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Revelation 1.8-9
November 6th 2016
Meat
(On BOARD BEFORE)
Idealist Historicist Preterist Futurist Omitist
Okay we left off with a fairly indepth analysis of verse 7 which we said could be seen as the fourth introduction that says
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”
So let’s move on to what may just be the first real words of the actual Revelation at verse 8 (but we might give ourselves the liberty to see as the fifth introductory verse) and here we have an introduction from heaven which says:
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Let’s start off with this first line, “I am Alpha and Omega.”
I’m sure you realize them as the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.
Among the Jewish Rabbins, it was common to use the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet to denote the whole of anything in other words, “from beginning to end.”
Therefore in their writings we actually read that, “Adam transgressed the whole law from Aleph to Taw.”
Or “Abraham kept the whole law from Aleph to Tav.”
Properly this means from the beginning of eternity (if there is such a thing) to the end of time (if again there is such a thing) and taking these concepts there could only be one being who was and is from these extremes – God – always existing, in other words.
So in Isaiah 41:4, we read, “I Jehovah, the first, and with the last;’
And in Isaiah 44:6, “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
And Isaiah 48:12, “I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.”
Because of this scriptural history there is no doubt that the language here implies absolute divinity and could not ever be applied to any OTHER than the only true and living God.
There is, due to a difference of reading in the Greek, an inability to know absolutely if in this first use – here in Revelation 1:8 – it refers to Jesus Christ.
Many mss, instead of “Lord,” (kurios) read “God.”
Because the Revelation is coming from God to Jesus, and because it is God the Father who is designated earlier (in verse 4) as the One . . .
“which is, and which was, and which is to come,”
I tend to think that in this particular verse we are reading about God the Father or simply God.
The phrase Alpha and Omega is used five times in scripture, all in the Book of Revelation.
It is used twice in this first chapter (here at verse 8 and then again in 11), then once in chapter 21 and then once again in chapter 22.
If we add the phrase, “first and the last” (used alone and without Alpha and Omega used in conjunction to it and which is really a redundancy really of Alpha and Omega) we can throw two more verses into the mix (Revelation 1:17 and 2:8) where the phrase is used by the speaker to introduce himself.
Also note the term, the beginning and the end is only used twice in scripture and both in revelation and both with Alpha and Omega.
Interestingly enough, it does appear that God is sometimes referred to as the speaker who uses the term but more emphatically we cannot escape the fact that Jesus is also called the Alpha and the Omega here in Revelation.
So let’s read the passages in chronological order that contain the term, “alpha and omega” and/or the first and the last, and/and/or the beginning and the end” as they are presented in the Book of Revelation and attempt to identify who (these phrases) are speaking about.
Again, nowhere else in scripture are any of the phrases, “Alpha and Omega,” or “the first and the last” or “the beginning and the end” used.
To me this is really interesting and peculiar and just might bodes to the nature of the book itself being an uncovering of all things and therefore (at least) serving as the being “the end” and if read from an idealist perspective, an uncovering or revelation of both “the beginning and the end of all things.”
Even so, the we are reminded that even if the book is a revelation of the opening and closing of things God is still the true beginning and end, the true first and last and the true Alpha and Omega.
So first we read it here in what we might call the fifth introduction in the book, (Revelation chapter 1 verse 8)
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
As I said, I believe this speaks of God the Father because of the contents of verse four where we did identify that verse speaking of Him.
I also make this claim because theos is used here in the older manuscripts over kurios or Lord.
Finally, the addition of the Almighty seems to seal the deal as this term (as we will see) is always used to describe Him in scripture.
Then in verse 11 of this same chapter we read:
Revelation 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
To me, as all things have been placed in Jesus hands – especially His church – I believe that verse 11 of chapter 1 speaks of Him.
Then at verse 17 of chapter one we read:
Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Verse 17, based on context tells us that this “first and last” was certainly Christ.
