05-27-12 The Alpha And The Omega

Rev. 1:8-20

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Our study of the Book of Revelation

has brought us to the 8^th verse

of Revelation chapter 1.

I mentioned last week

that I plan to offer you titles

for each section of the Book

as we move through it.

Last week we looked at the first 3 sections of the book:

1. Rev. 1:1-2 answers the question:

Where did this thing come from, anyway?

2. Rev. 1:3

we have The Blessing.

3. Rev. 1:4-7 we called To and From.

This morning we begin with the forth section,

a section consisting of a single verse, verse 1:8.

And the title we’re going to give to this section

is nearly half as long as the section itself.

We are going to call verse 1:8: Revelation in a single verse.

And keep in mind what we have already seen in the first 7 verses.

John opened the book

by telling us in verse 1 that this whole thing originated directly from God Himself.

He then went on in verses 4-7

to communicate a special greeting

from each member of the Godhead -

God the Father,

The Seven Spirits of God,

and Jesus Christ.

But then,

before a single word of the actual Revelation is communicated

God instructed John to begin

with a single, one line,

direct quotation from God Himself.

That one-line quotation

is what we have in verse 1:8.

It reads:

Rev. 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

And that, folks,

is the entire Book of Revelation

in a single sentence.

It has 3 parts to it.

First, God tells us He is the Alpha and the Omega.

Those are the first

and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.

In English we would say,

‟I am the A and the Z”,

the beginning and the end,

the first and the last.

The first 4 words of Scripture,

in Genesis 1:1 are, “In the beginning God...”

And, when He reveals to us His final Revelation,

He wants us to know that it will end

just like it began - with just one Personality, God Himself,

center stage in all of creation,

with all eyes on Him,

and all things subject to Him -

the Alpha and the Omega.

The second statement

is His direct affirmation

of the title we saw John use for Him in verse 4,"who is and who was and who is to come, ...”

As we saw last week,

this is His time-sensitive description of Himself...

the One who IS the past,

the One who IS the present,

the One who IS the Future.

In these two phrases

He is telling us

that He is the beginning,

He is the end,

and He is everything in between.

And then, the final phrase,

just two words: “...the Almighty."

All strength,

all power,

all authority ultimately rest with Him.

If we went no further than this verse

we would understand the message

of the Book of Revelation.

This Book is the account

of the final events in His plan for this creation,

a plan that He established

before one blade of grass existed

or Adam ever set foot

in the Garden of Eden.

Part of that plan includes free will for each of us.

But He wants no misunderstanding on this point:

our free will in no way negates

or threatens His absolute supremacy over all He has brought into being.

HE decided what to create,

He decided how long it will last,

and He has decided how and when

it will end.

He allows each of us to choose

whether we accept and submit to His plan,

or whether we fight against it.

But He wants it clearly understood,

WE CANNOT CHANGE IT.

Rev. 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Everything else is just details.

Then, Rev. 1:9-16 we are going to call:

The Encounter.

I want you all to know

that I am exercising tremendous restraint

in our approach to this book.

If I allowed myself to

we could spend the next two years in Revelation.

I mean, just look at that verse 9:

Rev. 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

There’s three hours right there.

Look at the three universal elements

that he tells us come with Christ -

tribulation,

kingdom,

and perseverance.

That’s pure Christianity.

That is the most mature Christian alive

at that point in history

looking back over his 70 or 80 years

telling us that the real thing,

true Christianity can be summed up in those three elements.

What does Christ bring

when He enters our lives?

He brings tribulation.

Our union with Him

will make us outcasts,

misfits in a world in rebellion against Him.

There are times when we will do what is right

and suffer because of it.

There are times when we will speak wisdom

and be called a fool.

There are times

when we will choose morality

and be laughed at

and teased

and scorned

and hated because of it.

But we do not just enter tribulation

when we enter Christ,

we also enter His Kingdom.

We become an eternal citizen of His Kingdom,

with all the rights and the privileges

of that citizenship.

Col. 1:13 says it well:

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,...

It is a kingdom citizenship

which grants us a dignity

and an authority

and a security

and a high calling

like nothing we have ever known before.

Tribulation,

and Kingdom,

and Perseverance.

Phil. 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

And we need three weeks

to really do those concepts justice.

But I want to get back to John’s encounter with Christ.

