“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8 (ESV)
What is God like? In this short passage, God tells us three things about himself. First, he is “the Alpha and the Omega”. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Jesus also says this about himself in Revelation 22:13, expanding it to “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Before anything else, God was. And when everything else is gone, God will be. He is eternal, without beginning and without ending.
God also says of himself that he is, he was, and he is to come. This is similar to being the Alpha and Omega, but it goes beyond it. It closely parallels God’s name, which he revealed to Moses on Sinai—I AM (Exod. 3:14). God is. He always has been and always will be. But more than that, he is not dependent on anything else for his existence. He is self-existent. He just is.
And God tells us that he is “the Almighty”. Is there anything God cannot do that is possible? This was significant for churches that often found themselves at odds with the culture and might of the Roman Empire, as well as the established Jewish communities. God had the power to see them through whatever their enemies might throw at them.
Even more, the Almighty God is sovereign. He is in charge. And this letter to the seven churches is designed to show that God is not just reacting to the forces of evil in the world. He has it all under control and is actively working out all things to his desired end.
When We Walk With the Lord
This only scratches the surface of what God is like. But it tells us that when we walk with him, we have no reason to fear anything that might come our way. He is more than capable of bringing us through it and into the glorious future he is preparing us for.
I can say with confidence that he is the beginning and end of my salvation. He has been with me through the long years of my journey of faith. He is with me now. And he will be with me in the few years that remain in this life. He is my sovereign Lord.