Then in chapter two we read at verse 8 we read an obvious allusion to Jesus once again, when it says:
“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;”
Then we jump out to the end of the Revelation where we read in the second to the Last chapter another allusion to the name but because of context this one is a little more difficult to parse and therefore identify who the Alpha and Omega really is – the Father or the Son. Listen as it says:
Revelation 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Then in the last chapter we read:
Revelation 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
This seems to obviously be speaking of Christ Jesus, who would be the one who would be coming quickly but in reference to Him we can’t help but note the trifecta of eternality assigned to Him:
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Go back with me quickly to the Old Testament where we have read:
Isaiah 41:4 “I Jehovah, the first, and with the last;’
And Isaiah 44:6, “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
The terms are obviously assigned to Jehovah God. The terms are now assigned, here in Revelation to Jesus, God’s Only Begotten Son.
Additionally, we read here that the term Almighty, is added to the description.
Which is, and which was, etc. See Barnes for Re 1:4, the Almighty.
An appellation often applied to God, meaning that he has all power, and used here to denote that he is able to accomplish what is disclosed in this book.
This term is used 58 times in scripture and in the Old Testament is always refers to God Almighty.
In Exodus 6:3 we read:
“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”
Job uses the term extensively and in the Old Testament it is never NOT capitalized. Therefore it is exclusively used to describe God and God alone.
In the New Testament Almighty is used nine times – all in Revelation except for
2nd Corinthians 6:18 where Paul is citing an amalgam of Old Testament passages to describe God and says:
“And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
The Greek for Almighty is PAN TOK RAT ORE and it means “the all-ruling, the sovereign of the Universe, Omnipotent or all powerful one.
The Revelation passages that speak to the Almighty are
Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
Again, this could speak to God the Father or Jesus the Son.
Then in Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
This verse seems to be echoing Isaiah 6 and is speaking there of the LORD GOD almighty.
In Revelation 11:17 we read, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Again, this appears to be unquestionably speaking of God throughout all eternity.
Revelation 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
This passage seems to referring to Jehovah, the God of hosts, the one who has always been.
Revelation 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
Speaking of God.
Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Speaking of God.
Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Speaking of God
And finally Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
This passage seems to differentiate between the Lord God Almighty and the lamb.
Having read through all of this we can say the following:
First, the term the Lord God Almighty is ONLY assigned to God and never to Jesus or the Lamb.
Secondly, the phrase “that which was, which is, and which is to come” is used to describe both Father and Son (typically to God in the OT and to Jesus in the Book of Revelation – with the exception of verse 8).
The term, Alpha and Omega seems to be primarily (with the exception of verse 8) assigned to Jesus almost all of the time. And in light of all these exceptions to verse eight we might need to concede that verse eight is also speaking of Christ.
And the term, “the beginning and the end” is assigned primarily to Jesus except (again) for verse 8 and some Old Testament passages.
None of these terms are every assigned to the person of the Holy Spirit – especially in the Book of Revelation.
To me it seems that the Holy Spirit is completely ignored in the Book of Revelation in terms of ontological description but is only spoken of in terms of speaking.
What is intriguing is the phrases that were once used exclusively for God in the Old Testament are now, in the Book of Revelation, being extended to Jesus as they were not given to Him before.
For me – for me only as I can only speak for myself – I cannot help but see these descriptions now also given to Jesus as evidence that the Man Jesus, born of a woman and born under the Law with the fullness of God present in within Him fully, receiving all that the Father (His Father) has, and as the mediator between God and Man, obtaining the titles of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the Last whereas these terms were not assigned to Him during His walk through mortality.
In other words He now (here in Revelation) is shown to reign as the One who was, and is, and is to come, the Alpha and Omega of all things, and our mediatorial access to the Almighty.
This view also forces us to understand Isaiah 44:6, which says:
“Thus saith the LORD (YAHWAY) the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”
Trinitarians read this as God the Father and Jesus (called his redeemer the Lord of hosts) in his pre-existent state.
Or we could read it as God Himself calling Himself YAHWAY the King of Israel and the redeemer the Lord of Host, (and then saying) “I and the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God.”
Presently, I am more and more beginning to see God as becoming flesh, filling the Man Jesus, the Man Jesus revealing Him in the flesh, doing what His Father would do, overcoming this world, and the Man Jesus being given all that the father has and reigning until the end where He will submit Himself to God, step aside and God will become all in all.
