I have found that the more you study the bible, the more you find contradiction. What does that say? I would suggest that over analysis just takes the fun out of it. So I look for the good stuff and keep my faith.
Who is the Alpha and the Omega in the Bible? The First and the Last?
by Chalam 14 Replies latest jw friends
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Narkissos
From a purely contextual standpoint (leaving "patchwork theology" aside) it's not so easy to decide who is speaking in Revelation 22:12f. The last identified speaker is neither God nor Jesus but the angel. Of course it's a common OT feature that the speaker is lost along the discourse (the angel speaking in the name of God sometimes refers to God in the 3rd or in the 1st person). What complicates this pattern in Revelation is that God's angel is also Jesus' angel...
But we must not miss the forest for the tree. Many passages in Revelation explicitly identify, to some extent, "Jesus" and "God": they eventually share the same throne, receive similar praises and attributes... e.g. "the first and the last," which is clearly applied to Jesus in 1:17; 2:8.
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Chalam
Hi Narkissos,
Please read these two verses.
Rev 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Who is to return to earth and judge everyone? Thus quite clearly it is Jesus who is speaking in v.12 and identifies Himself as the Alpha and the Omega in v.13, same as God the Father.
It is interesting that the Spirit says the same thing in v.17
17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
Really, can an 'active force' really say "come" or is it more likely a person? Supporting evidence is that the bridge is the church and they also say "come".
The only conclusion I can get from this chapter is that Jesus is one with the Father, and the Spirit (who is a person and not a thing) i.e. the Trinity.
All the best,
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wildfell
There is a very interesting and comprehensive essay on commentary press which discusses these very points. Once you click on the link, scroll down to Proposition #14 for a brief discussion on the alpha and omega.
http://www.commentarypress.net/cpn-essays/English/393E168F-0950-4120-9D2A-579FBD53B8A2.html
I agree with some of the other posts here, that although interesting to talk on these finer points of scripture, the main message of the Bible is love. Jesus said it would be the quality that would define his disciples.
American Standard Version - 1Cor 13:1,2 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
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justhuman
JESUS CHRIST