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Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended178

Is Jesus "the Alpha and the Omega"?

When discussing the position of Jesus in relation to JehovahGod, it is quite common for believers in the Trinity doctrine torefer to several passages where they claim the descriptions"Alpha and Omega," "first and last," and "beginning and end" areapplied to God’s Son. The purpose of this portion of ourdiscussion is to determine whether or not Jesus is given any ofthese titles, and, if so, what is their meaning and significance.

To do so, we must first analyze each occurrence of thesedescriptions, determine who the intended referent is according tothe context, and then try to uncover the meaning of thedescription.

Revelation 1:8. According to the NIV, this verse reads: "‘Iam the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, andwho was, and who is to come [oJ w]n kaiV oJ h\n kaiV oJ ejrcovmeno";ho on kai ho en kai ho erkhomenos], the Almighty.’" Here the"Alpha and Omega" is clearly identified as "the Lord God," or"Jehovah God" (NWT).

In an attempt to further identify the "Alpha and Omega" ofthis verse, Trinitarians have tried to establish a link between Jesusin verse seven, who is there spoken of as "coming," and the One"who is coming" according to verse eight. There are severalproblems with this interpretation, however, that make such anidentification practically impossible from a biblical perspective.

First, in Revelation 1:4, 5, John writes to the sevencongregations that are in the district of Asia: "Grace and peace toyou from him who is, and who was, and who is to come [ho onkai ho en kai ho erkhomenos], and from the seven spirits beforehis throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, thefirstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth"(emphasis added). Here we can see that just prior to verse 8 thedescription of the One "who is, and who was, and who is tocome" is given to One who is clearly distinguished from "theseven spirits" and "Jesus Christ." It would seem obvious that theonly other person from whom "undeserved kindness and peace"could come is the Father.

NWT and Jesus Christ 179

Thus, the "coming" of the "Alpha and Omega" in verse eightis consistent with the description of the Father’s "coming" inverse four. Further proof that a reference to the "coming" of theFather is supported by Scripture, particularly the book ofRevelation, is found in chapter 6 verses 16, 17, where those whorefuse to bear witness to God and Jesus cry out: "Fall over us andhide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and fromthe wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath hascome [emphasis added], and who is able to stand?"126

Here we can see that "the One seated on the throne" is alsoseen as "coming" with the Lamb on the "great day of their wrath."Throughout the book of Revelation, including here in 6:16, "theOne seated on the throne" is a common reference to Jesus’ Godand Father. (4:10; 5:1, 7; 7:10, 15; 21:5) There is no compellingevidence to support the belief that Revelation 1:8 is a reference toJesus Christ. In fact, the evidence seems to point decisively infavor of the Father being "the Alpha and the Omega" of thisverse.

Revelation 1:10, 11. The reference to these verses in ourstudy might at first surprise some, for according to nearly everymodern English translation they read: "By inspiration I came tobe in the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a strong voice likethat of a trumpet, saying: ‘What you see write in a scroll and sendit to the seven congregations, in Ephesus and in Smyrna and inPergamum and in Thyatira and in Sardis and in Philadelphia andin Laodicea.’"

However, to readers of the King James Version these versesdemand explanation, for in it we read: "I was in the Spirit on theLord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, Whatthou seest, write in a book, and send [it] unto the seven churcheswhich are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and untoPergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and untoPhiladelphia, and unto Laodicea" (emphasis added). This reading

126 Although "their" (au*tw'n) is supported by C 1611 1854 2053 2344 andother witnesses, the singular au*tou' ("his") is found in A P 046 and "all minuscules,"according to Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 3dcorrected ed. (Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1975), 739-740.


is also found in The Living Bible (Kenneth Taylor), The AmplifiedNew Testament, and Young’s Literal Translation of the HolyBible (Robert Young), although Young admits that the "oldestMSS. omit" the above emphasized portion of verse 11.127

Of course, if the KJV were correct in its reading of verse 11then it would prove to be an undisputed reference to Jesus as the"Alpha and Omega," as verses twelve through twenty reveal himto be the speaker in this context. However, the reading of the KJVis not part of the inspired record, as it does not have any supportfrom the early manuscripts of the New Testament. Its addition tosome late Byzantine texts was apparently from an overzealousscribe who recognized the need for more support from theScriptures to uphold an identification between Jesus and "theAlpha and the Omega."

