The Alpha and the Omega

After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was
as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things
which must be hereafter. 
And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven,
and one sat on the throne. 
And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there
​was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. Rev 4:1-3
Heaven Near-Though Hidden

The division between earth and heaven. The fact that earth and heaven are divided by so wide a gulf seems to me one of the strangest facts in our experience, though long habit prevents the strangeness from striking us so much. We should have expected the very opposite. Allowing that men are unfit to enter heaven, yet it would have seemed most natural that we should have had the full evidence about it which direct communication could have given. Comparatively few cross the Atlantic to America, yet, though we may never see it, we require no act of faith to realize its existence and condition; but the world of heaven, the home of God, is so far removed beyond the range of our knowledge that we have need of faith to be convinced even that it exists, of faith which, though based on reason, sometimes fails. If only we could identify heaven with some distant star, that would be a handle for our confidence as we caught its glimmer in the night; but even such a satisfaction is withheld. Where heaven is, where God is, even that God is, we cannot demonstrate by our reason. God has so cut us off in space, in our little island world, from the rest of His dominions that we cannot cross the ocean or read or hear of others reaching His eternal shore.

The connection between earth and heaven. One point of connection between the two which at least helps to make heaven seem nearer to us is that life in heaven, just as much as our life here, is proceeding now. We think of heaven too much as a future state; we should remember that to countless multitudes it is a present state. Heaven is not a dim and distant promised vision merely which God may not call into existence for unknown ages yet; heaven is an actual, living world, whose inhabitants are conscious at this moment of life and joy. Its worship is ascending now to God. His servants there are busy with their noble work; their bliss is a present feeling arising from the presence of God now.

The door is set open between earth and heaven. The division is maintained between the two in order that our discipline may not cease. But sometimes the door is opened that our faith may not fail. That has happened "in those sundry times and divers manners when God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets." The revelations they received of God and of man’s destiny were glimpses through a door opened in heaven, and were exceptions to the seclusion which God maintains; to them He broke the silence. A door was set open in heaven also when the Son of God passed through. And whenever a Christian pilgrim reaches his journey’s end, then, too, it may be said that the door between earth and heaven is set open to let the wanderer pass into his home.
(T. M. Herbert, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 395)

The Revelation of the Triune God 

​The form which both Prophet and Apostle saw seated on the heavenly throne was of a clear, brilliant flame color, partly red like the sardine, or, to use a modern term, the carnelian, and partly of the lighter hue of yellow amber. The truth symbolized in this appearance is thus set forth in plain terms by the Apostle to the Hebrews: "Our God is a consuming fire." The first attribute under which God presents Himself to a soul which He proposes to renew and sanctify is that of transcendently clear and brilliant holiness; He will be known in the first instance as a God with whom moral evil cannot dwell, who cannot endure, in those who approach to Him, a single stain of impurity. We cannot but grant that, awful as the spotless perfection of the Divine character is to a sinner’s gaze, it is yet exceeding brilliant and glorious. The jasper and the sardine stone, although the infirm eye of man cannot bear to gaze upon them when they flash and kindle up in the sunlight, are yet of a hue exceedingly beautiful and brilliant.

It is the Mediator between God and man, even the Lord Jesus Christ, "which is our hope," who is here symbolized to us under the lovely and appropriate emblem of an emerald rainbow. What sweet refreshment to the aching eyeballs to rest for a while upon an emerald green, the very color which, when the power of sight is enfeebled, is calculated to preserve it! In the existence of light, the existence of the rainbow is involved; for what is the rainbow but light reflected from the raindrops? And what is the Lord Jesus, considered as a Divine Person incarnate, but God reflected in the infirm medium of a manhood pure as crystal?

"Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne." Fire, we know, is a constant emblem of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that Person in the Triune Jehovah whose office it is to sanctify the mind of man, not of one man, but of many, to abide in the Church, yet not in one local Church, but in all the branches of the Church-the Body of Christ. Contemplated in His office character as distinct from His essence, He is multiform; and to His multiformity the text certifies.   (E. M. Goulburn, Occasional Sermons, p. 267)

The Throne and the Rainbow

Look—At this wonderful throne. Of course we understand such a thing to be the symbol of government, of the Divine government in the universe, for that Being on the seat of royalty is God. But what do the other emblems mean? The whole chapter seems to glitter with a blaze of precious jewels, some of them with strange names.
(1) The exalted monarch is said to be like a jasper and a sardine stone. I find the soberest commentators agreed in declaring that what is here called jasper must be the diamond, and the sardine is only what we call a carnelian, that is, a flesh-colored gem in hue, as the name signifies. And hence these expositors would have us believe that this personage, with a Divine brightness and a human expression, is none other than the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
(2) The attendants. The very nobles are crowned, and wear royal raiment; their ordinary seats are thrones.
(3) This vision teaches that earth can always and everywhere be seen from heaven.
(4) Observe once more, this is an unimpeachable government. These living creatures are worshipping while watching.

