EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
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EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
Revelation closes with Jesus saying I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Day 6 gathers the five days, says where the faiths agree and differ, and says what the week did not claim.
Revelation 22:12-13; Isaiah 44:6; John 1:1-5
Opening
“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Revelation 22:12-13 (BSB)
These are the next to last words of Jesus in the Bible. They gather everything we have read this week.
Revelation closes with Jesus speaking in his own voice. Behold, I am coming soon. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The First and the Last are the words of Isaiah 44:6, where the Lord says I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. The Beginning and the End closes the circle that John began with In the beginning was the Word.
Three pairs, and they say the same thing three ways. Everything that begins began with him. Everything that ends ends with him. He is not one voice among others in the story. He is the one the story is about.
That is the week in one line. Today we gather it up. It is a short day on purpose.
REFLECT
Do this today: say Revelation 22:13 out loud once. Then say John 1:1 out loud once. Notice how the two sound next to each other.
A Two-Minute Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are the First and the Last. Thank you for being there at the beginning and for being there at the end. Be with me in the middle. Amen.
IN YOUR OWN WORDS
The Five Days
Day one: In the Beginning, the Word. John begins his Gospel with the first words of Genesis. He says the Word was with God and was God, and that everything was made through him. Colossians and Hebrews say the same. Some readers, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, read the last clause as the Word was a god. Most translators read it as the Word was God.
Day two: One God, Three Persons. God is someone, and he is one. The Shema is the first creed of Israel, and Jesus quoted it. At the Jordan the Father speaks, the Son is in the water and the Spirit descends. The Spirit can be lied to and grieved, which are things a person does. The word Trinity is not in the Bible. It came from the second century because the church needed a word for the pattern.
Day three: Prophet or God? Prophets and angels refuse worship. Jesus accepts it. He says I am, and a crowd picks up stones. The titles Isaiah keeps for God, the first and the last, every knee, calling on the name, are given to Jesus by the first Jewish Christians. Islam, Judaism and the Witnesses each say what they believe about him, and each has reasons.
Day four: Three Persons, One Faith. The doctrine came out of prayer and baptism. Paul puts the Father, the Son and the Spirit in one sentence about the cry of Abba. The churches say it in their own words and differ on the Filioque. Modalism, Arianism and tritheism were each tried and answered. The shamrock story is late.
Day five: Why Believe It? Paul says he passed on what he had received. The creed can be dated within a few years of the cross, even by scholars who do not believe it. Tacitus, Josephus and Pliny confirm that Jesus lived, was executed under Pilate and was worshiped as a god. The Bible ends where it began, with a tree of life, a throne and a Word.
Five days, gathered into one line.
In the beginning was the Word.
Day by day, we have heard who is speaking.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
The First and the Last are the words Isaiah gave to the LORD. The Beginning and the End closes the circle that John began.
Everything that begins began with him. Everything that ends ends with him.
The one who spoke at the beginning stands at the end.
Where the Week Sits in the Story
This week began at creation and ended at the new creation, and it passed through the Jordan, the temple and the early church on the way.
In creation, God spoke and the world began. In the incarnation, the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. In the church, the Spirit was poured out and believers cried Abba. At the end, the throne of God and of the Lamb stands in the city, and the tree of life is open.
Every one of those moments names the same speaker. The first words of the Bible and the last words of Jesus in it are said by the one who is the First and the Last.
Where the Faiths in This Week Agree and Differ
Jews, Christians and Muslims agree that God is one. Jews and Christians share the Shema. The Qur'an says Allah is one Allah, and it tells Christians to say not three.
Muslims, Christians and many Jews agree that Jesus lived and taught. Muslims honor him as the Messiah and a great prophet, born of the virgin Mary. They deny that he is God.
Christians agree with one another that God is one in three persons, with the Son fully God and fully man. They differ on the Filioque and on how to explain the relation of the three. Oneness Pentecostals say God is one person who has revealed himself as Father, Son and Spirit. Jehovah's Witnesses say the Son is a created being.
The traditions in this week are quoted from their own documents. Where they differ the differences are real.
What This Week Did Not Claim
Several popular claims were checked this week and left out or softened on purpose.
The claim that Genesis 1:26, let us make man, proves the Trinity. It does not by itself. Scholars give several reasons for the plural, and Christians have long read it as a hint, not a proof.
The claim that the Hebrew word echad, one, proves a compound unity. It does not. The word is also the plain Hebrew number one.
The claim that Constantine invented the divinity of Jesus. The sources do not support it. The doctrine was argued from Scripture before Constantine took notice.
The claim that Saint Patrick taught the Trinity with a shamrock. It first appears in writing in 1727, more than twelve hundred years after Patrick.
The claim that the bishop Nicholas slapped Arius at Nicaea. It does not appear in the fourth-century accounts.
The claim that the manuscript P52 proves the Gospel of John was written by the year 100. Its date cannot be fixed that narrowly.
The claim that every scholar agrees Jesus plainly called himself God in the earliest Gospels. They do not, and Day 3 says so.
Today's Commitment
I will read John 1 and Revelation 22 together once this week, and I will talk about Jesus with respect for people who see him differently.
LEAVING AT THE CROSS
RECEIVING FROM THE CROSS
Sources & Further Study
RELATED SCRIPTURES
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Isaiah 44:6
I am the first, and I am the last.
John 8:56-59
Before Abraham was born, I am!
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Revelation 22:12-13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
FOR DEEPER STUDY
Further Your Learning. A passage trail to read in order: Genesis 1:1 to 5; John 1:1 to 18; Isaiah 44:6 to 8 and 45:21 to 23; Mark 2:1 to 12; John 8:48 to 59; Philippians 2:5 to 11; 1 Corinthians 15:1 to 11; Revelation 1:12 to 18 and 21:1 to 22:13. A guided read: read the Gospel of John in one sitting and mark every I am. Videos, all from official channels and checked for playback on this site: BibleProject, What It Means for Jesus to Be the Word of God; BibleProject, The Trinity Explained (Without Pretending It’s Simple); Gospel in Life, Father, Son and Holy Spirit by Timothy Keller; Gospel in Life, Advent Meditation Week 2: Jesus Fully God and Fully Human; Ligonier Ministries, Early Controversies: The Mystery of the Trinity with R. C. Sproul. Free primary texts: the Nicene Creed and Eusebius’s letter in Socrates, Church History 1.8 (newadvent.org); Athanasius, On the Incarnation (newadvent.org); the letters of Ignatius and Justin Martyr’s First Apology (Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1); Pliny the Younger, Epistles book 10, letters 96 and 97 (Project Gutenberg); Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 40 (newadvent.org).
Finished reading? Mark this day read.
BEFORE YOU GO
Anything you want to keep from today?
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