Johan Malan, Mossel Bay, South Africa (November 2015).
In the last book of the Bible the Lord Jesus says of Himself: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Rev. 22:13). The alpha and omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet, but this statement also implies a progressive revelation from one point to the other: Jesus was, He is, and He is to come. He represents the extreme limits of our concept of time since He existed before the creation of the world and will still be there during the destruction of the present heaven and earth, after which He will make everything new. He is the Eternal One “who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev. 1:4, 8, 17; 2:8; 21:16). John refers to Jesus Christ as the Word (“Logos”) who existed from the beginning, who is Himself God and who created everything: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-3, 14). In the fullness of time He was revealed in a human body as the Saviour of mankind, to bring light and life where spiritual darkness and death prevailed.
It is of the utmost importance to fully comprehend why Jesus Christ reveals Himself as the First or Beginning of all things as that explains who He is, the authority which He has, the nature of His role in the management of created reality, and how he will, in the ages to come, terminate all temporary and corruptible things and renew them incorruptible. If we have the correct biblical concept about who Jesus is, we will not only understand and fully accept His current position and divine attributes, but also be clear about all the capacities in which He will reveal Himself in the end-time. It is imperative to fully know Him as the Alpha if we also wish to have proper insight into His role as Omega.
Paul confirms the profound meaning of Jesus Christ as the First in Creation and also in the plan of redemption for humanity: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:15-20).
The exalted position and pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus should be understood within His bond of unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit: “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). Jesus is also elsewhere introduced to us as “The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13; cf. John 1:1, 14). God the Father addresses us through God the Son, “whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Heb. 1:1-2; cf. Eph. 3:9). The Father and the Son reveal themselves to us in the spiritual sphere through the “eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14; John 14:23, 26) who works and dwells in our hearts.
There are different contexts in which Jesus Christ is the First and the Last. In the broadest sense of the word He is the Beginning and End of the entire creation as we know it (heaven and earth). At the beginning He created it and at end of it He will dissolve it in judgements and recreate it in a perfect condition. In every sphere of God’s plan for humanity Jesus is the First and the Last, therefore He is also the Beginning and End of the church dispensation. During His first coming and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He was the Beginning of the church dispensation, and at His second coming He will conclude it. Subsequently, He will be the Beginning and End of the kingdom phase during His thousand-year reign of peace, so that He may be the Beginning, the Sustainer and also the End of all His works of creation.
In the present church dispensation, every believer should conduct his (or her) life within the perspective of Jesus as the First and the Last. We should look back to the beginning of the church dispensation where the saving grace of the Lord Jesus was revealed, but also look ahead to His second coming and the conclusion of this dispensation. The existential space within which a Christian lives since his (or her) regeneration is temporally defined by the first and second comings of Jesus. That period will be followed by a new dispensation of the revealed kingdom, in which Christ will also be the First and Last before eternity dawns. As far as our present position is concerned, the beginning and continuation of our new life in Christ is fully dependent on His works of salvation during His first coming, as only that will enable us to be properly equipped for the demands of Christian living. Embracing the new life in Christ is the only sound basis for the spiritual and moral preparations which we have to make for His second coming.
It is obvious that there should be two fixed points of reference in the lives of all believers, i.e. a backward perspective on the first coming of Jesus when He died to make atonement for our sins, as well as a future perspective when we will receive glorified bodies, be united with Christ at the marriage feast, and then reign with Him as kings. The close relationship between Christ’s first and second comings is emphasised every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26). We should follow in the footsteps of the Saviour until He is revealed as Bridegroom and King.
There must be an unbroken line between Christ as the Beginning and the End (or final purpose) of our lives. We should proclaim His atoning death and also fully associate with it until He comes again. The practical implication of this disposition is that, in our everyday lives, Jesus must the Beginning and End of everything we contemplate or do if we really wish to follow Him faithfully. The beginning, continuation and conclusion of every activity should be done in His Name and with a view to glorify Him. The realisation of this ideal is dependant upon a clear Christian motivation and biblical justification for all our activities and planning, thereby ensuring that the Lord’s glory will also be the final objective of our earthly lives. We should consciously commit ourselves to consistently walk in the light of His presence, as that will keep us from making room for sinful acts which are the unfruitful works of darkness (cf. Eph. 5:11).
