my song and my sacrament. He seeks and saves, serves and sends. Nothing can separate me from the security of His salvation because I am safely sealed with the Spirit.

T – He testifies to the truth and He tenderly touches my tears. He tames my temptations and transforms my troubles. He turns trash into treasure. He was tried at the tree but He triumphed at the tomb. Thoroughly I thank Him for thwarting evil on the third day. He is my trusted teacher, my today, and my tomorrow.

U – He understands me ultimately, even when I am unruly. Under His umbrella I am unafraid, united with Him to the utmost. I am unashamed of my unrivaled and utterly unique Jesus.

V – He is the God of my vocation and my vacation. He values me and vanquishes my enemy. His voluntary visitation ended victoriously.

W – He watches over my wishes and my worries, my worship and my work, my wins and my wilderness wanderings. He is the God of my will’s and my won’ts, my when’s and my where’s. He is my whole world.

X – He is even the Lord over all the xtra places I want to keep for myself. He reigns there, too.

Y – In Him, all of God’s promises are “Yes.” I yield to Yahweh whose yoke is easy.

Z – And I am zealous for the One who zeroes out my sin.

This is what it means for Jesus to be the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end. From A to Z, my life is built upon Him and Him alone.

Jason Bybee

March 3, 2024