Alpha and Omega

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw — that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." I’m going to let you in on a secret about preaching. It’s easy to do wrong and extremely hard to do right. I say this not to be arrogant or critical, but I speak of my own preaching, too, just as I do of other preachers. Most sermons fall far short of the mark God has set for preachers. Paul set a standard for Christian preaching in 1 Cor. 1:22-25 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. All good preaching leads to the cross. Anything which falls short of the cross may be a good talk, but it is not Christian. Any sermon which could be delivered by a Jewish Rabbi or Muslim imam is not Biblical Christian preaching. It needs to be about the cross of Jesus. I can’t tell you how hard it is to keep on that target, week after week. I greatly admire preachers, such as Billy Graham, who do. The truth is simple, yet it easily eludes us. Christ is all. What doesn’t focus on the person and work of Christ, and lead us back to the cross does not meet the standards of the Gospel. The same problem existed in apostolic times. There were challenges inside and out. The Jews persecuted the church because the Jewish Christians were not going keeping the Law. The Romans persecuted the Christians because they kept the law of love. Inside the church, many thought that Christianity as the “moral rearmament” of Israel. They could point to the teachings and parables of Jesus--the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Sermon on the Mount, and so on, and see parallels in what the great rabbis of Judaism said. Others thought of Christianity as being similar to the pagan “mystery religions”, ceremonial cleansing rituals that took away sins, but had no teachings of morality. The Lord’s Supper and Baptism cleaned us, but they did not change us. As long as we were baptized and kept coming to church, God didn’t care how we lived. John could see that they were missing something. What was it that the earlier gospel writers--Matthew, Mark, and Luke--had failed to show? John realized that Jesus’ message was not some kind of reformed Judaism, nor was it a kind of magical portion for personal happiness. It was not about us at all. It was about Him. It was not what Jesus said or did, but about who He was. So John wrote down what Jesus said about himself. “I am the bread of life,” “I am the good shepherd.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the way, the truth, and he Life.” Each statement was bolder then the one before. The problem with preaching today is that we are always telling people what they ought to do instead of telling them who Jesus is. John was born a fisherman, but he did not stay at sea. Early in his life, he became a disciple, following one teacher after another. He and his cousin Andrew became disciples of John the Baptist. John the Baptist sent them to follow Jesus. Along the way, John had been exposed to a lot of rabbinic teaching. He did not just learn what they said, but the language they used to say it. The rabbi’s had a professional language, just as every profession. One rabbis favorite phrases was, “Aleph and Tau.” Aleph was the first letter of the Jewish alphabet; Tau was the last. It’s like our phrase “from A to Z.” When they finished talking about a matter, they would say “That’s the aleph and tau of it.” John was not writing in Hebrew. He was writing in Greek. So instead of aleph and tau, he uses alpha and omega, the first letter of the Greek alphabet plus the last. It means all that is , was and will be. Jesus is the beginning and the end. From the first sentence of John 1 to the last sentence of revelation. Jesus is everything. Consider what that means. Jesus is not something we add to our lives. We are added to Jesus’ life. Jesus is not someone who came along. He was there all along. He does not enter us. We enter him. It world could not exist, cannot cease to exist without his involvement. Our lives are in his hands from birth to death. He is all and in all, and through Him all things live and move and have being. Without Him, there is nothing, nothing at all. Jesus began the world. From beginning to end, Jesus behind all that is. In Genesis 1 we read “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, and the earth was without from and void. . . and God said ‘let there be light.” John said “In the beginning was the word.” The word “let there be light” was an expression of God. It was Jesus. John understood that the word of God--his expression of divine nature was Jesus. Jesus was behind creation. Jesus will end the world. John also saw into the future in Revelation. His revelation began in Revelation 1 as an image of Jesus. In Revelation 19, Jesus appears as the Word of God on a white horse coming down from heaven with a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth, as he comes. Jesus will wrap all things up one day, and sit on the great white throne. Jesus is the power of God revealed throughout history. He is the designer of the Ark. He is the divine visitor to Abraham. He is the pillar of fire and the burning bush. He is the fourth man in Daniel’s fiery furnace. He is Ezekiel’s wheels within wheels. He parted the red sea, brought down Jericho, destroyed Sennachaerib’s army, preserved Jonah in the belly of the beast, and rebuilt Jerusalem. All the miracles of Bible times, and all the hope for miracles in the future, lie in Him. Jesus is the reason for all things. We were created to please God. But God knew that we would not please him. He knew that we would rebel. So God prepared a body for himself to be born at a specific time. This human expression of God is the word of God which appears in heaven. God had planned all along to come to earth and substitute Himself for us and receive the wrath deserving of sin upon Himself. This was the plan in his mind before the worlds were created or the universe ever began, long before the Big Bang or the formation of the suns and planets. Long after all this is destroyed, He will still be the center of all things. Jesus is the wisdom behind all things. Jesus is the north star, Polaris. We do not know what happens or will happen to us, but we know this, that no matter where we may be or what we may do, He gives us meaning. Often I have asked myself why things happen. Why did this person have do die young, while this person linger in a vegetative state? Why does fortune come to the undeserving while good people remain poor? I could never solve ther mysteries. But I don’t have to. I know where the north star is. I know who holds all the answers, and I trust Him to bring light to all. Jesus is God’s love made plain. Which of the disciples do you most identify with? Peter, John, Thomas? I think we are too kind to ourselves. He disciple who we most resemble is Judas. He was close, perhaps closest to Jesus, and he turned against him. Jesus sat at the last supper, and heard God’s words of forgiveness, yet walked way. But that doesn’t mean God walked away from him. Jesus washed Judas’ feet, demonstrating his servanthood even to Judas. God showed his love to us in Jesus even to those who would later reject Him. He reached out to them, even when he knew there was no hope of them accepting him. That’s the way God is. No one can fully escape God’s love. Even sinners are invited. It does not matter what you’ve done in life, or who you are. It doesn’t matter who your parents were, or what you do for a living.. Nothing matters at all except what you do with Jesus. Those who accept His free gift has eternal life. Those who do not face eternal death. He is the test of our love of God. At the end of time, when we stand before the judgment throne, we will be asked one single question” what did you do with Jesus?” It won’t matter how good we were, or how much we gave to the church, or whether or not we joined the church. Jesus will matter. He is the one person who matters more than us all. Jesus is the example we follow. Living a Christian life is not really that complicated. It is just following Jesus. Many have criticized those old bracelets that waid “What would Jesus do?” as being too simplistic. Surely we need to keep looking at what they mean, but they still express something deep and universal. What do we do? We do what Jesus did. We love as he loved, obey as he obeyed, trust as He trusted. He is our guide and reason for all things. So the question comes to us today—is he our “A to Z”, our alpha and omega? Or is he something we added along the way. If was include Him in all things, then all things make sense. If he is simply an addition, then nothing can make sense for long. He is the fulfillment of everything good and perfect and decent we will ever know. He is our all in all. May he never be any less than this to us.