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CHAPTER
21
CHAPTER
TWENTY ONE
THE
BEGINNING AND THE END
THE
BEGINNING AND THE END
While
‘in the Spirit,’ the Apostle John heard a loud voice
coming from the very throne of God in heaven:
He
who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything
new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words
are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the
End-----.”
(Revelation
chapter 21, verses 5-6).
Here
we see God (‘He who was seated on the throne’) referring
to Himself as the ‘Beginning and the End,’ meaning He
is before and after all things; He, alone, has eternity
within Himself---He always was and always will be; no-one
created God; and nothing comes into being or ceases
to exist without His willing it so. As we will see near
the end of this chapter, Jesus also takes this same
title, ‘the Beginning and the End,’ for His own. First
of all, let us put this title in a different perspective
and look at Jesus as He is found at the very beginning
and the very end of the Bible.
The
Bible begins with the words:
In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
(Genesis
chapter 1, verse 1).
God
created not by His hands but by His Word:
And
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
(Genesis
chapter 1, verse 3).
And
God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters
to separate water from water.”--------And it was so.
(verses
6-7).
And
God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to
one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.
(verse
9).
Then
God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing
plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed
in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was
so.
(verse
11).
And
God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the
sky to separate the day from the night, and let them
serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and
let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give
light on the earth.” And it was so.
(verses
14-15).
And
God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse
of the sky.”--------And God saw that it was good.
(verses
20-21).
And
God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according
to their kind: livestock, creatures that move along
the ground, and wild animals, each according to its
kind.” And it was so.
(verse
24).
Then
God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds
of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created man-----.
(verses
26-27).
God
spoke everything into being. His Word created all things
that have been created; and we saw in an earlier chapter
that God’s Word is Christ. The eternal Son is there
at the very beginning bringing all of creation into
being. And, notice in verse 26 God said, ‘Let us make
man in our image, in our likeness------’ God uses the
words ‘us’ and ‘our.’ We have the Father and the Son,
where is the Holy Spirit? He is in verse 2:
Now
the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over
the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering
over the waters.
I
didn’t intend to re-introduce the doctrine of the Trinity
here, but such connections are everywhere throughout
Scripture. It is difficult to keep on one particular
track, because the many lines of God keep joining up
with it to run alongside, while others are constantly
branching off, only to circle round and meet up again.
But, how it speaks for the oneness, the wholesome wholeness
of the Holy Bible. All those different books written
by many different authors over a period of approximately
1500 years (from Moses to the Apostle John), yet all
speaking with the same voice, bearing witness to the
same God---wonderful!
So
we have seen Jesus Christ at the outset, in the first
verses in the Bible. Let us now turn past all 66 books
to the last two verses of the book of Revelation, verses
20-21:
He
who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming
soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord
Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
It
is not only these last two verses of Revelation which
mention Jesus, the whole book is about Him, and uses
many different, yet powerfully descriptive, titles for
Him.
How
right Jesus was when He said to the unbelieving Pharisees,
‘These are the Scriptures that testify about me.’ At
that time it was only the Old Testament Scriptures,
but, within a few decades of the crucifixion of Christ,
the books of the New Testament took up where the Old
left off, and began to testify to Jesus with great power
and clarity.
The
Bible was written to save sinners, and the Lord Jesus
Christ is the sinner’s only Saviour---is it any wonder
the Book is about Him?
THE
FIRST AND THE LAST
Is
this not just the same as ‘the Beginning and the End?’
It would seem so, but, since it is a term my Saviour
uses to describe Himself, I must include it. It does
give me another opportunity to emphasise the Godhead
relationship, and, no doubt, this is one of the reasons
we see Jesus taking it up.
In
the Old Testament, God says this about Himself:
“This
is what the LORD says---Israel’s King and Redeemer,
the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
(Isaiah
chapter 44, verse 6).
So,
we know that the Almighty God of the Old Testament is
‘the First and the Last.’ What about Jesus? What does
He say about Himself on this point?
“Do
not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.”
(Revelation
chapter 1, verse 17).
“These
are the words of him who is the First and the Last,
who died and came to life again.”
(Revelation
chapter 2, verse 8).
“Behold,
I am coming soon!-------I am the First and the Last----.”
(Revelation
chapter 22, verses 12-13).
How
can there be two Firsts and two Lasts? There isn’t;
there is one God---three in Person.
Jesus
knew all the Scriptures; He is the originator of them,
and we see that by His being ‘the First and the Last,’
He is also making the claim ‘apart from me there is
no God’ and He is ‘Israel’s King and Redeemer’ and He
is ‘the LORD Almighty.’ Just as with the beginning and
the end, there can only be one ‘First’ and one ‘Last.’
THE
ALPHA AND THE OMEGA
“I
am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who
is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
(Revelation
chapter 1, verse 8).
‘The
Beginning and the End’, ‘the First and the Last’, and
now we see ‘the Alpha and the Omega.’ Three titles of
seemingly identical meaning. Could the three titles,
identical in meaning, yet different in expression, somehow
be meant to echo the truth of the Trinity? Perhaps.
Certainly it is a way of pressing the point home.
“Behold,
I am coming soon!-------I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End-------.”
(Revelation
chapter 22, verses 12-13).
‘Behold,
I am coming soon.’ It is Jesus who is coming soon, and,
again, speaking of pressing home a point, He repeats
this same message, ‘I am coming soon,’ three times in
the final chapter of Revelation---the final chapter
of the Bible.
Some
will say, ‘How could He say He was coming soon when
He still hasn’t arrived even after 2,000 years?’ Well,
if we take a more panoramic view of history, somewhere
between 4,000 and 10,000 years had already passed between
the creation of Adam and Eve and the birth of Christ.
Many Christians, myself included, believe that the signs
of our Lord’s imminent return are all around us. If
we are only a few years or decades away from His return,
then, Jesus, looking over the broad expanse of history,
and knowing that by far the greatest portion of world
history had already passed, could say, within that context,
‘I am coming soon.’
God
says:
First
of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers
will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?
Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it
has since the beginning of creation.”
(2
Peter chapter 3, verses 3-4).
But
do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the
Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping
his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone
to come to repentance.
(2
Peter chapter 3, verses 8-9).
God
has set a specific time in the history of the world
when the mighty Son of God will return to the very place
from which He left the earth almost 2,000 years ago.
To emphasise the point, He tells us three times in the
closing verses of Scripture.
He
is definitely coming back, and the signs which He said
would immediately precede His return are now with us;
He is definitely coming back, and, though He said we
would not know the day or the hour, He implied, that
if we were alert, we would recognise the season; He
is definitely coming back, and He advised, even commanded,
all believers to ‘Keep watch!’ He is definitely coming
back, and nothing is going to stop Him---not even, dear
reader, your unbelief (if such applies to you).
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