A life which started at the cross of Jesus and the experience of being born again should be clearly and single-mindedly focused on His second coming. In that way alone, Jesus will not only be the Alpha to each one of us but also the Omega. If believers sit back after regeneration and fail to grow up spiritually, they are at risk of losing perspective on their calling and duty as Christians and to start pursuing worldly objectives. Such persons will not be able to appear with boldness before the Lord as the Omega at the end of their lives. Are your eyes fixed daily on Him and are you busy preparing to appear before Him blameless? Paul says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2). There are obstacles which should be laid aside and a race which must be finished.
He who has begun a good work in us will also complete it on the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6), but we have to fully cooperate if we wish this promise to be realised. The Lord will remain faithful to guide, bless and care for us but we can easily become unfaithful towards Him. Christians do not lose their free will, therefore they can still be tempted to sin, and can also take wrong decisions arising from ignorance. Because of the possibility of spiritual decline and backsliding we are commanded to always abide in Christ (John 15:4-6). Only those who continuously abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit are described as overcomers in Revelation 2 and 3, and they will inherit wonderful blessings when His kingdom of righteousness is revealed after His second coming.
Jesus Christ should therefore not only be the Beginning of your spiritual life but also the End. Along the way, the devil will try to pull you down into a fleshly state of sin and the pursuing of selfish interests, thereby causing you to lose your spiritual perspective and together with that also the crown for faithful service. However, do not allow your future expectation on the second coming of Christ to dwindle, neither your commitment to holiness. The Lord Jesus says: “Behold, I come quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown” (Rev. 3:11). If Christ is truly the Beginning and End of your life, you will not relax your vigilance but diligently avoid being led astray from the narrow way onto one of Satan’s many deviations – even though they may appear to be harmless and beneficial courses to take. When you become the victim of error, you will lose your spiritual vision and Christian sense of destiny: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 16:25).
The reward for continued faithfulness and singleness of purpose to the end is great: “But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations … and I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2:25-28). The morning star is a prophetic promise of a new day that will soon dawn upon this dark world. That will happen when Jesus Christ as the Sun of Righteousness will appear at His second coming to illuminate the whole world. During these dark times in which we live, He is the Morning Star who will fulfil the promise on His second coming: “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star” (Rev. 22:16).
Through this statement the Lord Jesus also confirms His position as the Alpha and Omega of Israel. He is the Root or Origin of David because He, in His capacity as God, is the Holy One of Israel who called and spiritually equipped their founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cf. John 8:58). However, He is also the Offspring of David who was incarnated in the royal house of David and was frequently addressed as the “Son of David” (cf. Matt. 20:30; 21:9; 22:41-42). After His second coming He will rule on the throne of His earthly father, David, in Jerusalem (Luke 1:31-32; Acts 15:16-17).
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Son of Man – the perfect God-Man who reconciled fallen man with the Triune God through His atoning death on the cross. His works of salvation, judgement and renewal will continue until everlasting righteousness will prevail in the new heaven and the new earth, without any sin, depravity or death (Rev. 21:1-8, 27). When the dispensations of fallen man will be concluded by Christ as the Omega, only the overcomers who drank from the fountain of living water will inherit the new creation. In His end-time prophecy, Jesus said to John: “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things” (Rev. 21:6-7).
Why are there relatively so few people who reach this glorious destination? (cf. Matt. 7:13-15; Luke 13:24). There are various reasons for this situation. The way upon which we daily have to walk in the phase between Christ as the Beginning and Christ as the Final Purpose of our spiritual life is demanding and full of overt as well as subtle covert deviations. The main reason for these problems is the existence of an alternative, hostile kingdom on earth, which is intent on destroying Christianity and replacing it by a multireligious, satanic kingdom. The devil heads this opposing kingdom and has exerted himself through the ages to weaken and destroy God’s kingdom by deceiving its followers and eventually leading them to the broad way on which he will endeavour to gain full control over them through a false christ.