Revelation 21:6. Here is the second, non-interpolatedoccurrence of "the Alpha and the Omega," according to the RSV:"And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega,the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from thefountain of the water of life without payment.’"

According to verse five, "the One seated on the throne" is thespeaker. This fact alone would seem to point conclusively to theFather as "the Alpha and the Omega" of verse six, but there ismore. The "One seated on the throne" continues in verse seven:"Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be hisGod and he will be my son." In reference to verse seven, the bookReasoning from the Scriptures, pages 412-413, observes:

Revelation 21:6, 7 indicates that Christians who are spiritualconquerors are to be ‘sons’ of the one known as the Alpha andthe Omega. That is never said of the relationship of spirit-anointed Christians to Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of them as‘brothers.’ (Heb. 2:11; Matt. 12:50; 25:40) But those‘brothers’ of Jesus are referred to as "sons of God."—Gal.3:26; 4:6.

127 Robert Young, Young’s Concise Commentary on the Holy Bible, paperbacked. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977), 179 of the New Testament section.


Of course, in the context of the two scriptures in Galatianswhere the "brothers" of Christ are referred to as "sons of God,""God" here is clearly a reference to "God the Father," as Jesus isdistinguished from Him in the context of these verses.128 Thus,the fact that "the One seated on the throne" is speaking and Herefers to the "conquerors" as His "sons," again favorsunderstanding a description of the Father in verse six as "theAlpha and the Omega." On the other hand, there is no compellingevidence to see a reference to Jesus in verse six.

Revelation 22:12-13. The last mention in Scripture of"the Alpha and the Omega" reads as follows: "‘Look! I amcoming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to render toeach one as his work is. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the firstand the last, the beginning and the end.’" This is the only instancewhere Trinitarians have offered a credible means of identifyingthe speaker as Jesus Christ. However, the evidence provided tosupport such a contention is really not as convincing as theythink.

It is recognized by all parties concerned that "the Alpha andthe Omega" begins speaking in verse 12, and continues at least toverse 15. Yet, Trinitarians argue that the speaker continuesthrough verse 16, which reads: "I, Jesus, sent my angel to bearwitness to you people of these things for the congregations. I amthe root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star."If, therefore, the speaker of verses 12-15 continues through verse16, then "the Alpha and the Omega" would definitely beidentified as "Jesus," who identifies himself in the first person atthe beginning of verse 16. But does the simple fact that in verse16 we see the first-person singular "I" followed by the explicitidentification of the speaker, "Jesus," mean that the scriptures justprior to verse 16 are also the words of Jesus? Consider twoexamples from the book of Revelation that reveal the limitationsof such a conclusion.

The first example is Revelation 1:9, which reads according tothe NASB: "I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the

128 See the latter part of 3:26 as well as 4:4; see also Mt 5:45; Ro 8:14, 15, 19,23; 9:4, 26; Eph 1:5.


tribulation and kingdom and perseverance [which are] in Jesus,was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God andthe testimony of Jesus." Here John, right after "the Alpha and theOmega" finishes speaking in verse 8, refers to himself in the first-person singular, followed by an explicit identification through theuse of his name. Surely no one will argue that this means John is"the Alpha and the Omega" of the previous verse!

The second example is found in Revelation 22:8: "I, John,am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I hadheard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of theangel who had been showing them to me." (NIV) Will anyoneconclude based on the opening of this verse that John is the one"coming quickly" in verse 7?

Based on the aforementioned examples, one might wellwonder why there are so many sudden changes in speakerthroughout the book of Revelation. The truth is, there really arenot that many at all. Actually, the only other direct speaker in thebook of Revelation, other than John that is, would appear to bethe angel Jesus sent to deliver the revelation that his God andFather gave to him, as Revelation 1:1 reveals: "A revelation byJesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the thingsthat must shortly take place. And he sent forth his angel andpresented it in signs through him [the angel] to his slave John."

