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[- On
www.talkingbibledolls.com the
company advertises "a huggable, washable, and talking
Jesus plush doll." – The Jesus doll sells for $10.00.
- Sporting
fuzzy dreadlocks and a satiny beard, Talking Jesus has lots to say.
- When you
squeeze his red heart his sayings include, "I love you, and I have an
exciting plan for your life," and, "Your life matters so much to me."]
- I don’t
know about you, but that is a far cry from the Jesus presented in the
Bible who says:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End."
– Revelation 22:13
- For too long we have
allowed our culture, and especially the church culture, to picture Jesus
in a warm and fuzzy way that tends to take away from who He really is
- And while it is true
that Jesus loves us and cares for us, and wants to be in a relationship
with us, we still need to remember who it is that does these things.
- I, for one, am tired of
the Mr. Roger’s neighborhood Jesus that has been shoved down my throat,
and would rather focus on Jesus as He is presented in the Bible.
- And that is why we’ve
been focusing for the last seven weeks on the titles of Jesus – today
will be our last week on this topic, and I’ve chosen “Alpha and Omega”
as the last of the titles we’ll look at.
- First, let’s consider:
WHAT ALPHA AND
OMEGA MEANS
- “I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." –
Revelation 22:13
- Alpha is the first
letter of the Greek alphabet, while omega is the last.
- In English we would
say, “I am the A and the Z.”
- Two other times in the
book of Revelation this statement is made, both times referring to God
the Father.
- But here Jesus uses the
phrase in connection with Himself, again stating that He is fully equal
with God.
- The other statements
are saying something similar: He is the First and the Last, the
Beginning and the End.
- Based on these
statements we can say the following about what Alpha and Omega means:
1. JESUS IS
COMPLETE
- In the Hebrew alphabet
the first letter is Aleph and the last letter is Tau.
- The Jewish people used
these letters in a similar way to our text.
- The rabbis used to say
that Adam transgressed the law from Aleph to Tau, but Abraham kept the
law from Aleph to Tau.
- They also used to say
that God blessed His people from Aleph to Tau.
- And what they were
getting at is the sense of completeness.
- The law was completely
broken by Adam, the law was kept completely by Abraham, and God had
blessed His people in the most complete way possible.
- Now, this idea of
completeness is applied to the Person of Jesus Christ.
- He is the Alpha and
Omega – He is complete within Himself with no need of anything or anyone
else.
- He has all power, all
wisdom, all knowledge, all holiness, and all goodness.
- Another way of putting
it is that there is nothing that He lacks.
2. JESUS IS
ETERNAL
- The old and accurate
saying concerning Jesus is, “There was never a time when He was not.”
- I’m not sure if that is
grammatically correct, but it certainly is biblically accurate.
- Jesus did not have a
beginning in the way that you and I had.
- While it is true that
there was a point in time when He was given a flesh and blood body, the
spirit that inhabited it had been in existence since eternity past.
3. JESUS IS
AUTHORITATIVE
- The Greeks used to say
that Zeus was the beginning, the middle, and the end.
- The Jewish rabbis took
over this idea and applied it to God, with their own interpretation.
- They said that, since
God was the beginning, He received his power from no one; since He was
the middle, He shared his power with no one; and since He was the end,
He never handed over his power to anyone.
- And now Jesus uses this
same language concerning Himself – the point is that Zeus is not in
charge, and neither are any of the other so-called gods.
- Jesus is the Alpha and
Omega, the First and Last, the Beginning and the End.
- That is what Alpha and
Omega means, now let’s see:
WHAT ALPHA AND
OMEGA DOES
- When we study these
types of truths together it is always important to ask, “What does this
truth mean in the real world? Or, how does this truth apply to the world
in which I live?”
- Because until we can
answer that question we will gain lots of head knowledge, but our hearts
will remain unchanged.
- There are four specific
items I want to share with you concerning instances where the Bible
pictures Jesus as both Alpha and Omega with o using those specific
terms.
1. HE IS THE AUTHOR
AND PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH
[- Gordon Johnson told the story that
during World War I, a British
commander was preparing to lead his soldiers back to battle.
- They'd been on furlough, and
it was a cold, rainy, muddy day.
- Their shoulders sagged
because they knew what lay ahead of them: mud, blood, possible death –
Nobody talked, nobody sang – It was a heavy time.
- As they marched along, the
commander looked into a bombed-out church.
- Back inside the church he
saw the figure of Christ on the cross.
- At that moment, something
happened to the commander.
- He remembered the One who
suffered, died, and rose again.
- There was victory, and there
was triumph.
- As the troops marched along,
he shouted out, "Eyes right, march!"
- Every eye turned to the
right, and as the soldiers marched by, they saw Christ on the cross –
and something happened to that company of men.
- Suddenly they saw triumph
after suffering, and they took courage.
- With shoulders straightened,
they began to smile as they went.]
- Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. – Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
- When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we know that everything
will turn out all right.
- He is the Alpha and Omega of our faith – He is the one
we place our faith in, and He is the one who sees our faith through till
the very end.
- The beginning of our faith journey comes when we trust
in Him, and all along the spiritual path we travel, Jesus is working to
perfect that faith within us, until one day, when the journey is
completed, the victory is won, and the struggle is over.
2. HE IS OUR ADVOCATE
AND OUR JUDGE
[- I don’t know if you
ever watch any of the reality-type crime programs on TV or not, but I
have.
