The Names and Titles of Jesus

Alpha and Omega

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.”Revelation 22:12-14

I recall preparing to move to London to attend College in the early 70s and purchasing an A to Z atlas, often described as the essential navigation guide to the Capital. Of course, as the title suggests, it not only includes Abbey Mews (SW4) and Zest Dolphin Square Hotel, (SW1) but also the 70,000 other addresses across the 9197 miles of London’s Roads.

The bible uses the the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet to describe Jesus by saying that he is the Alpha and Omega and qualifies this by adding the he is the beginning and the end. There is a danger when using this title to consider Jesus as only involved in the beginning and end times. However, note how the verse qualifies this title by not only adding the beginning and the end, but the first and the last. First, meaning the foremost (in time, place, order or importance) and last indicating final.

Jesus Christ is, as Paul in the letter to the Colossians and John in his gospel tell us, the source of all that is, the Alpha and the Omega; the entire 26 letters of the alphabet. Through him, the creating Word of God, all things were created. He is the foremost and final Word on all things.

Yes, he is the Omega, the final goal for all creation, but he is also the A to Z of all life. Every experience, every dream, every achievement is part of his gracious span. As Augustine put it, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts will never rest until they rest in you,” This is another way of saying that Jesus Christ is our King. He alone gives meaning to our existence, to our lives.

Fred Buechner gives us a rich picture when he writes, “that John begins His Gospel by identifying Jesus as the Word. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ and that the Alpha and Omega is also referring to Jesus identity as The Word. So, Jesus is the first word and the last word and that the first word and the last word of Revelation is really one word. And that word is “Grace”. 

There is a verse in Charles Wesley’s hymn, ‘Love Divine, all loves excelling’, that is often omitted from our hymn books that says.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit

into ev'ry troubled breast;

let us all in thee inherit,

let us find the promised rest:

take away the love of sinning;

Alpha and Omega be;

End of faith, as its Beginning,

set our hearts at liberty.