Eugene Boring has presented a fine study of the differentspeakers in Revelation, showing how complicated it can be torightly discern who is speaking in the different visions. He notesthat angels are "by far the largest number of speakers inRevelation," and he identifies problem passages such asRevelation 9:12 where it is "difficult to determine whether it isthe continuing voice of the angel who has been speaking."129

Though Boring believes John ‘speaks as Jesus’ in Revelation16:15 and that it is quite possible that in Revelation 22:7 and22:16 and angel is "speaking for Jesus in the present," he seemsto have some difficulty working his way through the different

129 M. Eugene Boring, "The Voice of Jesus in the Apocalypse of John," NovT34.4 (1992), 338, 341. He is in error, though, when he says (page 338) that no angel isnamed in Revelation (compare 12:7).


speakers in Revelation 1:8, 21:6 and 22:13.130 But, for the mostpart, he shows acute awareness of a number of issues relating tothe speakers in Revelation that seem to go unnoticed by manywho contend that Jesus is "the Alpha and the Omega." Forexample, Boring writes:

When God, Christ, Spirit, Angel, and prophet were thought oftogether, the conceptual result was a kind of revelatory"chain," but it functioned as a synchronic Gestalt [a pattern sowell unified that its parts are difficult to distinguish from the

whole] rather than as a linear chain of command. The voices,and the figures they represent, do not remain distinct, butfade into each other. There are numerous examples of thephenomenon of the modulation/ transposition/ blending/overlapping/ fading of voices into each other.

When we consider Revelation 22:12-16 in this light, we cansee how the angel could switch from speaking the words ofJehovah God, to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. To helpillustrate that the angel is in fact the one speaking for both "theAlpha and the Omega" and Jesus Christ in verses 12-16, considerthe following dialogue between John and one of God’s angels,from Revelation 21:9-22:11 (NIV):

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of theseven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will showyou the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me awayin the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me theHoly City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.[Revelation 21:11-14 are omitted for brevity] The angel whotalked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure thecity, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square,as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod andfound it to be 12,000 stadia. He [that is, the angel] measuredits wall and it was 144 cubits by man's measurement, whichthe angel was using. [Rev 21:18-27 are omitted for brevity] . . .Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as

130 Ibid., 336-337, 340, 342 note 12, 355. But note his astute remarks in thefirst paragraph of page 344.


clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of theLamb down the middle of the great street of the city. [Rev22:2-5 are omitted for brevity] . . . The angel said to me,"These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God ofthe spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servantsthe things that must soon take place." [note the break in thequotation] "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he whokeeps the words of the prophecy in this book." I, John, am theone who heard and saw these things. And when I had heardand seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angelwho had been showing them to me. But he [the angel] said tome, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and withyour brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words ofthis book. Worship God!" Then he [the angel] told me, "Donot seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because thetime is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong;let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does rightcontinue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to beholy."

Thus, even though NIV places a break in the quotation fromRevelation 22:6 where the angel is clearly speaking, and 22:7,where the speaker says, "I am coming quickly," there really is nosuch break indicated in the text itself. Also, for obvious reasons,NIV breaks up the words in 22:11 and 22:12, this so the angel isnot understood as speaking the words of "the Alpha and theOmega." However, as Revelation 1:1 reveals, an angel was sentto bring the divine message to John; so, it should be no surprisethat this angel speaks the words of God and Christ Jesus.131 Infact, it is quite common in the Hebrew Scriptures to findexamples where angels speak directly for God, even referring tothemselves as "God" or "Jehovah" (compare Ex 3:2-6; De 5:4; Ac7:30, 38, 53).

