Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

ALPHA & OMEGA

February 21, 2011

They are the first and the last letters in the Greek alphabet. In other words, they represent the beginning and the end, from A to Z, and they cover the "whole shootin' match."

"Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One, I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."
                                                    - Revelation 1:17,18 TNIV

John's vision begins with one called, "like a son of man." Yet soon we learn this vision is of none other than Jesus. Jesus towers above the boundary of all history, our history, and our lives.  He reigns over all, throughout all time as the Alpha and Omega, and he even reigns over death and Hades.

John writes to people suffering and being tormented for their faithfulness to Christ. The revelation that follows seeks to encourage struggling people, the ones who are beginning to doubt if this faith is really worth it. But when we meet Jesus, the "Living One," it kindles the struggling embers of our faith, and gives us courage.  Jesus gives us heart in the face of all the tyrants we encounter, then and now.

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson