At the beginning of the book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 8, John tells us, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Then In Revelation 22:13, Jesus repeats the phrase and says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” You already know that alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and omega is the last letter. When they are put together like this they comprise a figure of speech called a merism. The two extremes of a set, the book ends, are mentioned but the intent is to say that the set includes everything in between. If we wanted to tell someone that we searched everywhere for something we might say “we searched high and low.” That’s a merism! Another Biblical example comes from the very first verse in the Bible. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The phrase “the heavens and the earth” is a merism. It’s meant to communicate the truth that God created everything in between as well. One last biblical example of a merism is seen in Psalm 139:2, where David writes of God “you know my sitting down and my rising up.” In other words, God knows every movement of David’s life. He knows every movement of our lives as well.
Jesus comprises everything that God wants to say to us! Jesus is the Word of God come to us in human form. Getting a grasp of the message that God wants us to hear in his one and only begotten son, Jesus, is the most important thing in life. Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they might begin to grasp this truth as he began his letter to them. Ephesians 1:17-23 is where Paul tells them about his prayer “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” That is one incredibly long sentence but Paul’s prayer might be boiled down to his passion to see his readers grasp the true and ultimate message from God contained in Jesus Christ. That is the “Good News” that can change a persons life forever! It’s coming to grasp the message in Christ from God the Father.
A figure of speech is not needed in Paul’s prayer. He says straight forward that Jesus is “all in all.” Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega of everything God wants us to know about himself. Again in Revelation 1:8, Jesus describes himself as the one “who is and who was and who is to come.” Jesus is not bounded by time. He’s the past, present and the future. Since Jesus uses the letters of the alpha bet to describe himself it’s again clear he’s using the way humans communicate. This is how Jesus is “God’s Word” to man. John 1 tells us “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Then he goes on to say in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus is the subject of the Old Testament as he explained to the religious leaders of his day as well as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus when Jesus explained to them how He was the subject of all past revelation. Luke tells us in Luke 24:27, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Jesus is not only the past message but the present one. He stands before the two disciples in the current age bringing a message from God to them as well as to us in our day! Paul prays that we’ll get the message. Jesus is also the future. It’s in the last book of the Bible that John speaks of his visions of the future coming of Christ. It’s at the beginning and ending of this book that Jesus calls himself the “Alpha and the Omega.” He will reign on earth in the future era. Jesus is indeed the entire message from God. He is the “all in all.” He is the beginning and the end. In Christ, is everything we need to know about God – past, present and future!