John hears a voice behind him,

a loud voice,

a voice like the blast of a trumpet,

a voice that clearly communicated

absolute authority,

a voice telling him to write down the vision he was about to see

and send it to seven specific churches.

John turned around,

and what He saw caused him to “fall at His feet as a dead man.”

Now, keep in mind that this is the same John

who lived with Jesus for 3 years.

The same John who called himself,

“the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

This is the same John who stood at the foot of the cross

and heard Jesus ask him

to take care of Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus.

This is the same John

who saw Jesus after the resurrection

walking around in His earthly resurrected body.

And yet,

what he saw that day on the Island of Patmos

so overwhelmed him

that he collapsed in a heap in the dirt.

You see, what he saw

was Jesus as He now is,

in His glory as the 2^nd Person of the God-head.

Scripture records only two accounts

of people meeting Christ

following Christ’s departure after His resurrection.

This is one of those accounts.

The other was Paul’s encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.

Paul never saw anything other than a blinding light,

but he heard the voice of Christ,

and he, like John,

instantly fell to the ground.

There are lots of people during the past 2000 years

who have claimed to have had

visions of Christ.

I’ll just say this as simply as I know how-

unless what they saw

looks like what John describes here in Revelation,

they’re being scammed by the Devil.

All they’re seeing

is a demon dressed up in a Jesus costume.

Our Lord will often make us aware

of His presence with us.

We just know He’s there,

and He loves us,

and whatever we’re going through

He’s going through with us.

But during the entire New Testament era,

in the 70 years of the most intense

and crucial supernatural work of God in all of history

there was only one time

when Christ chose to make a visible appearance to a human being -

and it was for the purpose of bringing into existence

the final book of the Bible.

All I’m saying is this -

if you encounter someone

who is claiming spiritual authority

because they claim to have seen Jesus,

just remember - a demon’s favorite Halloween costume is a beard

and a glowing white robe.

OK, John sees this incredible being,

standing in the middle of 7 gold lampstands,

and holding 7 stars in His hand.

He drops on his face before Christ.

And then, verses 1:17-20

we are going to call, The keys to the book.

And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

This passage thrills me!

This amazing Being walks up to John,

who is laying on his face in the dirt,

and places His right hand on him.

And with that touch,

and the words that follow,

He says to John, ‟It’s Me.

All My Authority,

and all My power,

and all my glory and majesty

have not changed who I am.

I’m still the Jesus who loves you.

Don’t be afraid.”

Then, in verse 19 Christ gives John

an outline for the vision he will see,

and in verse 20

He offers us the key to understanding it.

The outline is simple:

1. Write what you have seen: chapter 1.

2. Write the things which are: chapters 2-3

3. Write the things which shall take place after these things: chapters 4-22.

And then, the key to the Book...

Now remember,

John had just seen Christ standing in the middle of 7 gold lampstands,

holding 7 stars in his hand.

And, after comforting John,

the first thing Jesus says is this:

Rev. 1:20 "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

As we wrap this up for the morning,

I want us to see this both from an academic perspective,

and from a life-centered one.

From an academic perspective,

it is important to see what Christ is doing here.

The book of Revelation is filled

with a great deal of symbolism -

things in the vision

that represent something else.

The vision starts with two of them -

stars and lampstands.

But as soon as that symbolism is presented

we are immediately told what it means.

Which give us two essential ground rules

for studying the book.

1. If what we read is symbolic

we will be told it’s symbolic

and we will be told what the symbol represents.

2. If we are not told it is symbolic

we can assume it is to be understood

and interpreted literally.

No secrets.

But I can’t leave this passage

without helping to bring it home as well.

One bit of knowledge we need here

in order to bring things into focus

is to know that the word we translate as “angel” in Scripture

means literally, “messenger”.

When Christ was talking to the crowds about John the Baptist He said,

Luke 7:27 "This is the one about whom it is written, ' Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.'

That word, “messenger” is exactly the same Greek word

that is translated “angel”

here in Revelation.

When Jesus talks about the seven “angels” of the seven churches,

it would be better translated, ‟the seven messengers” of the seven churches.

He is talking about the pastors or teachers of those churches.

Look, people,

look at the center

of God’s relationship with this world.

It’s not the political leaders,

it’s not world religions,

it’s certainly not the United States.

It’s His Church,

His people.

He is walking among His churches,

holding the leadership of those churches

in his right hand.

We are what matters to Him.

We are what He is about.

We are what He is doing in our world today...

Eph. 3:10 in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.