These unrelenting attacks are the reason why we should continuously fight the good fight of faith (cf. Eph. 6:10-12; 1 Tim. 6:12; Jude v. 3). We must persevere on the right way and not deviate from it to the left or to the right. To be able to do that calls for special times of introspection so that we can determine whether we are still dedicated, immovable and well founded upon the basic principles of our faith (2 Cor. 13:5). Do we still walk in the Spirit and do we daily abide in Christ so that we can appear before Him in boldness when He comes? Or did materialism, self-interest and proudness sneak in and caused a situation in which the glory of Christ is no longer the final objective of our lives? If that is the case, then it is time for rededication so that the Lord Jesus can again be the Alpha and Omega of our lives.
The same principles of continuous self-examination and rededication should also be observed by all congregations, denominations and Christian organisations since there is a real danger of spiritual decline, backsliding and a consequent weakening of a pure Christian vision and objectives. After the Lord Jesus stated His pre-eminence as the Beginning and End of our spiritual life, He issued two serious warnings against people who do not remain true to His word and commands (Rev. 22:18-19). The one group is in error because of taking certain things away from Christ’s words, while the other group adds certain things. In this way, serious damage is inflicted upon the integrity of God’s Word. Unfaithfulness towards the Word is also unfaithfulness towards the Lord Jesus as He is the incarnated Word. He first came as the Alpha to save our souls, and He will come again as the Omega to bring an end to the old things and introduce us to the glory of the new heaven and earth. People who remain true to Him, are longing for His second coming and will share in all the blessings of the new dispensation.
The interdependence between the Alpha and Omega aspects of Christ’s New Testament revelations concerning the church dispensation is the important reason why Christians should look forward to His second coming and always consider it to be near (imminent). The salvation which Jesus accomplished during His first coming is likened to a betrothal in the lives of believers (Matt. 25:1; 2 Cor. 11:2), while His second coming will be followed by a marriage ceremony between the heavenly Bridegroom and His earthly bride (Rev. 19:7-8). During His physical absence, Jesus is busy preparing a place for His bride in heaven (John 14:2-3). When He comes again, the marriage will be consummated, the church dispensation will be concluded and the bride will be glorified. At that time the objectives envisaged at the beginning of this dispensation will have been achieved and the promises about the revelation of God’s kingdom on earth will be fulfilled in all spheres of life. A strong expectation of the imminent second coming of Christ is therefore an important aspect of a true Christian’s faith.
We have already advanced very far on the way of world evangelisation, in which the invitation to the marriage of the Lamb should be extended to all nations. During His first coming, Jesus provided atonement for sin and He initiated the process of world-wide evangelisation, leading to the establishment world-wide of the true Christian church. However, all born-again Christians experience rejection by an evil world: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8). Christians realise that the present world is not their final home, and strongly long for the second coming of Christ to judge the sinners and establish His righteousness on earth. The expectation of His imminent appearance is explained in the Bible from different points of view.
Jesus Christ is not only destined to be the Saviour of the world but also its Judge and King. It was imperative that He should first be offered to humanity as Saviour before He can be their Judge who will condemn them because of their unbelief: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). His crucifixion and resurrection from the dead made it possible for all sinners to repent and become Christians. However, the whole world must first hear the gospel before they can be judged in accordance with their reaction to it. An entire dispensation of world evangelisation therefore had to follow upon the first coming of Jesus.
Since nobody knows when the Lord Jesus will return as Judge and King, no one should let any opportunity slip away to get into the right relationship with Him. All must realise that the time of grace is passing and that the moment for giving account of your life may dawn at any moment. Christians should also walk in the light of Jesus’ second coming and be prepared, without any further warning, to appear before His judgement seat where their works after conversion will be judged (Rom. 14:10-12). Christians of all times need to expect the imminence of this appointment and order their lives accordingly. The second coming of Christ should always be considered seriously but without setting dates for it. If it were possible to set a date for this event, it would mean that certain groups of Christians would not always have lived in the light of His coming, and might then have started to pursue other objectives in its place. No secondary matters should be allowed to replace or overshadow the grand objective of Christ as the Omega of the church dispensation, as that would cause the loss of the right perspective concerning the future.