As far as the One "coming quickly" in Revelation 22:12, wehave already discussed how Jehovah and Jesus Christ areunderstood as "coming" to the "war of the great day of God theAlmighty." (Rev 16:14) One Witness publication states: "The

131 See Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1 (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and TractSociety, 1988), 81.


expression, ‘Look! I am coming quickly,’ in verse 12, does notrequire that these aforementioned verses apply to Jesus, inasmuchas God also speaks of himself as ‘coming’ to execute judgment(compare Isa 26:21.) Malachi 3:1-6 speaks of a joint coming forjudgment on the part of Jehovah and his ‘messenger of thecovenant.’"132 Also, note the similarity of this verse, whichspeaks of God coming with a reward, and Isaiah 40:10: "Look!The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself will come even as a strongone, and his arm will be ruling for him. Look! his reward is withhim, and the wage he pays is before him." Hebrews 11:6 likewiserefers to God the Father as "the rewarder of those earnestlyseeking him."

On several occasions Jehovah’s Witnesses have identifiedthe one "coming quickly" in Revelation 22:12 as the Lord JesusChrist.133 But in other articles the one "coming quickly" inRevelation 22:12 is Jehovah.134 In conversations with this author,some have also referred to the following statement in a morerecent Watchtower publication, "Both he [Jesus] and JehovahGod himself repeatedly stress the fact that they are coming‘quickly,’ or soon, Jesus here saying that for the fifth time.(Revelation 2:16; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20)"135 They point to the factthat the five scriptures listed are all applied to Jesus, and that thisis another, more recent instance where the words of Revelation22:12 are attributed to Jesus Christ.

Of course, such reasoning ignores the fact that on page 316of the Revelation book these words are attributed to "Jehovah, theKing of eternity," and that on page 317, paragraph 9, the firstsentence specifically distinguishes the words of Jehovah in verses12-15 from the words of Jesus in 22:16. The five verses listedabove from page 319 likely included Revelation 22:12 as one ofthe references to Jehovah, for the preceding sentence clearly

132 Ibid., 81.133 See "Christ’s Coming an Academic Question?" The Watchtower, 1 July 1955,

387; "Keep on the Watch," The Watchtower, 1 October 1978, 15.134 See "Make Up Your Mind Now as to Whom You Will Serve," 15 November

1967, 680; "Detest Utterly the World's Disgraceful Course," The Watchtower, 15 June1988, 20; "Who Is ‘the Alpha and the Omega’?" Awake! 22 August 1978, 28.

135 Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand! (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible andTract Society, 1988), 319.


states, "Both he [Jesus] and Jehovah God himself repeatedlystress the fact that they are coming ‘quickly’" (emphasis added).

In any event, Witness literature occasionally links Jesus withRevelation 22:12 in view of the fact that the writer of thearticle(s) in question was intent on finding the expression"coming quickly," which is normally used by Jesus; the writerwas not concerned with identifying "the Alpha and the Omega."Of course, the expression, "coming quickly" is not usedexclusively of Jesus’ coming (compare Rev 11:14), and it canhardly be considered unusual that God should use it in Revelation22:12, for He is also spoken of as "coming" (Rev 1:4, 8; 4:8;compare 11:17).

When you come right down to it, there really is nocompelling evidence to identify Jesus as "the Alpha and theOmega" of Revelation 22:12. Surely, then, it is acceptable tounderstand this as a reference to the same One referred to as "theAlpha and the Omega" in earlier verses, yes, "the One who is andwho was and who is coming," the Almighty Father, Jehovah!

"The First and the Last." Although Jesus is neverdescribed as "the Alpha and the Omega," he does bear the title,"the First and the Last." (Rev 1:17; 2:8) What does this mean? Ofthe three occurrences of the title "Alpha and Omega," two ofthem are accompanied by the description "the beginning and theend," while only the last one, Revelation 22:12, adds a thirddescription, "the first and the last." Does this title carry the samemeaning when applied to Jesus and the Father, assuming that theFather (which assumption we base on the above presentation offacts) is in fact the One spoken of in Revelation 22:12? Toanswer this question we must examine the context of the threeverses in Revelation where the description "first and last" is used.

In Revelation 1:17-18, we read: "And when I [John] saw him[the glorified Jesus], I fell dead at his feet. And he laid his righthand upon me and said: ‘Do not be fearful. I am the First and theLast, and the living one; and I became dead, but, look! I am livingforever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’"Just a few verses later, in Revelation 2:8, John is told to write:"These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, whodied and came to life again." (NIV) We can see that the


immediate context (sometimes called the "cotext") links Jesus’death and resurrection to the meaning of the description "the Firstand the Last."

