Most of the times I talk with Christians, they identify Yeshua (Jesus) as the one who is the Alpha and the Omega. This is based on Revelation 22:13, when Yeshua tells John, in his vision of the new earth and the new Jerusalem, that he is the Alpha and the Omega.
But that isn’t what God says.
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When we go to the very beginning of Revelation, here is what John writes (CJB):
From: Yochanan
To: The seven Messianic communities in the province of Asia:
Grace and shalom to you from the One who is, who was and who is coming; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; and from Yeshua the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the earth’s kings.
To him, the one who loves us, who has freed us from our sins at the cost of his blood, who has caused us to be a kingdom, that is, cohanim for God, his Father — to him be the glory and the rulership forever and ever. Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him, including those who pierced him;
and all the tribes of the Land will mourn him. Yes! Amen!
“I am the ‘A’ and the ‘Z,’” says Adonai, God of heaven’s armies, the One who is, who was and who is coming.
I have bold typed and underlined the specific parts I want to make clear. As you can see, the message is from God and Yeshua, indicating they are separate entities. Later, Yeshua is recognized as the one through whose blood we have become a nation of Cohanim (priests), for God, his father- again, God and Yeshua are identified as being separate entities.
Finally, we are told, absolutely, just who is the Alpha and the Omega, and that is God, himself, the God of heaven’s armies. And again, in Revelation 22:5, God is the one on the throne and he again states that he is the Alpha and the Omega.
Yet, we have Yeshua also making that claim, for himself, later in Chapter 22.
We have God saying he is the “A” and the “Z”, more than once, and Yeshua saying it once, at the very end of the vision, after all of God’s wrath is spent and eternity begins.
So, nu? How do we reconcile Yeshua as being treated throughout the vision as separate, but now at the end of it all claiming also to be the “A’ and the “Z”?
To me there can be only one conclusion: that when Yeshua’s role as the Messiah is completed, meaning that he has sacrificed for all, been raised, and returned to conquer evil in the world, once and for all, he will then no longer be needed as a Messiah and will become God’s direct representative over the earth.
In other words, he will not be God, but will be positioned as God, with all of God’s authority to rule over the earth, essentially making him also the “A” and the “Z”, from that moment on, throughout all eternity.
I know, I know, it sounds a little contrived, I agree: but the only other answer is that Yeshua, separate up to that point, is what? Absorbed into God? Does he replace God? Does God take a vacation, leaving Yeshua to run the ship until he returns?
I don’t think so.
I believe that Yeshua, God, and the Ruach HaKodesh are totally separate entities, and that even though it may seem that at times Yeshua claims to be God, he isn’t. And frankly, when all things are done and said, it really won’t matter if God and Yeshua are the same entity in separate forms, or separate entities ruling together, or any combination thereof: for me, all that matters is that I will be on the winning side when it all is over.
And you know what? If that isn’t enough for you, then I don’t know what to tell you.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!
