The Alpha, the Omega and in-betweens
4/24/2009 8:52:57 AM
Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
Revelation 1:1-8
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who testifies to everything he saw – that is, the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father – to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him.
So shall it be! Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
He came, He comes and behold, He is coming again.
Beginnings – Endings – And the in-betweens.
q The Alpha and the Omega
q The first and the last
q From the lead off hitter to the batter hitting clean up in the bottom of the ninth
q From the grand opening to the going out of business sale
q From “Once Upon a Time” to “Happily Ever After”
q From the IPO to the closing bell
q From the inauguration to lame duck
q From the opening curtain to the grand finale
q From the birth announcement to the tombstone testimony
q Indeed, from the womb to the tomb we find reason to celebrate when things begin and when they end.
But we live most of our lives in the “ordinary time” – in between.
Consider how much energy, effort, imagination, time and talent goes in to planning for the celebration of the Lord’s birth. The sanctuary is hung with festive greens. We order extra flowers. We plan extra worship services. We buy special outfits. We run ourselves ragged trying to get to all the parties and visit all the relatives. And then we do the same thing the week we remember the Lord’s death and resurrection.
A week in which we acknowledge an ending and a new beginning.
Indeed, we celebrate beginnings with great flourish and we mark endings with deeply serious solemnity; but most of our lives are lived in-between.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!
This is the day – yes, God made yesterday and God promises us tomorrow – but this is the day that the Lord has made and given us to live.
This day. (and let us not forget that we asked for it every time we have prayed, “Give us this day …”)
Right now.
An ordinary, in-between day.
Most days are alike, aren’t they?
Most days are in-between days.
I think that’s why so many people spend so much time looking back and looking forward – failing to fully live in the present. But this moment, this day, this is the day that the Lord has made.
Yesterday, with all its people and possibilities, all its potential and problems … yesterday is gone. And tomorrow, well Scripture says that tomorrow has enough problems of its own! Certainly, tomorrow is full of promise. Tomorrow is a source of hope. But today, today is the gift we’ve been given to live.
Today, an ordinary little in-between day – a gift in the midst of the reality of the already and the not yet.
Each and every one of us has an already and not yet aspect to our lives.
We are already living in the year 2009 but some of us have not yet left the 20th century!
We are already members of One body, the Church, but we are not yet knit together as brothers and sisters in Christ, fully the family of faith God intends.
We are already engaged in ministry and mission but until every member has a ministry utilizing the gifts and talents God has given us, we are not yet fully equipped for every good work that God has prepared in advance for us to do.
We are already alive, but we are not yet everything that God has created and called us to be.
We are already successful by the standards of the world, but we are not yet significant in terms of the net worth God desires from fishers of men.
We are already in committed relationships, but I dare say that those relationships are not yet all that they might be.
Today, this ordinary, in-between day, for each one of us and for all of us; today is a day of the Already and the Not Yet.
As Christians, living in the midst of The Already embraces the reality that the climax of God’s salvation history, God’s gracious act of salvation upon the cross in Jesus Christ, has already occurred. Indeed, it is finished. Already done.
Today is far less ordinary than it would be had Jesus not already come from heaven to earth; had He not already given His life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins; had He not already risen from death to newness of life; had He not already sent forth the promised Holy Spirit to empower, inspire and energize for the living of these days.
Today might be an ordinary in-between day but it is a day lived on this side of God’s redeeming act that changes human history forevermore!
God has already done all that is necessary for our salvation. That means that today, on this ordinary in-between day of life, we can look back with deep gratitude, acknowledging that we live in the midst of The Already!
And that’s not all – we not only live this day with deep gratitude for The Already, we also live with great expectation of The Not Yet.
The Not Yet is the reality that the Alpha is also the Omega. That the One who is the beginning of all things is also the End to which all of history is moving.
The Not Yet is the reality that the person of Christ, present at Creation, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried, descended into hell, rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, the One who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, yes, indeed, THAT same Jesus, the Christ, is coming again!
The Not Yet is the promise that this is not how it will always be.
The Not Yet is the promise that the Kingdom of God, already instituted, is not yet fully realized.
The Not Yet is the hope of salvation for those who will be saved – and all Creation as well.
The Not Yet is the Omega, the End.
Today, in this ordinary in-between day, may you be blessed to know salvation in Jesus, already accomplished – and the hope toward which we press, advancing Kingdom realities that are not yet fully realized.