Also worthy of note is the fact that "the Alpha and theOmega" is not used in tandem with "the First and the Last" inthese two Scriptures. Nor is "the beginning and the end." Jesus issimply "the First and the Last" in relation to his death and uniqueresurrection by the Father, which is why he is elsewhere referredto as the "firstborn from the dead." (Rev 1:5; compare Col 1:18)Remarkably, the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus [A] reads"firstborn," instead of "first," at both Revelation 1:17 and 2:8;however, in 22:12, where the context makes no reference to "theAlpha and the Omega" dying and coming to life again, we find"first" (prw'to", protos), not "firstborn" (prwtovtoko", prototokos).This shows that the scribe of Codex A recognized a difference inmeaning between the references to Jesus in 1:17 and 2:8, and "theAlpha and the Omega" in 22:13. And, again, the description"Alpha and Omega" does not accompany the title "the First andthe Last" in 1:17 or 2:8, as it does in 22:13.

As the first part of 22:12 refers back to Isaiah 40:10, theadditional description of "the Alpha and the Omega" as "the firstand the last" seems to recall (although the LXX does read thesame as the Greek of Revelation on this point) the words of Isaiah44:6: "I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is noGod." That Revelation 1:17 and 2:8 could not have this samemeaning seems clear from the fact that "the first and the last" ofIsaiah 44:6 is obviously God Almighty, Jehovah; but Jesus, in thesame glorified state in which he is called "First and Last" in thecontext of his death and resurrection, admits to another as hisGod:

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for Ihave not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. . .Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of myGod. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the nameof my God and the name of the city of my God, the newJerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God;


and I will also write on him my new name.—Rev 3:2, 12(NIV).

This is hardly something we would expect to hear from "thefirst and the last" of Isaiah 44:6! Also, it does no good to invokefifth-century (CE) christology to explain away the fact that Jesushas One who is God to him. Not only are they different "persons"(that is, Father and Son), but they are not the same God. One isthe God of the other. To teach that Christ has two-natures in oneperson is not only against the teaching of Scripture, but it flies inthe face of logic and reason. After all, how could one personpossess unlimited knowledge and at the same time be limited inknowledge? (Compare Rev 1:1 where Jesus is given a revelation[=disclosure of divine knowledge136].) This would be a violationof the law of non-contradiction: "A" cannot be "non-A" at thesame time and in the same way.

In this case we are dealing with knowledge, and Jesus eitherhas it or he does not. His ‘100% divine nature’ cannot have itwhile at the same time his ‘100% human nature’ does not; that is,if he has but one center of consciousness. If there is more thanone center of consciousness then there is more than one person.At any rate, Jesus adds no such qualification (such as, "God ofmy human self") to his statement in Revelation 3:2, 12.

Another indication that "the First and the Last" of Revelation1:17 and 2:8 is not the equivalent to the expression used byJehovah in Isaiah 44:6, is, as we noted earlier, the fact that itscontext specifically limits the meaning of this expression to Jesus'death and unique resurrection. But, can Jehovah die? Habakkuk1:12 tells us: "Are you not from long ago, O Jehovah? O my God,my Holy One, you do not die" (emphasis added).

Many translations render the emphasized portion as "we shallnot die." The reason for this difference is explained by thefollowing: "We shall not die represents the Hebrew text, followedby the LXX, but at this point occurs one of the eighteen‘emendations of the scribes (Tiqqune Sopherim): the margin bidsone read ‘Thou shalt not die’ parallel to from everlasting. This is

136 See Chapter 4, page 199.


preferable. If we shall not die is the true reading, it is hard tounderstand its presence here unless it is a gloss."137 Likewise,Ralph Smith translates this portion of Habakkuk 1:12, "You[Jehovah] shall not die," stating that this "expresses the same ideaas the first line, that Yahweh never dies. He lives forever."138

Conclusion

In this chapter we have demonstrated that a variety ofaccusations against the NWT are a product of shallow and one-sided research. Just because other translations like the NIV orNASB offer renderings that differ from NWT does not mean NWTis automatically guilty of mistranslation. Bible translation does nottake place without the translator’s views and beliefs having someinfluence, especially when a particular passage admits of more thanone rendering.139 Anyone who thinks NWT displays bias, andversions like the NIV or NASB do not, needs to think again. Whenconfronted with a verse that (grammatically) admits of two or morerenderings, a Bible translator must decide which is best based onhis or her understanding of the context.