Some things to gnaw on.
This brings us to verse 9, where John seems to introduce to us his person and how he came to play this role in putting this Revelation together. And he writes:
Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
So John begins by associating himself with his reader as their “brother” in the family of God, “a companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.”
The reference is in all probability to those who were members of the Body in the seven churches in Asia and we can’t help but not that John includes himself in the same situation they seem to be facing.
And so he calls himself their brother and “companion” in the Greek it is best understood as co-partner in tribulation.
Then.
At that time.
We talk about pre-trib and post trib eschatology then but John, speaking of Himself and of those who are in the Seven Churches as partners in tribulation then.
Without question the scripture speaks of believers IN THAT DAY suffering and amidst their suffering overcoming the world – to the point that they become joint-heirs with Christ.
If we stand on the pure full preterist view, that all of this is complete and finished then we would have to believe that all who was suffering with and for Him then have become joint heirs with Christ and are reigning with Him today from on high.
This principle of suffering and reigning (with Christ) is biblical but often overlooked by all but the Mormons.
Contextually, the scripture was encouraging believers in that day to endure suffering until Jesus returned with their reward, which is described in scripture as a crown of glory.
This is why we read passages from Peter that says things like:
1st Peter 5:4 “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
And its why we read Paul say things like 2nd Timothy 4:8
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
What was expected of those people in that day who awaited His coming, His appearing or awaited that day?
“Patience through suffering. “ This is what caused other New Testament writers to say:
Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
2nd Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
1st Peter 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
So again, from the full preterist view – the book is a “complete completed history” of God working through the Nation of Israel to bring about His full victorious plan of salvation into the world.
In my estimation all who patiently waited for Him through insufferable conditions did, in fact, “receive a crown of life and presently do reign with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as joint heirs.
What that looks like or has meant for the past 2000 years I have no idea. What Peter and Paul and the other Saints have been up to since the fulfillment of the contents of the book remains a mystery.
But scripture also tells us that when he does return, “then comes the end.”
If the full preterist view is correct, and He did return (as all the New Testament writers including the writer of Revelation strongly suggested would happen) then the end of all things, as Peter wrote was about to happen, has happened.
Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 15:23 speaking of the resurrection:
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he (Jesus) shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
Because we are still here, and the world of human beings and believers have continued to roll forward it has been really difficult for people to accept that what all the apostles suggested was at hand has happened.
And so we have the idealist, and the historicist, and the futurist interpretations of the book.
Even the partial preterist view of the entire Bible – which is growing at an accelerated rate for the first time in history among leaders in the faith, cannot accept that He has come, and therefore so has the end, “when he (Jesus) shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.”
In my estimation it is all a matter of perspective. Obviously the first view that needs tweaking is “then comes the end of what?”
Because we tend to read the Bible as having been written to us (rather than having application for us) we tend to see the end to be the end of the world.
This is a perspective that requires some resistance not because it doesn’t fit the preterist ideas but because it is not supported by the Bible.
In every case where an end is described in the Bible it is a description of the end of “a time, an age, or a world” but never the world.
Last days are also always in reference to the end of a specific age or time rather than the last days of the world.
Let me give you some examples
When God “destroyed the world with a flood in Genesis 6, He promised
“I will never again destroy every living creature as I have done” Genesis 8:21.
Today this is interpreted to mean “I WILL destroy the world again, but this time I will do it with fire!”
The question is when God says, I will never destroy the earth again as I have done” refer to the watery flood or to “every living creature?”
Why was the world’s population wiped out in the days of Noah?
Because of sin. We have taken this Old Testament passage and said that it is a reoccurring threat to the human race. That when the world becomes so ripe with sin God will destroy it.
However – especially in light of Jesus atoning work for the sins of the world – it makes no sense that God would destroy the world over sin – either His Son has had the victory once and for all over it or He hasn’t.
More years have passed since Christ and more sin has been done by the human race than the world of Noah ten thousand fold – and yet here we are.