The rainbow. This represents a covenant, as the other represented a rule. (1) The ancient covenant has in it the promise of the covenant of grace. (2) Its appearance just here in John’s vision is welcomed more for its graciousness than for its antiquity. (3) Observe how well this vision teaches us that God’s covenant is completed. This rainbow is a circlet; it goes around the throne. (4) The covenant is abiding; it will stand for ever. (5) This covenant is to each of us individual and personal.

Note the collocation of the two symbols:
​(1) God’s promise surrounds God’s majesty;
(2) God’s grace surrounds God’s justice;
(3) God’s love surrounds God’s power;
(4) God’s glory surrounds God’s children.
(C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 297)
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Rev. ch. 4:1-3
"After these things - As if he had said, After I had written these letters from the mouth of the Lord. By the particle and, the several parts of this prophecy are usually connected: by the expression, after these things, they are distinguished from each other, Rev 7:9; Rev 19:1. By that expression, and after these things, they are distinguished, and yet connected, Rev 7:1; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1. St. John always saw and heard, and then immediately wrote down one part after another: and one part is constantly divided from another by some one of these expressions. I saw - Here begins the relation of the main vision, which is connected throughout; as it appears from "the throne, and him that sitteth thereon;" "the Lamb;" (who hitherto has appeared in the form of a man;) " the four living creatures;" and " the four and twenty elders," represented from this place to the end. From this place, it is absolutely necessary to keep in mind the genuine order of the texts, as it stands in the preceding table. A door opened in heaven - Several of these openings are successively mentioned. Here a door is opened; afterward, "the temple of God in heaven," Rev 11:19; Rev 15:5; and, at last, "heaven" itself, Rev 19:11. By each of these St. John gains a new and more extended prospect. And the first voice which I had heard - Namely, that of Christ: afterward, he heard the voices of many others. Said, Come up hither - Not in body, but in spirit; which was immediately done."

​​"​And immediately I was in the spirit - Even in an higher degree than before, Rev 1:10. And, behold, a throne was set in heaven - St. John is to write "things which shall be;" and, in order thereto, he is here shown, after an heavenly manner, how whatever "shall be," whether good or bad, flows out of invisible fountains; and how, after it is done on the visible theatre of the world and the church, it flows back again into the invisible world, as its proper and final scope. Here commentators divide: some proceed theologically; others, historically; whereas the right way is, to join both together.
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The court of heaven is here laid open; and the throne of God is, as it were, the center from which everything in the visible world goes forth, and to which everything returns. Here, also, the kingdom of Satan is disclosed; and hence we may extract the most important things out of the most comprehensive and, at the same time, most secret history of the kingdom of hell and heaven. But herein we must be content to know only what is expressly revealed in this book. This describes, not barely what good or evil is successively transacted on earth, but how each springs from the kingdom of light or darkness, and continually tends to the source whence it sprung: So that no man can explain all that is contained therein, from the history of the church militant only."
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"And yet the histories of past ages have their use, as this book is properly prophetical. The more, therefore, we observe the accomplishment of it, so much the more may we praise God, in his truth, wisdom, justice, and almighty power, and learn to suit ourselves to the time, according to the remarkable directions contained in the prophecy. And one sat on the throne - As a king, governor, and judge. Here is described God, the Almighty, the Father of heaven, in his majesty, glory, and dominion.

"And he that sat was in appearance - Shone with a visible luster, like that of sparkling precious stones, such as those which were of old on the high priest's breastplate, and those placed as the foundations of the new Jerusalem, Rev 21:19-20. If there is anything emblematical in the colors of these stones, possibly the jasper, which is transparent and of a glittering white, with an intermixture of beautiful colors, may be a symbol of God's purity, with various other perfections, which shine in all his dispensations. The sardine stone, of a blood - red color, may be an emblem of his justice, and the vengeance he was about to execute on his enemies. An emerald, being green, may betoken favor to the good; a rainbow, the everlasting covenant. See Gen 9:9. And this being round about the whole breadth of the throne, fixed the distance of those who stood or sat round it."   (John Wesley)

The Stability and Splendor of God's Throne

​The stability of this throne is even more impressive than its splendor. However shifting and changing may be the panorama of events recorded in this book, that throne remains the same. Heaven and earth may pass away. That throne abides. It cannot be moved, because “righteousness and judgment are its habitation.” Carefully observe that no attempt is ever made in Scripture to describe Him who sits on the eternal throne. He must ever simply be to us the “I AM.” “Existence—uncaused, independent existence.”

