Who Is the Alpha and the Omega?

Insight on the Scriptures says a careful reading restricts “the Alpha and the Omega” to Jehovah. Revelation 22:13 is the verse where that title, “the first and the last,” and “the beginning and the end” are one sentence.

The question

Who says “I am the Alpha and the Omega”? Jehovah’s Witnesses answer: Jehovah, not Jesus. The title occurs in Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:6, and Revelation 22:13. Isaiah 44:6 gives “the first and the last” to the LORD. The dispute is whether the speaker who died and lives is allowed to say it.

What Jehovah’s Witnesses teach

Insight on the Scriptures, under “Alpha and Omega,” says (1):

While many commentators apply this title both to God and to Christ, a more careful examination of its use restricts its application to Jehovah God.

On Revelation 1:8 the entry says the speaker is “the Almighty,” even though the previous verse speaks of Christ. On Revelation 21:6–7 it argues that the one who says “I will be his God and he will be my son” is the Father, because Jesus calls his joint heirs “brothers,” not “sons.”

On the last occurrence it says several speakers share the chapter, so verses 12–15 need not be Jesus:

The final occurrence of the title is at Revelation 22:13, which states: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” It is evident that a number of persons are represented as speaking in this chapter of Revelation; verses 8 and 9 show that the angel spoke to John, verse 16 obviously applies to Jesus, the first part of verse 17 is credited to “the spirit and the bride,” and the one speaking in the latter part of verse 20 is manifestly John himself. “The Alpha and the Omega” of verses 12-15, therefore, may properly be identified as the same one who bears the title in the other two occurrences: Jehovah God. The expression, “Look! I am coming quickly,” in verse 12, does not require that these aforementioned verses apply to Jesus, inasmuch as God also speaks of himself as “coming” to execute judgment.

The Watchtower of January 15, 2009, draws a line between the two titles in chapter 1 (2):

The title “the Alpha and the Omega” applies to Jehovah, stressing that there was no almighty God before him and that there will be none after him. He is “the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 21:6; 22:13) Although Jehovah is referred to as “the first and the last” at Revelation 22:13, in that there is none before or after him, the context in the first chapter of Revelation shows that the title “the First and the Last” there applies to Jesus Christ. He was the first human to be resurrected to immortal spirit life and the last one to be so resurrected by Jehovah personally.

The New World Translation of Revelation 1:8 (3) prints the speaker’s name as Jehovah: “I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.” The Kingdom Interlinear at Revelation 1 (10) gives the word-for-word English of that clause as “λέγει is saying Κύριος, Lord, ὁ the θεός, God.”

The texts

Revelation 1:17–18 (11) is spoken by the one John sees among the lampstands, the one who was dead. The New World Translation (4) reads: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the living one, and I became dead, but look! I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of the Grave.” The 2009 Watchtower agrees this speaker is Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:6–7 (11), in the New World Translation (5): And he said to me: “They have come to pass! I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga, the beginning and the end. To anyone thirsting I will give from the spring of the water of life free. Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

Revelation 22:12–13 (11), in the New World Translation (6): “‘Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to repay each one according to his work. I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Verse 16 (7): “‘I, Jesus, sent my angel to bear witness to you about these things for the congregations. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright morning star.’” Verse 20 (8): “The one who bears witness of these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’” “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.”

Isaiah 44:6 (12), in the New World Translation (9): “I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but me.”

A Christian response

The Alpha and the Omega is God. The one who says it in Revelation 22:13, and the one who says “the First and the Last” after having died, is Jesus. Jesus is God. The titles are not a second god’s slogan. They are the LORD’s way of saying there is no God before him or after him, now spoken by the Son who shares that life.

Insight and the 2009 Watchtower should be stated as they stand. They restrict “Alpha and Omega” to Jehovah. They grant that “the First and the Last” in Revelation 1 is Jesus, and they explain that use as resurrection order: first and last to be raised by Jehovah to immortal spirit life. At Revelation 22:13 they say Jehovah can be called “the first and the last” in a different sense, in the same breath as “the Alpha and the Omega.”

The chapter does not split the titles that way. Revelation 1:17–18 puts “the First and the Last” in the mouth of the one who “became dead” and is alive, holding the keys of death. That is not a claim to be the first human Jehovah raised and the last such human. The speaker is contrasting his death with a life that does not end, and he uses the title Isaiah gives to the LORD, beside whom there is no God. The 2009 explanation makes the title smaller than the sentence it sits in.

Revelation 22:13 then ties the titles into one line: “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” If “the First and the Last” in chapter 1 is Jesus, the joined line in chapter 22 does not become someone else unless the text changes speakers. Insight says it may, because several voices share the chapter, and because God can speak of coming in judgment. Read the New World Translation’s own sequence. Verse 12 says “I am coming quickly.” Verse 13 says “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” Verse 16 says “I, Jesus, sent my angel.” Verse 20 answers “Come, Lord Jesus” to the one who says “I am coming quickly.” The reply treats the one who is coming as the Lord Jesus. An angel has already refused worship in verses 8 and 9 and pointed John to God. The voice that remains, and that John answers by name, is Jesus.

Revelation 1:8 in the New World Translation says “Jehovah God.” The interlinear’s word-for-word line says “Lord, the God.” Putting “Jehovah” there is the Society’s judgment about who the Lord God is. That judgment is the thing the rest of the book tests. The page on the name in the New Testament is Does “Jehovah” belong in the New Testament?.

Isaiah 44:6 is not an obstacle to this reading. It is the reason the title matters. The first and the last, beside whom there is no God, is Jehovah. The Son uses that title after dying and rising. The confession is not that a creature borrowed God’s name. It is that the Son is the one God, with the Father and the Spirit. The Trinity says how that is one God. The deity of Christ says why the Son is not a second one.

Common follow-ups

Revelation 21:7 says “I will be his God,” and Jesus does not call disciples his sons in that way. He calls them brothers, and he calls the Father their Father. Revelation 21:7 can be the Father speaking from the throne. That does not move 22:13. The Father and the Son can each speak as God without becoming two gods, because they are one God. A verse in which the Father speaks does not cancel a verse in which the Son says the same title.

“The First and the Last” in chapter 1 only means the first and last raised to heaven. That is the 2009 Watchtower’s reading, and it should be quoted rather than caricatured. The words it has to cover are “I became dead, but look! I am living forever and ever.” The speaker is not describing a queue of resurrections. He is describing himself as the one who died and cannot stay dead, and he introduces himself with the LORD’s title.

The King James Version also puts “Alpha and Omega” in Revelation 1:11, and that line is not in the oldest manuscripts. Insight says this, and it is right. The argument does not use Revelation 1:11. It uses 1:8, 1:17–18, 21:6, and 22:13.

Keep reading

• Does “Jehovah” belong in the New Testament?
• Is Jesus the Creator or a creature?
• The deity of Christ