From JAP—Revelation 22:12-13
“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Jesus used the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet to describe Himself—Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2), but it does not end there.
“Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:3-5).
But God was displeased with His creation, so He called on the Word—His only Son, Jesus Christ, to cast His spotless robes aside, and leave the glory of heaven to come to earth to live as a man.
Why?
His light was all that could shine in a hopelessly derelict world to overcome the power of the one who had set himself up as it’s prince—Satan.
But sadly, many still do not understand God’s goodness, because life seems to have come from the deceiver. But Jesus’ light began to shine, and still many did not understand: “Why is My language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:43-44), and his lies have convinced humanity that they are wise enough to rule the world.
But God warns: “Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become “a fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19).
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Where does that leave us?
Are we to be left in a devil’s world without ever knowing the goodness of God; controlled by hatred and the destruction of being driven by evil?
NO! A God of mercy could never allow that to happen without providing a Way to overcome the devil’s effort to remove innocence and righteousness from His world.
So, we have been given the choice of life over death through an old wooden cross. Will we accept new life made possible by that one time sacrifice of the Alpha and Omega (Jesus), or will we choose to go our own way into judgment?
For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.” (Philippians, Romans, Isaiah)
The devil thought the cross was the end—Omega, that he had won, but God knew better. Alpha was still to fulfill His purpose for coming—that promise of new life. So Jesus succumbed to death, but only to be gloriously resurrected to fulfill His promise of a new creation, where the old would die and the new would come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
May each of us humbly accept His invitation from that cross to experience the beauty of a journey through a new life with excitement and joy, into the triumph of eternity, forever separated from the devil’s plans for our submission to his evil.
Hallelujah for the Cross!