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Everything You Need, From A to Z It is said that Elias Howe once dreamed that a hostile tribe threatened to kill him if he didn't invent a machine that sewed—in fact, he would die with the thrust of a spear. What? Well, you know how dreams can be! Well, actually, the image of spear tips being hurled at him inspired the concept of a lunging needle carrying a thread in its tip—commonly known today as the sewing machine! Weird, as well as amazing! It is also said that German chemist Friedreich Kekule dreamed about six snakes in a circle, biting each other's tails. On awaking, he realized that the hexagon shape in his dream represented the yet-undiscovered molecular structure of benzene. The world renowned Albert Einstein claimed to see his famous formula, E=mc2, in a dream, as well. George Washington Carver believed that God spoke to him in dreams, giving him the idea for such inventions as sandpaper. Is it any wonder that God gave the greatest revelation ever given by way of a dream or vision to the disciple John—the very last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation? And get this—at the very beginning and at the very end of that book, one of the most crucial verbal depictions of Jesus is revealed. At the beginning—"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," (1:8; also, 1:11), and, at the end—"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. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." (22:12-14) Praise God—such a declaration is like a parentheses surrounding and highlighting the entire revelation that is found in between. You see, Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, while Omega is the very last. In essence, Jesus is saying, "I am everything you need—everything from A to Z!" This has always been true, but it is especially crucial that we come to recognize and embrace this truth in these last of days—the very time period being described in the Revelation. As Alpha, Jesus is the Source; the beginning of all revealed truth, of all promises made, and of all testimony committed to the hearts of mankind. Scripture takes it all of the way back to, and even before, Creation. John tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." (1:1-3) Paul explodes with the same revelation—Jesus is "…the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence." (Col. 1:15-18; italics mine) No, it is not a wild and crazy dream—if it is a dream it all, it could not be more true! But not only is He Alpha, He is also Omega. Jesus is our End, with His glory as our ultimate goal. The Westminster Catechism states, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." Most people don't realize it yet, but everything in life finds it's answer in Him, Who is the First and the Last. C.R. Rolls once wrote: The Alpha and Omega true, Inclusive this of all between, Sum total of the Old and New, Of things invisible and seen, The First and Last, Oh, precious thought, The First and Last Who sought and taught.
Praise God—the One Who sought and taught, did so, not only with the words of His sermons, but in the relationships of daily life. Towards the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and the end of Mark's 1st chapter, we find such an encounter—"And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto Him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed." (vss. 40-42) Leprosy is a horrible disease. Neil Wilson, speaks of it in his 1st person rendition of this very story—"The terror of leprosy was the absence of pain. I couldn't tell by touch if an object was sharp, rough, hot, or cold. Pain never told me to stop doing something that was causing damage to my body. I walked on a wounded foot until it became a stump. I burned myself badly and scratched myself raw without even noticing it. The ugliness of a leper was a symptom of the disease. We couldn't feel." Oh, but this man did feel—the shame, the rejection, the humiliation of needing to proclaim his own uncleanness when anyone came near. For some reason, this Jesus was different—the leper approached Him, not just begging Him for a healing, but as Matthew puts it—to actually worship Him! Surely this man must have heard of Jesus and His healing powers, but there is more than that here. I wonder if maybe he was seeing absolutely everything he needed in this Jesus—everything from A to Z! Could this preacher make this man feel again—not just physically, but emotionally and even spiritually? Somehow, the healing—in whatever form it would take—would be up to Jesus, totally His choice. This willingness of Jesus, in the Greek, refers to a desire, but it implies a very active volition and purpose. Would he just be one more healthy member of society, or would there be a deeper change here? When the man is made clean, the original language speaks of a purging and purification. Jesus is not just looking to change your medical records; He is looking to the heart and the resultant life—not just A, B, or C, but all of the way to Z—He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Mr. Wilson relates it this way—"Like a wave of fire, the nerves throughout my body flared. Starting with the hand He touched, wholeness swept through me. The pain was delicious—it hurt…With crystal clarity I knew that as long as I trusted Jesus, I would never be unclean again." Pure, holy, righteous, clean—everything—from A, all the way to Z! There is one other thing I would like to point out here—in His mercy, Jesus charged the man to not run all over the place spreading this story—no, he was to go straight to the priests and let them inspect him and declare him to be healed. That is what the law prescribed! I think the reason for that was simple—since people did not just "get better" from leprosy, this would be absolute proof that it was the hand of God that touched this diseased man. Did he do as Jesus said? Did he go all of the way to "Z"? I don't know—we are not told. The next verse does begin with a "but"—"But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, in so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to Him from every quarter." (vs. 45) Our place is not to judge this man as to how far he was willing to go with Jesus; we only know Jesus was more than willing to go all of the way for him. Do you remember the story of the healing of the ten lepers? Check it out—Luke 17:11-19—all ten were healed, but Jesus only declares one to be whole! Is that the point of "Z"? What about us? Can we honestly confess that He is everything from A to Z in our lives? He will be when we let His life, through the power of the Holy Spirit, live our lives instead of us. Oh, how the strain of trying to live in our own strength vanishes out of our lives when we rest in the joy of all Christ is in Himself. Whether we contemplate creation, rev-elation, redemption, history, or personal experience, Jesus is the beginning and the end. Nothing is before Him; nothing yet to come! When it comes to our desires, ambitions, and agendas, is He the First and the Last? Is every part of our lives inspired by the Spirit, and marked by His glory? Or, do we only come running to hear from Him when we are not hearing the answers we want? Oh, how life is made radiant with His grace when Christ is all and in all! To have Him spell out the answers to all of life, using His own alphabet, is surely the language of heaven. Many today insist on finding their answers and directions somewhere else. In the end, they will find they are only dreaming…that's right—only dreaming! Copyright (c)
2008 Christ Our Rock Bible Church. |
