Revelation 22:9 Then said he to me, See you do it not: for I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers the prophets… This declaration is made of Jesus Christ. It is oft-repeated in this book to give it emphasis. It indicates the supremacy and absolute government of the Redeemer God. All creatures, all things, all relations and dispensations have their source in Him, and will find their end in Him. I. JESUS CHRIST IS THE REAL, ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE PRESENT ORDER OF THINGS. He is over it all, and in it all, and the life of it all, and the genius of it all, and the substance and end of it all. By right of office the headship and kingship of it belong to Him. Before any creature or world existed, the eternal "Alpha" was. He is the "Everlasting Father," as Isaiah styles Him — the Father of all the angels in heaven, as well as of all mankind. Creative power begins with and ends in Him. Providence is the executor of His will. Redemption underlies all the arrangements, counsels, and purposes of God. Here is our confidence. The Gospel promise cannot fail, for it is the word of Him who abideth for ever, the will of Him who is supreme over all, and the work of Him who made the earth and the stars. II. JESUS CHRIST IS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF ALL THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS MADE TO THE CREATURES OF GOD. We have in the material universe a most wonderful manifestation of God. All His natural attributes are thereby brought to light, and we are confronted with Deity. But the light of nature affords but an imperfect and uncertain idea of God. His moral perfections are His chief glory, and nature reveals nothing of these. It is the plan and work of human redemption which most clearly and signally makes God known to man, and even to angels. This work has Christ's mediation for its basis, Christ's atonement for its grand expression, and the Holy Spirit as its efficient agent. To accomplish it all power has been given to Christ, and all creatures, and all things in heaven and on earth are made subservient to Him. Not that Christ is a mere manifestation of God. He is as distinctly a person as the Father. But it is in Christ only that God speaks, shines forth, acts. The glory of the Godhead shines for us only in the face of Jesus Christ. We see in Him God's moral perfections as well as His natural attributes. The goodness and mercy and holiness and justice of God find fearful expression in the person and work of the incarnated One. III. CHRIST IS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. He is the central character, the life, the essence, the burden, and the substance of them. To set forth Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, is their chief end. He is the first promise of mercy made to man, and equally the last. His office, work, and history are blended and interwoven with the whole structure of revelation. IV. CHRIST IS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF MAN'S SALVATION. Christ is the finisher of our salvation as well as its author. He completes whatsoever He begins. He never leaves or forsakes one who has felt His pardoning mercy, until he is safe in heaven. He will wash out the last stain of guilt from the soul, conquer the last enemy, and present us faultless before His Father's throne with exceeding glory. V. CHRIST IS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE LIFE OF GOD IN THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER. By nature we are dead in sin, and no will or power of man can give us life. Christ is our life. He only has power to raise us up from the death of sin; to keep us alive; to cause us to grow in grace, and assimilate us to the character of God. VI. CHRIST IS THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE SAINTS' FINAL GLORY. Heaven is the culmination of Christ's power and of Gospel blessedness. Then will it be made manifest that Jesus Christ is indeed "the Alpha and Omega" of God's eternal government; the head of all creatures; the end of all manifestations; the substance of all things; the glory of all economies; the fountain of all being. 1. We infer from this subject that Jesus Christ is an indispensable necessity to every one of us. For it is only in Him that we attain to the real end of our being. 2. How real and how fearful is the sin of living away life and probation aside from the service and glory of Jesus Christ. (J. M. Sherwood.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. |
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