Date of message: 23 September
2003 Issue
112
Subject: The Alpha & The Omega
Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),
I wonder how many have heard of the Sunday school song,
Yesterday, today, forever,
Jesus is the same.
All may change but Jesus never,
Glory to His Name!
Glory to His Name,
Glory to His Name,
All may change but Jesus never,
Glory to His Name!
Jesus IS indeed the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13: 8)
and we have His word on that for He Himself had proven it as well through
His own life. The gospel of Mark sets out to show Jesus as the Servant,
ever ready to serve and not to be served. In the first two chapters alone,
we have close to over thirty references of words used, like "immediately"
and "at once".
In His own words, Jesus taught His disciples the purpose of His own life;
that He came to serve and not to be served.
Matthew 20: 28 - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Mark 10: 45 - For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
In fact, on the night that He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, during the
Last Supper together, Jesus took off His outer garments, wrapped a towel
around His waist and holding a basin of water in the other, He proceeded
to wash the feet of each of His disciples. What a selfless example we
have, the Master serving His disciples.
Throughout His earthly life, Jesus was full of compassion towards those
who came to Him in faith. Not once did He turn a genuine seeker or a sick
person away but He cured them all physically and emotionally. He provided
food for over four thousand people on one occasion and for over five thousand
men (excluding women and children) on another.
When He was invited to a wedding banquet and the host ran out of wine,
He turned water into wine to bless the couple. He was a Friend to those
who were considered outcasts during His time and He raised three persons
who were dead back to life. On a few occasions, in addition to just healing
those who came to him, He also administered emotional healing. Jesus believes
in total healing of the body, mind and spirit and He is still in this
business today.
And for His disciples, He spent three years with them teaching them all
about God and His love for us. The Lord was so full of love for them that
even when they were in a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and
a storm arose and beat against the boat, the raging seas and the howling
winds could not wake Him from His sleep but the cries of His disciples
awaken Him and He immediately calmed the storm for them.
The Lord's love for His disciples is unwavering and His one constant encouragement
to them and to us is, "Do not be afraid." In fact that was what
He said to the apostle John on the Mediterranean island of Patmos more
than seventy years after He ascended into heaven to be with God the Father.
The apostle by now was an old man probably in his early nineties and he
was a prisoner of the Roman government exiled on the island.
It was on a Sunday morning when John was worshipping the Lord that He
appeared to him personally and gave him a vision of what would be taking
place at the end of time. Because He wanted to remind John who He is,
Jesus used words which the apostle would be very familiar with and showed
him things that he had seen Jesus doing while He was with them during
those three years.
Jesus introduced the saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First
and the Last" (Rev 1: 11, 17), and to prove to John who He really
is, the apostle saw Jesus in a dazzling white garment, glorious to behold
and He was girded about the chest with a golden band. Immediately the
apostle John could recognize Him as the golden band reminded him of the
night of the Last Supper when Jesus girded Himself with a towel and washed
all their feet one at a time.
This is the same Jesus who was, who is, and who is to come. He was there
at the beginning of creation with the Father (John 1: 1). He came to this
earth, lived among men and He died so that we who believe in Him will
have eternal life. He is now reigning in heaven, glorious to behold and
one day we believe He will come back for His own to bring them back to
where He is, at the Father's right hand.
'Alpha' and 'Omega' are the first and the last alphabets of the Greek
language because the New Testament was written originally in Greek. The
equivalent first and last alphabets of the Hebrew language are 'Aleph'
and 'Tav' and you can find all the 22 Hebrew alphabets in Psalms 119 (each
section of that psalm in the original Hebrew begins with that alphabet).
| GREEK | HEBREW | |
| First Alphabet | a Alpha |  Aleph |
| Last Alphabet | ? Omega |  Tav |
Interestingly enough,
in the original Hebrew Old Testament, in Genesis 1: 1 there is a word
which the Hebrew rabbis did not interpret and left as it is. In fact it
has been said that they do not even read it since they did not interpret
it and it is this word (Aleph-Tav).
Please note that the Hebrew is to be read from right
to left similar to the Chinese way of reading and writing.
But why was this word inserted in that verse if it did not mean a thing?
No, I submit to you that God wanted to show to the whole world that Jesus
is God Himself and He was right there at the beginning of time alongside
the Father and He was very much involved in the process of creation itself.
In fact there are many places in the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament
where this word "Aleph-Tav" can be found and if you were to
substitute the Name of Jesus into that word, it would make absolute sense.
Jesus tells us that He is the Beginning and the End. He is still the same
powerful, almighty and compassionate God who knows our every weakness,
every fear, every sickness and every desire and who wants us to come and
draw from His strength, His blessings and His health for ourselves. How
about you? Have you received Him into your heart?
When we receive the Lord into our hearts, Jesus pours His Spirit into
our lives and empowers us to become children of the Father. There is a
change of status. As children of the Most High God, we received our provisions
for daily living. God has not made us His children only to see us poor
physically; indeed, we can call upon Him and trust Him to provide for
all our needs, present and future.
If you have not received Jesus into your heart, then I would urge you
to take that first step of faith and invite Him into your heart. He is
faithful and He will definitely come and live in you. Choose Life and
put your faith in our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus and He will make you
sons and daughters in His Family, special positions reserved only for
those whom He loves dearly (John 1:12).
One day (and I personally believe that it will be very soon), after all
the Christians have been taken home to be with the Lord, and should you
perchance be reading this article, be assured that Jesus loves you so
much that He already demonstrated His love for you on the cross and there
will be no condemnation for you once you put your faith in Him but you
will have eternal life (Romans 8:1). The Lord cannot lie. For Him, whatever
He speaks will come to pass.
Pray this simple prayer and invite Jesus into your heart and immediately
you will experience His peace coming your way.
Our heavenly Father, thank you that You love us more dearly that we know
it. And because of this great love, You sent Jesus Your only Beloved Son
into this world to die for all our sins so that we can enjoy all His blessings.
Thank you that Jesus came and He willingly took all my punishment upon
Himself. Thank you that Jesus died so that we who received Him into our
hearts will not be condemned but we receive Your eternal life.
Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into my heart and making my heart Your
home. Thank you for the witness of the Holy Spirit that I am now a child
of God the Father and as Your child, I can start enjoying all Your blessings
for my life.
Thank you because of what You had accomplished for us on the cross and
having risen from the dead for our justification, I am now eternally forgiven
of all my sin, greatly blessed among all men, a highly favored child of
God, deeply loved by the Father and completely protected in the Lord and
in the most precious name of Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha' Mashiah, I pray
Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family
of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important
that you are not alone facing your personal challenges but that you can
obtain good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your
own local Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together?
You will be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father,
for fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
Start receiving the blessings of the Father as you walk with Him in faith.
It is your inheritance in Christ and He wants you to start enjoying these
blessings right now. You do not need to wait until you reach heaven and
there is more from where they come from.
Rosh Hashana (or the Jewish New Year) falls on Saturday September 27 and
it marks the beginning of a new year 5764 for the Jews. It is interesting
to note what they do on this day. All over Israel, the shofar (ram's horn)
will be sounded to herald in a new year and it is also significant that
all Believers in Jesus will rise up when the trumpet is sounded in heaven.
Is there any correlation here? I do not know but I do pray that this is
it and we are on our way home to be with the Lord for eternity.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all
your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 -26
Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee