You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
13 I[ego] am[eimi] Alpha[a] and[kai] Omega,[omega] the
beginning[arche] and[kai] the end,[telos] the first[protos] and[kai] the last.[eschatos] KJV-Interlinear
13 "I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the
end." NASB
Three sets of descriptions illustrate the eternal nature of Jesus Christ. Alpha and omega, from a beginning to a conclusion. Beginning and end, from an origin source to a goal. First and last, from the best or grandest to the ultimate.
This is the description of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has always existed. There will never be a time when He will not exist. Jesus Christ was never born, never created, never formed in anyway. He is God, the Almighty, the 'I Am' or the eternal resource. He is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, the Messiah, the savior.
These descriptions express Christ's infinity, His eternity, His boundless life transcending all limitations. This describes the completeness, the timelessness, and the sovereign authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ as God was not created, not born, not a mere prophet, not some misguided teacher, not a mere wise man, not a martyr. He is God almighty, infinite and eternal. There never was a time when He did not exist. There will never be a time when he will not exist.
The entire Bible has but one subject. That subject is Jesus Christ. The Bible begins with the grace of God in His creation, and ends with the grace of Christ, in His completion of a new creation into eternity.
There is only one deity. These three titles can only apply to deity. They apply to Christ and therefore He is God. Christ is not a mere prophet, not a mere teacher, not a sincere martyr.
When Adam fell, a savior was promised. Over four-thousand years passed before Jesus was born as a man, into this world. He fulfilled many hundreds of prophecies in His birth, and yet the educated men of His day, knowing those prophecies, did not bother to travel the five short miles to Bethlehem from Jerusalem, to see the Messiah.
Nearly two-thousand years have passed yet again, and many disregard the promises of His return, even though nearly everyone knows of His reputation. You can travel the world throughout history and you will not find a single individual whose name is more known than Jesus Christ.
Christ promises a phenomenal life in exchange for only your attention to His advice. And even then, most folks will ignore the opportunity of their lifetime, focusing instead on what they either have or want right now from this earthly life.
None of us had any say in the start of our life, nor even the circumstances that we would be born into. Our parents started the biological portion. Christ started the human life portion.
None of us have any say in the state of our life. We cannot will ourselves a longer life, nor make ourselves younger. Christ again, has the last word in that matter. He is the sovereign of this universe, and over this universe, His word is final. The bragging rhetoric of terrorists, celebrities, politicians and people in general will vanish into nonexistence.
Your beginning and your end are not in your hands. They are in Gods hands.
God has a plan for your life. Those who pursue their spiritual life will function within that plan of Gods. Those who ignore or half-heartedly pursue their spiritual life, will find themselves on the 'filler' side of history. Being historical, filler brings no glory.
A smart person will recognize the one who has the real controls over life, and will huddle up within His bubble of influence. A fool will turn his back on the one and only power of life, and pursue a fictitious alternative.
Throughout all of our individual lives, there is vast evidence of something far greater than we see and hear and experience in this world. Sure we all have varying degrees of suffering and burdens placed on us, and we can look around and see vast amounts of seemingly prosperous wickedness, but remember one important principle.
This world is a mere shadow of reality. What the wicked possess or do amounts to nothing more than a shadow.
Our real future and possessions exist in heaven, and there the realities of what is real, will infinitely exceed all of the worlds shadows combined. Don't join the wicked, but let the wicked have their small slice of the pie now.
Join the spiritually mature for far greater things await us in heaven.