The supports of the throne.—The four living creatures, as the representatives of all creation. The honor and dignity of God is the supreme concern of every living thing. His throne is upheld by their needs, which God alone can meet; by their trusting, which are its buttresses; and by their service in their spheres, which witnesses to their Master.

The front of the throne.—Two ideas are suggested in connection with the sea of glass. 1. The shining pavement is like solidified water. 2. The brazen sea, in front of the temple, indicated the need for purity in all who came to worship. The former idea is the more probable one, and only a figure of magnificence is intended. Or the idea of waving sea, settled into glassy stillness, may suggest the sublime peace of God’s eternal presence. “Where, beyond the voices, there is peace.”

The courtiers.—Four and twenty elders. Officers were always in the royal presence at Eastern Courts, and these often represented the provinces of the country, or dependent nations. The elders stand for the Church as at present redeemed. The full chorus of creation rises now to God; but the full chorus of humanity does not rise yet. It is but the chorus of a portion.

The worship.—The point to notice is, that God’s praise is begun by creation; taken up and ennobled by the redeemed Church, but perfected only when all are redeemed, and the completed Church can join the song of Nature, and so all the earth “praise God.”   (Preacher's Homiletical)

The Rainbow Symbol.—The discovery made of the Divine mercy in the covenant of grace refreshes the mind as the green relieves the eye from the fatigue and glare of other colors. “In the arched iris spanning the Divine throne the ancient Church beheld an emblem of the Divine severity, blended with love; in it she saw the dark showers of His judgments, gilded by the bright beams of His mercy. The heavenly Bow spoke to her of the Deluge, the shipwreck of the world for sin; it spoke to her also of calm and sunshine after the storm.”—(Wordsworth)

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;
​and the dragon fought and his angels,
 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. ​
Rev 12:7-9
And There Was War in Heaven

​And there was war in heaven - Here Satan makes his grand opposition to the kingdom of God; but an end is now put to his accusing the saints before God. The cause goes against him, Rev 12:10-11, and Michael executes the sentence. That Michael is a created angel, appears from his not daring, in disputing with Satan, Jud 1:9, to bring a railing accusation; but only saying, "The Lord rebuke thee." And this modesty is implied in his very name; for Michael signifies, "Who is like God?" which implies also his deep reverence toward God, and distance from all self - exaltation. Satan would be like God: the very name of Michael asks, "Who is like God?" Not Satan; not the highest archangel. It is he likewise that is afterward employed to seize, bind, and imprison that proud spirit.  (John Wesley)
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Satan Thrown Down to Earth

"The spirit of evil waits to destroy each birth of good in our world. As soon as Mary had given birth to our Lord, Herod sought to destroy Him, and this is characteristic of all the ages. But God’s care is always at hand to deliver His own. He has His prepared places, where He hides those who trust in Him. He keeps them in the secret of His pavilion from the strife of men.
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Sin has brought conflict, not on our earth only, but throughout the universe; but from the heavenly places it has been driven, and the last stand is made on our earth. Is it not possible that the awful war which has desolated mankind may be one of the last phases of this age-long conflict? There is but one talisman of victory. We overcome only in so far as we take shelter in the blood of the Lamb and wield as our weapon the Word of God. As darkness cannot resist the light, so evil cannot exist before the witness of the Church and the child of God, if only we care more for the honor and glory of Christ than for our own lives. To the end there must be war between the seed of the woman and the dragon, and there must be bruising. But the final outcome is sure. As Satan was cast out of heaven, so he shall be cast out of earth, and Christ shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied."  (F.B. Meyer)

Note: A bible movie of the vision John saw-an excellent presentation.
REVELATION: The Final Vision of John | Full 4K Cinematic Bible Movie
https://youtu.be/TXwXXOVtXH4?si=rzPqZaFxXRYov8lZ

​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.  Rev 1:8
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​And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be. 
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev 22:12-13
The Revelation of Jesus Christ