The application of Psalm 102:25-27 to the Son of God inHebrews 1:10-12 is for the purpose of highlighting the Son’s

137 Charles L. Taylor, The Book of Habakkuk (IB 6; New York: Abingdon Press,1956), 984. Other scholars believe the reading of MT ("we shall not die"), which issupported by the LXX, is the original reading, and that the list of Tiqqune Sopherim(TS) contains a correction. See, A. J. O. van der Wal, "LO' NAMUT in Habakkuk I 12:A Suggestion," VT 38.4 (1988), 480-483; Robert D. Haak, Habakkuk (VTSup 44;Leiden: Brill, 1992), 48-49. Their objection concerning the fact that the alterationsuggested by TS has no textual tradition to support it is worthy of consideration, but weshould keep in mind Zipor’s reference to Tov’s reservation concerning the textualtestimony of TS, "its absence may occasionally be merely the result of its having beensuppressed by the Rabbis" (Moshe A. Zipor, "Some Notes on the Origin of theTradition of the Eighteen T]qqWn? SoP+r'm," VT 44.1 [1994], 86, note 41). Zipor’sarticle is a very useful review of the tradition of the TS. See also, Emanuel Tov, TextualCriticism of the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 65-66.

138 Ralph Smith, Micah-Malachi (WBC 32; Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1984),102, 103.

139 See Rolf Furuli, The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation: With aSpecial Look at the New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (HuntingtonBeach, CA: Elihu Books, 1999).


immortality since his resurrection. In doing so, Paul gives yetanother example of how Christ has become superior to the angels.

In John 12:41 it seems clear that the things Isaiah said andwhere he "spoke about him [Jesus]" are found in Isaiah 53, ascited in verse 38. John 12:39-40 contains an explanation of whythe crowds were not able to believe. If verse 41 has any referenceat all to Isaiah 6 it is not to identify Jesus as Jehovah; rather, thecontext of Isaiah 6 does seem to have some Messianicsignificance in verses 6-7, and there could be some propheticsignificance in the atonement of Isaiah’s sins, perhapsforeshadowing the redemptive act the future Messiah wouldperform to remove the sins of many. (Isa 53:11) It is also possiblethat Isaiah saw the glory of the preexistent Logos as expressingand representing the glory of his God and Father (compare Heb1:3).

We also examined all three "Alpha and Omega" texts inScripture, and have concluded that not one of them conclusivelyidentifies Jesus Christ as this One. Rather, the evidence from theverses in question, as well as their surrounding contexts, points tothe Father as "the Alpha and the Omega" in each instance.

The title "the First and the Last," when used of Jesus inRevelation 1:17 and 2:8, has special reference to his death andunique resurrection, as indicated by the context of each verse.Also, the title "the Alpha and Omega" does not occur in eitherRevelation 1:17 or 2:8. Yet it does appear beside "the first and thelast" of Revelation 22:12, where it is used to describe God’seternal sovereignty.

Jesus and the writers of Scripture bear witness to the fact thatJehovah God and His Son are two separate and unequal beings.Over and over again Jesus confesses his inferiority to Jehovah byacknowledging Him as his God. (Rev 3:2, 12) He is also the Oneresponsible for the royal authority of the Son (Rev 2:26-27; 3:21),who in turn is responsible for the kingship of 144,000 others, whowill, together with the Son, restore the earth to the paradisecondition for which God originally created it (Rev 1:6; 5:9-10;14:1-5; 20:4-6; 21:1-4).

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