40 Days of Praise - Day 27

Day 27

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Revelation 22:13

We’ve seen both in the Gospel of John chapter 1 and in Colossians chapter 1 that everything that was created was created through the Son. He is truly the Alpha, the first, the beginning of all things. And here in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, Jesus declares that Ge is the Omega, the last, the end. He came to fix all that had been broken by sin, to reconcile all that had been alienated. And all that He came to do, He accomplished. The 22nd chapter of Revelation depicts life after sin, Satan, Death and Hades have been vanquished. Jesus has won the victory!

His work as the Alpha, the first, and the beginning is plain for us to see. The earth is here. We are here. We can look up and see the sun and the stars. We can look around and see birds and animals and insects. And we can peer into the seas and behold all manner of aquatic life.

But the work of our Lord as the Omega, the last and the end is yet to be completed. It has been begun, and there is one sense in which it’s completion is guaranteed because Jesus does not fail to deliver. What He starts, He finishes. Jesus started the new age, the end of all things, when He came, and especially, when He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. That which is to be fulfilled is on its way to its fulfillment.

But it’s not there yet. We are experiencing that middle ground, the "now" and the "not yet." For those of us who have believed, we have been united with Christ in His death and have been raised to life with Him. We are in His hand and nothing can pluck us out. We have been given eternal life. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and He will come again and receive us so that we may be with Him where He is. But that hasn’t happened yet.

Still, the one who was born of a virgin, who not only predicted His death, but His resurrection, and then died and was raised from the dead as He predicted, this one can be trusted to finish what He started. Here is one statement of the promise He made to us:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:29–30).

We will make it home. It won't be because we were so faithful. It won't be because of our great service to the Kingdom of God. It won't even be for our sacrificial service to Jesus our King. We will make it home for one reason: Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He has made the way for us so that "not yet" will become our "now." He who holds all authority in heaven and earth, who is Lord over all the ages of the world, will glorify those He foreknew and predestined and justified.

Jesus never fails.

Charles M. Butler


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