In His capacity as mediator, our Lord receives from the Father and transmits to His servants, that they may in turn transmit to the world of men, the great panorama of the future, known to Him from before the foundation of the world. Let us not miss the special benediction which is attached to the patient reading and consideration of this wonderful book.
The seven churches represent the one Church under different phases and possibly in successive stages of its history; the letters addressed to them are therefore universally applicable. Notice the august reference to the Holy Trinity-the eternal Father, the sevenfold Spirit, and our Lord. Our Lord bore a faithful witness even to death; that death was a birth into the risen life, as ours may be; all kings are His vassals.
How wonderful it is to be told in the next verse that He loves us, and has not only washed, but loosed us, as though He had broken the terrible entail. “He breaks the power of canceled sin.” Jesus often comes with clouds. We cannot understand His dealings with us, yet those clouds are gold with His light. So He shall come at last. As Alpha He begins, but He never begins without carrying into full effect His purpose as our Omega.  (F.B. Meyer)

​"I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God - Alpha is the first, Omega, the last, letter in the Greek alphabet. Let his enemies boast and rage ever so much in the intermediate time, yet the Lord God is both the Alpha, or beginning, and the Omega, or end, of all things. God is the beginning, as he is the Author and Creator of all things, and as he proposes, declares, and promises so great things: he is the end, as he brings all the things which are here revealed to a complete and glorious conclusion. Again, the beginning and end of a thing is in scripture styled the whole thing. Therefore God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; that is, one who is all things, and always the same."
​(John Wesley)

“COME, LORD JESUS”

Christ is the Alpha and Omega in relation to Christianity and providence. Christianity is at this day the great upholder of Theism in the world. It has unspeakably distanced Judaism, whose testimony against idolatry it has taken up, and also Mohammedanism, whose witness for the unity of God is nowhere going forth with visible conquering power. But Christianity is more than simple Theism. There is a Trinity in its unity, and this gives it a richness, a grandeur, an adaptability to the fallen state of man, of which mere Theism is incapable. Hence the Son shines in the Christian firmament as the true God along with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and thus the Divine works of creation and providence are connected with His name. Over the wide universe everything shall at last be found to be under Christ’s feet, not necessarily in the way of loyal subjection, but in the way of bearing witness to one ascendant will, which orders all things, even evil, for the best.

Christ is the Alpha and Omega in relation to redemption. He is the Alpha and Omega in regard to redemption—as a Divine saving plan. We cannot ascend to the origin of this plan, for it is from eternity. But, as far as we can rise, Christ is seen to be its fountain-head, and with His purpose of devotement it is bound up.

As a personal Christian experience. When is it that any One of us becomes a Christian? Is it not when Christ draws near and talks to us, as to the disciples on their way? We have no experimental Christianity apart from Him.

As a collective spiritual history. Christianity was never intended to be a solitary experience or a multitude of single experiences. It was to be a society, a Church. And He who bears up the Church so long in such a world must be nothing less than Divine. It was the saying of Voltaire that Christianity would not survive the nineteenth century; but what has the nineteenth century not done for Christianity? It has sent the Gospel anew into all the world. It has gathered in the islands of the South, and shaken the mighty pagan faiths of India, China, and Japan. It has stirred up its missionaries from the far West to preach the old faith in Egypt and in Palestine, and where the disciples first received the Christian name. It has devoted its noblest children to face death for Christ in depths of Africa which Voltaire never heard of; and it has even employed the press at Ferney that printed his own works, and, it may be, this very prophecy against the Gospel, to publish in new tongues the true oracles of God.

Considered as an endless development. When we speak of eternity, we feel that we are dealing with a quantity which, whether as applied to man’s natural endowments or destiny in Christ, overtasks all our powers alike of conception and description. Christ "openeth, and no man shutteth," holding in His hands "the golden key that opens the palace of eternity." 
​(J. Cairns, Christ the Morning Star, and Other Sermons, p. 18)

The Spirit and the Bride Say, Come

Still, four times repeated, implies the crystallization and permanence of character. The rewards mentioned here are for the faithful service of Christ’s stewards, as in Mat_25:21. For the fourth time, He who began the book and closes it, uses of Himself the divine monogram of Alpha and Omega, Rev_1:8; Rev_1:11; Rev_21:6.
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​In the Authorized Version the way to the tree of life was opened to those who kept the commandments, but it is very comforting to read in the Revised Version that this blessed privilege is for those “who wash their robes.” Notice the combination of various titles in Christ: David’s Lord and David’s Son; the Morning Star and the Sun of Heaven’s Day; the Coming One, for whose quick return the whole creation waits; and the Water of Life, of which whosoever will may drink. The appeal of Rev_22:17 is to our Lord, asking Him to make haste to come, and it is answered in Rev_22:20.
Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 

