I am the Alpha and the Omega

I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

(Rev. 1:8)

Alpha and the Omega is a name of God in two verses and a name of Jesus (Yeshua‘) in one verse. It describes them using the alphabet as if to say that they span the whole alphabet and extend beyond it. The Message Bible captures the sense by using the English phrase “A to Z.” It is possible that the Hebrew letters aleph and tau were used to convey God’s eternal n ature before the Greek ones.

There are similar ideas expressed in other names for God in the Old Testament: He is the Creator and Maker of all things. The nearest equivalent is the statement that God is the First and the Last. In the New Testament, Jesus is the Beginning and the end, and again the First and the Last.