- And I’ll tell you what
absolutely amazes me – some guy will be arrested for suspicion of murder
and they will go into the interrogation room, and the suspect will begin
answering all the questions that the police are asking him.
- I will guarantee you,
that even if I knew I was completely innocent, I would not say a word
until I had my attorney present – there are just too many things that
could go wrong.]
- Jesus serves as our
advocate, or you could say our defense attorney, in the matter of our
guilt before God.
- My dear children, I
am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin,
there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ,
the one who pleases God completely.
– 1 John 2:1
- Jesus stands before the
Father and pleads our case – His argument is that we are not guilty by
virtue of what He has done for us on the Cross of Calvary.
- He states, not that we
have never committed sin, but that our sins have already been paid for –
and God, of course, is in agreement.
- That is Jesus’ Alpha
role – but He is the Omega in that He is also our Judge.
- And he ordered us
to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be
the judge of all—the living and the dead. – Acts 10:42
- Can you imagine having
your defense attorney also serving as your judge?
- That is what happens in
the courts of heaven.
- Jesus argues on your
behalf, and then He declares you not guilty.
- It doesn’t get any
better than that.
3. HE IS A GENTLE LAMB
AND A CONQUERING LION
[- First Lady Laura Bush
recalls one overnight visit with her husband in the home of his parents,
the former President and Mrs. Bush.
- "George woke up at 6 a.m. as
usual and went downstairs to get a cup of coffee," Laura Bush said.
- "And he sat down on the sofa
with his parents and put his feet up. And all of a sudden, Barbara Bush
yelled, 'Put your feet down!'
- "George's dad replied, 'For
goodness' sake, Barbara, he's the President of the United States.'
- "And Barbara said, 'I don't
care. I don't want his feet on my table.' "
- The president promptly did
as he was told, for as Mrs. Bush observes: "Even Presidents have to
listen to their mothers."]
- While I certainly don’t
put her in the category of Jesus, I think of Barbara Bush as both a lamb
and a lion.
- She can be gentle as
mothers often are, but can also demonstrate her authority.
- When we think of Jesus
I think we more often think of Him as a lamb.
- The next day John
saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! There is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29
- In an earlier sermon we
went over what it means to describe Jesus as a lamb.
- When we think of Him
this way, we think of one who is gentle, who is caring, who is one upon
whom we can lean – and that is an accurate picture of Him.
- That is Jesus as Alpha,
but He is also the Omega as the conquering Lion.
- But one of the
twenty-four elders said to me, "Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has conquered. He is worthy
to open the scroll and break its seven seals." – Revelation 5:5
- There is coming a time
when the role of Lamb will be ended, when there is no more sacrifice for
sin, when the end of all things has come.
- Jesus will come as a
victorious conqueror and what you and I need to be concerned about is
what our relationship is with Him.
- If we have trusted in
Him for salvation, there is nothing to be concerned about.
- But if we have not, we
will be judged, not based on what Jesus did for us on the Cross, but
instead upon our own sin, and that’s not a position any of us want to be
in.
4. HE IS OUR SERVANT
AND OUR LORD
[- Mother Teresa was sometimes
challenged about the long-term effects of her humanitarian ministry.
- For example, she was asked,
"Why give people fish to eat instead of teaching them how to fish?"
- She had a quick response:
"But my people can't even stand. They're sick, crippled, demented. When
I have given them fish to eat and they can stand, I'll turn them over
and you give them the rod to catch the fish."]
- I love that response – she
was a true servant in every respect.
- I am always amazed when I
read in the Bible of how Jesus chose to become a servant of all
humankind – especially in respect to the Cross.
-
“For even I, the Son of
Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life
as a ransom for many."
– Mark 10:45
- Here we have the
Creator of the Universe choosing to serve those who have scorned His
name and laughed at His commands.
- He came to this planet
to serve you – what do you think about that?
- Picture yourself going
into a restaurant and having God as your waiter.
- It doesn’t seem right,
does it? A little inappropriate, to say the least.
- Who am I to have God
waiting on me?
- Yet, He did much more
than that in serving us on the Cross and giving His life as a payment
for the debt that each of us owed.
- Yet, while Jesus is the
Alpha servant, He is also the Omega Lord.
- In Peter’s Pentecost
sermon he declared:
- “So let it be
clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom
you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!" – Acts 2:36
- While Jesus has come to
us as servant, He also expects and demands that we bow down to Him as
Lord.
- God raised him up to
the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other
name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians
2:9-11
- Now we don’t want to
wait until Jesus returns to bow down to Him as Lord.
- We want to do it right
now as we worship Him, and acknowledge Him as the Master over our lives.
- That means we do what
He asks us to do, we move when He tells us to move, we love those He
tells us to love, we obey the commands He has given, and we refrain from
the things he has asked us not to do.
- CONCLUSION
- As we’ve studied these
titles of Jesus, I think that perhaps Alpha and Omega is the greatest
one of all.
- It can be taken as a
summary statement of everything Jesus is.
- And it is issued as a
declaration for us to which we must pay close attention.
- This Alpha and Omega,
this Lord of All, wants us to wake up to the fact that He is real, that
He is focusing intensely on us and that one day He is going to come
again.
- Are you ready to meet
the Alpha and Omega? Are you looking forward to that day?
- You can answer “Yes” to
both of those questions if you’ll simply trust Him as Lord.
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