William Burkitt Notes and Observations - Revelation 1:8 - 1:8

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William Burkitt Notes and Observations - Revelation 1:8 - 1:8


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Observe here, 1. That what was applied to God the Father, at the fourth verse, namely, that he was, is, and is to come, is here by Christ applied to himself at the eighth verse: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, which was, and is to come.

Alpha is the first, Omega the last, letter of the Greek alphabet, and as such they enclose all the rest. Christ calling himself the first and the last, that is, the first cause and the last end, (as nothing began before him, so nothing can outlast him,) he does hereby discover his divinity to us, that he is co-essential and consubstantial with the Father, the same attribute being given to both: understand we then that this text plainly speaks the godhead of Christ, against the Socinians.

Christ calling himself the first and the last, takes to himself absolute perfection and power, sovereignty and dignity, eternity and divinity; he is the first, because he was before all beginning, and because he shall continue for ever, without end, because he is the end of all things, and because when we have attained him, we are at the highest and last of our attainments; we rest, and have no more to seek when we have found Christ, for he brings us to the Father, in whom we have eternal rest through himself, the Son: and the last title Christ assumes to himself, namely, the Almighty, bespeaks his divinity; he is God Almighty, able to accomplish all his promises to his people, and to execute his threatenings on his enemies; and if the adversaries of our Saviour's godhead in the glass of this text do not see his divinity, it is not because they cannot, but they will not see. I am, says Christ, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, which was, and is to come, the Almighty.