Revelation 1:8

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega'-the first and last letters of the alphabet. God in Christ comprises all between, as well as first and last. THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING. Omitted in 'Aleph (') A B C, through in the Vulgate and Coptic. Transcribers probably inserted it from Revelation 21:6. In Christ, Genesis, the Alpha of Scripture, and Revelation, the Omega, meet; the last presenting man and God reconciled in Paradise, as the first presented man at the beginning innocent and in God's favour in Paradise. Accomplishing finally what I begin. Always the same: before the dragon, the beast, false prophet, and all foes. Anticipatory consolation under the Church's coming trials....

4-8 There can be no true peace, where there is not true grace; and where grace goeth before, peace will follow. This blessing is in the name of God, of the Holy Trinity, it is an act of adoration. The Father is first named; he is described as the Jehovah who is, and who was, and who is to come, eternal, unchangeable. The Holy Spirit is called the seven spirits, the perfect Spirit of God, in whom there is a diversity of gifts and operations. The Lord Jesus Christ was from eternity, a Witness to all the counsels of God. He is the First-born from the dead, who will by his own power raise up his people. He is the Prince of the kings of the earth; by him their counsels are overruled, and to him they are accountable. Sin leaves a stain of guilt and pollution upon the soul. Nothing can fetch out this stain but the blood of Christ; and Christ shed his own blood to satisfy Divine justice, and pu...

Verse Revelation 1:8. _I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA_] I am from eternity to eternity. This mode of speech is borrowed from the Jews, who express the _whole compass of things_ by א _aleph_ and ת _tau_, the _first_ and _last_ letters of the _Hebrew_ alphabet; but as St. John was writing in _Greek_, he accommodates the whole to the _Greek_ alphabet, of which Α _alpha_ and Ω _omega_ are the first and last letters. With the rabbins מא ועד ת _meeleph vead tau_, "_from aleph to_ _tau_," expressed the whole of a matter, _from the beginning to the_ _end_. So in _Yalcut Rubeni_, fol. 17, 4: _Adam transgressed the_ _whole law from aleph to tau_; i.e., from the beginning to the end. _Ibid_., fol. 48, 4: _Abraham observed the law, from aleph to tau_; i.e., he kept it _entirely_, from

I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA - These are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, and denote properly the first and the last. So in Revelation 22:13, where the two expressions are united, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” So in Revelation 1:17, the speaker says of himself, “I am the first and the last.” Among the Jewish rabbis it was common to use the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet to denote the whole of anything, from beginning to end. Thus, it is said, “Adam transgressed the whole law, from ‘Aleph (א) to Taw (תּ).” “Abraham kept the whole law, from ‘Aleph (א) to Taw (תּ).” The language

EXPOSITION THE TITLE. The simplest form of this, as of other books of the New Testament, is the oldest: 'The Revelation of John' (Αποκάλυψις Ιωάννου). Other forms worth noting are: 'The Revelation of John the Apostle and Evangelist;' 'The Revelation of the holy and most glorious Apostle and Evangelist, the virgin, the beloved, that leaned on the breast, John the Divine.' 'The divine' as a title for St. John, which is retained here in both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, is certainly as old as Eusebius ('Praep. Evan.,' 11.18). Recent discoveries at Ephesus have shown that "divines" (θεολόγοι) was a title of the chief priests in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It is possible, but hardly probable, that this suggested the title for St. John. It probably points to his witness to the Divinity of the Logos or Word. Eusebius ('Hist. Eccl.,' III. 24.13) remarks that John omit...

I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA,.... These are the words of Christ himself, appearing at once, and confirming what John had said of him, concerning his person, offices, and future coming: Alpha is the first letter, and Omega the last in the Greek alphabet, and signifies that Christ is the first and the last, as it is interpreted in Revelation 1:11, and is a character often given to the divine Being in prophetic writings; see Isaiah 41:4; and is no small proof of the proper deity of Christ. Alpha is used by the Jews for the chief of persons or things; "Macmas and Mezonicha (names of places) are אלפא לסלת, "Alpha for fine flour";'' that is, the best fine flour is there, they are the chief places for it: and again, "Tekoah is אלפא לשמן, "Alpha for oil",'' or the chief

Revelation 1:1. _The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw._ John was one who was of the same spirit as his Master. He lived in very intimate communion with his Lord, and, therefore, to him the choicest revelations were made. The Lord does not reveal his secret to uncongenial minds. He that will do his will shall know of the doctrine, and he shall know all secret things. Oh! if we lived nearer to God, if we walked more in the love of Christ, how much more we might know and see; or, if we saw not visions, yet there are inward perceptions to the heart which God would grant us if we lived more in the light of his countenance....

REVELATION 1:8 +W {A} After +W 2 the Textus Receptus, following a* 1 (2344) itgig, ar vg _al_, adds avrch. kai. te,loj, and twenty other minuscules add h` avrch. kai. to. te,loj. If the longer text were original no good reason can be found to account for the shorter text, whereas the presence of the longer expression in Revelation 21:6 obviously prompted some copyists to expand the text here. ------------------------- 2 It will be noticed that in the Greek text alpha is spelled...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PATMOS VISION OF THE GLORIFIED SON OF MAN CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Revelation 1:1)_ 2. Greeting and benediction (Revelation 1:4) 3. The praise (Revelation 1:6) 4. The testimony of the Almighty (Revelation 1:8) 5. John in Patmos (Revelation 1:9) 6. The vision of Christ in glory (Revelation 1:12) 7. The commission ...

THE GREETING is addressed to the seven churches of Asia for whom the book was written. REVELATION 1:4. SEVEN CHURCHES, _ i.e._ Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. ASIA: not in the modern sense but the Roman province, which extended along the western coast-line of what is now known as Asia Minor. WHICH WAS, etc.: this phrase describes the eternity of God. He is Lord of the past, the present, and the future. THE SEVEN SPIRITS: a startling expression. We expect a reference to the Holy Spirit as in the benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:14. Many scholars think the writer uses this phrase to describe the Holy Spirit in His plenitude and perfection, and with the intention of signifying that each of the seven churches has its spe