The revelation of Jesus as Saviour was an essential preparation for His revelation as Judge and King, and commits us to expect His full revelation at any time. During the interim period we, as His saved followers, are members of a hidden spiritual kingdom since Jesus has not yet come as King. He sent us into a hostile world in which the kingdom of Satan is also established as a spiritual reality. It is a very important spiritual school to Christians to always experience the presence of the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:20; John 15:26). However, we are physically still living in a hostile world where we should expect tribulation and persecution (John 15:20; 16:33). We have not yet reached our final destination in the kingdom of heaven as we have only been spiritually introduced to it. That is the reason why we should constantly look towards that day when Jesus will return as Judge and King to judge His enemies and to establish a kingdom of righteousness on earth.
During the church dispensation, believers who do not live in the light of Christ’s return are inclined to claim or even demand various rights and privileges, e.g. to be rich and free from problems, while also having the power to perform miracles and to reign as kings. In that case, Christ’s promised kingdom which He Himself will establish, is no longer the Omega for which they wait as they are focused on their own achievements in this depraved world. That is a certain recipe for apostasy as such people become the masters of their own destiny. To them, Christ’s second coming is no longer an immediate prospect and expectation, and it quickly fades away behind their dreams of a kingdom here-and-now during the church dispensation. Clearly, the Lord Jesus should not only be our Alpha but also be our Omega. We must not lose our vision along the way and then start pursuing man-made ideals. In such cases, man and his humanistic rights become prime considerations, to the extent that even biblical pronouncements which are at variance with it are rejected as obsolete and irrelevant – e.g. biblical statements on judgements and sins such as homosexuality.
There are also other ways by which extensive harm is done to the message of Christ’s imminent coming, and that is by alleging that certain other things must first happen before He can come. Attention is then focused on these “other things”, as well as strategies which are necessary to counter their effect. In this way the emphasis is subtly shifted away from the command to be ready for Christ’s unexpected coming at any moment, and believers are called upon to first and foremost offer resistance to the march of the Antichrist towards a position of world domination. Such people move the rapture to a time in the middle or close to the end of the tribulation period. Their followers primarily entertain an Antichrist expectation and everything involved with it, rather than expecting Christ and making the necessary preparations to appear before Him blameless and without spot or wrinkle.
Believers who shun the imminence of Christ’s coming in this way, unfortunately render their followers bigger experts on the Antichrist and on spiritual deception than on being disciples who are well informed about the Lord Jesus, His saving grace and His command towards holiness. They tend to be more involved with a witch hunt against false prophets than being dedicated to the work of evangelism. They are usually very extreme and judgemental in criticising fellow believers who do not think and act as they do. However, anyone who undermines the principle of imminence with regard to Christ’s coming is jeopardising his or her own spiritual life while also leading others astray.
It is always important to expose and resist the evil works of darkness, but that should never be allowed to become a more important objective than evangelism and fostering a short-term expectation on the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom. He is to us the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. No other matter should become more important to us than maintaining and strengthening our relationship with Him. Neither should we allow our belief in the imminent coming of Christ to be superseded by the expectation of the imminent coming of the Antichrist. People who do that are occupying themselves with the planning of survival strategies for the coming tribulation period, rather than getting their wedding garment ready and preparing to appear before the judgement seat of Christ.
We are very close to the end of the road. Although it is getting darker around us, the morning star is shining brightly above the horizon of a troubled world to point us to our final destination. It is a serious accusation against the “virgins” of the church dispensation that they are spiritually slumbering and falling asleep in times such as these, and consequently no longer watching and praying while waiting on the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:1-13). People who neglect important responsibilities of this nature will definitely not be counted worthy to escape the judgements and distress that will come upon the world during the tribulation period, and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36). He who has, as the Alpha, instilled faith in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, will soon, as the Omega, be the Finisher of our faith when we will see Him at His second coming (Heb. 12:1-2).