Yes, major calamities have occurred, but when God said in Genesis 6
“I will never again destroy every living creature as I have done” I strongly suggest He spoke to the mercy he would forever have on the earth verses his method of wiping us out.
I do believe that if there ever came a time where not a believer in God remains on this earth He may leave the world to its own devices and we could destroy ourselves.
But the idea of the world being wiped out by an angry God was certainly applicable to the Jews and Jerusalem who put His Son to death but has no basis on world wide obliteration.
Then, where the Bible does speak of “the time of the end,” it doesn’t speak of a “end of time.”
There are places where translators have taken the Greek and written “end of time” but these are improperly submitted.
For instance we will come to Revelation 10:6 suggests an end of time but the best Greek translations correct this by saying that there will “not be a delay in time.”
We will see that John was seeing the imminent fulfillment of all things the Old Prophets had foretold – of things that were prophesied of hundreds of years before that would occur in the last days.
The prophets knew their predictions were for the “time of the end,” and in Revelation 10:6 John was told “there will be delay no longer” in the fulfillment of what the prophets foretold!
He was living in “the time of the end”; though obviously not the “end of time!” Which is why John said in 1st John 2:18 “it is the last hour.”
And it was why Peter said the prophets knew the things they predicted were not for their times, (I Peter 1:10-12) but admitted that they were living in the last times. I Peter 1:3-20!
Again, they were living in the last days of the Jewish Age and this was why the apostles asked Jesus in Matthew 24:3—
“What shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the age.” And Jesus explained things that would happen before a generation (40 years) would pass.
But NOWHERE does the Bible speak or describe an “end” removed from the first century inspired writers.
Again, which is why Peter wrote that the “end of all things is at hand,” I Peter 4:7.
Since the end of that age the Kingdom of Christ has only grown – a kingdom where people believe, are saved, and enter life eternal here and now – only to continue on into it after physical death and into the eternities.
Isaiah 9:6-7 predicted the establishment of the rule of Christ on the throne of David, saying “and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”
Daniel 2:44 and 7:13-14 says Christ’s kingdom will never be destroyed.
In Luke 1:32 the angel told Mary that Jesus would be given the throne of David and “of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Paul says in Ephesians 3:21 that it is the mission of the church to give glory to God “world without end.”
My point?
There is no end to the Kingdom Christ established. Ever. And it will continue to grow and thrive as believers come to the truth through His finished work.
Now, an important point that is timely to make here.
Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
All alone this sounds like the end of the world and seems to echo Peter’s language in 2nd Peter 3:10 where he wrote:
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
But as much as we might want to take the end of our material world both Isaiah and Peter were speaking of the end of the OLD COVENANT AGE OF ISRAEL!
In other words, Israel’s “heaven and earth,” (that Covenant world) was to give way to “the New Covenant world of Jesus; the New Heavens and the New Earth and the New Jerusalem! ”
Instead of this just being my opinion we know this by reading verses 15-16 of defines that “heaven and earth” as the world and heavens created when God gave Israel the law at Sinai.
This is what God says there:
15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
We can see that He said this after the creation of the world and uses this language of planting the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth FOR Zion to then be a people under and on it.
In contrast to that world which would be destroyed, God’s new world, established by and through Christ, would stand forever, which is why Isaiah said in chapter 65 that
God would destroy Israel, create a new people with a new name, and give them a new heaven and new earth.”
Obviously this refers to covenantal worlds and not physical and coincides with Jesus equating the fall of Jerusalem in Matthew 24 as “heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall never pass away”
To wrap this thought up this is why the writer of Hebrews also speaks of the passing of the heaven and earth (that existed at Sinai followed by the deliverance of an “unshakable kingdom of God” – one that is entirely spiritual, a kingdom that would last forever and ever which would thrive here and continue on there.
We will read in Revelation 11:8 of this new heaven and earth coming when the city “where our Lord was crucified” was destroyed.
And so we see the need for the patience and suffering of the Saints that all the apostles were writing to – including John here in Revelation.
Let’s pause – mid verse – here.
Q and A
