Revelation 1:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

NIV: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

NASB: I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'

CSB: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

NLT: I am the Alpha and the Omega — the beginning and the end,' says the Lord God. 'I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come — the Almighty One.'

KJV: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

NKJV: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

In this verse John identifies Jesus as the Alpha and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The designation emphasizes Jesus as eternal—the beginning and the end. As someone correctly observed, "Jesus is the Alpha and Omega and everything in between." In His address to the church at Smyrna, Jesus affirmed that His words were those of the first and the last (Revelation 2:8).

John further describes Jesus in Revelation 1:8 as the Lord God, "who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty." The title, "Lord God," reminds us that He is our ruler, who deserves our obedience. As God, He deserves our worship. Jesus has always existed and always will exist as the Almighty. Before the world was formed Jesus existed, and as John 1:2 and 3 point out, He was in the beginning with God, and He created everything. Because He is Almighty, nothing is too hard for Him. The latter part of Revelation depicts enemies marshaled against Jesus, but they cannot defeat Him. He destroys His enemies with the breath of His mouth (Isaiah 11:4). Because He is all-powerful, we can trust Him to accomplish for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Revelation 1:4–8 identifies John's audience as the seven churches in Asia. John addresses these churches with a greeting from the triune God, and he ascribes praise to Jesus. Jesus is coming in glory, John declares, and His coming will be visible to everyone. At that time, the tribes of Israel will express remorse because of His crucifixion. John concludes this passage by quoting Jesus as saying He is the beginning, the eternal Almighty One.

The Roman government had banished John to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. While John was at Patmos, the risen, glorified Son of God appeared to him and commanded him to write ''the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this'' (Revelation 1:19). John pronounces blessings to those who read and obey Revelation, and then he greets his readers warmly and describes Jesus' appearance.

The apostle John begins this chapter by stating that he received the revelation of Jesus Christ by divine activity. God sent this vision to John while he was on the island of Patmos, likely as a punishment from the Roman government. This book follows John's four prior messages contained in the New Testament: the Gospel of John and the letters 1, 2, and 3 John. Chapters 2 and 3 tell what Jesus dictated to seven churches in Asia Minor, while the rest of John's message concerns future events.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''