But who shall tell whether that cry may not, sooner than we think, be answered by a spiritual transformation of the things seen and temporal, so that without a break, in the twinkling of an eye, the veil of matter may be rent, and the whole imminent glory of the unseen and eternal swim into view! Let us be on the alert!  (F.B. Meyer)

The Spirit Calls the Bride-and the Bride Calls the Spirit

​"We are not to think of two separate voices: the voice of the Spirit and the voice of the bride. It is a characteristic of John’s style that where there is combined action, action, having both an inward and invisible and an outward and visible side, he often separates the two agencies by which it is produced. Many illustrations of this may be found in his mention of the actions of the Father and the Son, but it will be enough to refer to one more strictly parallel to that met with here. In chap.15 of the fourth Gospel we find Jesus saying to His disciples, "But when the Advocate is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me; and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning." (Joh_15:26-27). In these words we have not two works of witnessing, the first that of the Advocate, the second that of the disciples. We have only one, - outwardly that of the disciples, inwardly that of the Advocate. In like manner now. The Spirit and the bride do not utter separate calls. The Spirit calls in the bride; the bride calls in the Spirit. The cry "Come" is therefore that of the spiritually enlightened Church as she answers the voice of her Lord and King. Her voice is the echo of His. He says, "I come;" she answers, "Come." John then adds the next clause himself: And let him that heareth say, Come; that is, let him that heareth with the hearing of faith; let him who has made his own the glorious prospects opened up in the visions of this book as to the Lord’s Second Coming add his individual cry to the cry of the universal Church. To this the Savior replies, And he that is athirst, let him come. He that will, let him take the water of life freely. The words appear to be addressed, not to the world, but to the Church. He that is "athirst" has already drunk of the living water, but he thirsts for deeper draughts from that river the streams whereof make glad the city of God. To partake more and more largely of these is the believer’s longing; and fullness of blessing is within his reach. Let him never say, "It is enough." Let him drink and drink again; let him drink "freely," until the water that Christ shall give him becomes in him "a fountain of springing water unto eternal life." (Joh_4:14) The statements and replies contained in these words are those of the glorified Lord, of the Church speaking in the Spirit, and of the individual believer, as they hold converse with one another in that moment of highest rapture when evil has been extinguished, when the struggle is over, when the victory has been gained, and when the Lord of the Church is at the door. He in them and they in Him, what can they do but speak to and answer one another in strains expressive of mutual longing and affection and joy?

Once more the Seer - for it seems to be he that speaks turns to the book which he has written.

In the Prologue he had said, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein." (Rev_1:3). In the same spirit he now denounces a woe upon him who adds to it: God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in the book; nor less upon him who takes from it: for God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. The book has come from Him who is the faithful and true Witness of God, and it has been written in obedience to His command and under the guidance of His Spirit St. John himself is nothing; Christ is all: and St John knows that the words of his great Master are fulfilled, "He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me."1 Therefore may he speak with all authority, for it is not he that speaks, but the Holy Spirit.2 (1 Mat_10:40; Mar_13:11)

Yet once again, before the parting salutation, Christ and the Church interchange their thoughts. The former speaks first: He which testifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. It is the sum and substance of His message to His suffering people, for they can desire or need no more. The "I" is the Lord Himself as He is in glory, not in the feebleness of the flesh, not amidst the sins and sorrows of the world, not with the cup of trembling and astonishment in His hand, but in the unlimited fullness of His Divine power, clothed with the light of His heavenly abode, and anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Especially is the Church told that this revelation is all she needs, because throughout the book she is supposed to be in the midst of trials. To the troubled heart the Apocalypse is given; and by such a heart is it best understood.

Jesus has spoken; and the Church replies, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen to all that the Lord has promised; Amen to the thought of sin and sorrow banished, of wounded hearts healed, of tears of affliction wiped away, of the sting taken from death and victory from the grave, of darkness dissipated forever, of the light of the eternal day. Surely it cannot come too soon. "Why is His chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of His chariots?" (Jdg_5:28). "Yea, I quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints."    (Expositor's Bible)