Sunday School - Back To Basics Part 4

Prayer for the Teaching of God’s Word

All right, beloved, let's open in prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your goodness this morning. Blessing over our activities and our worship. Pray, Lord, your blessing over the teaching of your word as we endeavor to seek the truth of your word.

A Simple Overview of Who Jesus Christ Is

All right, today is back to basics on who is Jesus Christ. Everyone get one of these? And again, really, the whole series is supposed to be simple. So I want to present to you kind of a systematic overview of these particular subjects.

So the Bible, you know, God, the Trinity, and now we're gonna get into the person of Jesus Christ. But we're gonna kind of look at this from what's called a meta-narrative. Anyone know what a meta-narrative is?

Meta-narrative. Yeah, so, you know, think of a narrative, think of a story. And sometimes when you're reading a story, you're reading the specifics of a story. You know, the what, when, where, how. But a meta-narrative doesn't necessarily just focus on the particular details, more so the whole entire picture, right?

So it's like either having a microscope going in or out and seeing the fuller picture. And so we're gonna look at a meta-narrative of who Jesus Christ is. So looking at the overview, overall picture that's presented in scripture.

Now, that's kind of a hard thing to do, but there's really some simple things that we can do in order to see the truth of that. And so we're gonna attempt to do that. We're gonna start, actually, with the Bible book of Genesis chapter three.

Can someone turn to Genesis chapter three? Just show you the first direct reference to Christ in the scriptures. Now, there's, one could argue that Genesis chapter one has obvious reference to Christ, and I think it does because Jesus is the God who created all things.

But I'm saying in a very direct way, this is particularly singling out Genesis chapter three. Who'd like to read, starting in verse 13? Notice the conflict that's at play at the beginning. Conflict between man and, well, really particularly with regard to the woman.

Who is who? Who is the woman? And then there's a serpent. Who's the serpent? Technically, but particularly in the text, it's the seat of the woman. Who is the seat of the woman? Christ. Here's where we get the first prophecy of the Bible.

The first prophecy of the Bible's right here in Genesis chapter three, and it's directly referencing Jesus Christ, and particularly his redemptive work in crushing our enemy, Satan. So our enemy, Satan the devil, is going to be crushed, but there's something that also happens here.

It says in verse 15, I'll put enmity between you and the woman, that's Eve, and her offspring, that's us, we're her offspring, and between your offspring and her offspring, and you shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

So I don't really like the way that the ESV translates. And both, depending on the context, can mean the same thing. Usually means offspring, but in this sense, I think that they're doing a disservice by doing it because it makes it look very generalized, where this is very particularly talking about Jesus Christ, and you see this in other translations like the LSV, and this will matter in a few minutes because you'll see here, you're gonna put enmity between your seed and her seed, and you shall bruise your head.

That means that the heel of the seed is going to be crushed ahead of the serpent. So if you crush ahead of a serpent, what happens to the serpent? You die, right? You destroy it. But it says, and you shall, the serpent, if you get bit by a venomous snake on the heel, what will happen to you?

Die too. So here's what happens in this conflict. You have two parties. You have the seed of the woman, who I would say is Jesus Christ, and then you have the serpent, and they both kill each other. Now, does that happen in Scripture in the New Testament?

Yes. Jesus Christ was murdered by wicked men. He was murdered. You know, the Bible makes a very odd statement. I believe it's in first or second chapter two, I think maybe verse nine. It says, had the principalities known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

And so Satan is a principality. We've been going over that in our Ephesians sermon series. And the Bible says that had the principalities known, had Satan known what all this would have culminated to, because he didn't know, these purposes were kept from him, he would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Very interesting statement. And again, that's pointing to the fulfillment of Genesis chapter two. Christ was the seed, crushes the serpent, but in turn, he dies too. His heel is bruised. But the difference is, is that when Satan is defeated, he'll be defeated totally.

And Jesus, though temporarily under, and demonstrating that he has the power over death. I want you to write this in here. The Scripture's first prophecy is about, will crush the head of the serpent. Ephesians chapter three.

That's Christ bruising the head of, of, here we go. Bruising the head of the serpent. He'll destroy him, he'll crush him. Yeah, speaking to Satan. Conflict, and they're both going to, we know from Scripture that Christ has power over death and Hades.

And so let's go to Galatians chapter three. Context, albeit, is a little bit different. I want to show you the metanarrative at play here. So you have this discussion of the seed, the seed of the woman.

Where do you see the idea of seed jump back into the picture in Genesis? A picture of the seed come back into the picture. A guy named Abraham. Abraham, and Abraham was promised what? Seed, or offspring, because he was a man who was old.

Offspring, he had no children, he had no inheritance. He had God, and made a promise, covenant with Abraham, saying, I will give you descendants as numerous as the stars. Promise to them that they will have an offspring, a seed, that will bless the nations.

Now, Galatians chapter three, the Apostle Paul takes that very same picture, and it says in verse 16, now the promises were made to Abraham, and to his offspring. Now, the word again should be seed. I don't like that the ESV translates this as offspring.

It does not say, and to offsprings, plural, referring to many, but referring to one. And to your offspring, or to your seed, who is Christ? So who is the seed? It's Christ. Jesus is the seed. Now, this also destroys the false doctrine that's in many church circles, that the Jews are still God's offspring, or chosen people.

I will say that truly, the offspring, the seed to whom he will bless the nations, was actually going to be Jesus Christ, and not simply the Jewish people. Right? This settles that argument as well pretty easily.

Christ is the seed who was promised. Descendant of Abraham, the descendant of, has the legal right to reign. Now, I wanna paint, again, this metanarrative, this big picture. So you have this discussion of seed throughout the Bible.

It's very consistent. But you also have, in the early chapters of the Bible, the conflict with the serpent, okay? I went to the Creation Museum and to the Ark in Kentucky, and it was awesome. And one of the cool things that they do, kind of like Easter eggs, that when you start at the bottom of the Ark, they have the whole story of creation, and the rebellion, and Genesis 6, and the flood.

And you start with the garden. It's beautiful. Everything's perfect. It's like a picture, a carving of a snake on top. And it starts to wrap around, and you start to see it as you go through all the other exhibitions.

And it gets bigger and more scarier. And then you get to the final exhibition, which is about, like, Revelation. It's about, you know, the end times. And this snake that started in the garden is now this huge, seven-headed dragon.

And it's amazing. And it really shows, kind of, the overall picture of the Bible's painting that's consistent for Genesis, for Revelation, that there's a conflict with the serpent. He starts off as, like, this snake, but now he's growing in influence and power, and he's this seven-headed dragon, and he's trying to consume the world.

And Christ is the seed. Really, the Bible can be summed up, kind of, generically in this term, that it's a hero's tale. It's the story of a hero. And the hero, in this picture, is Jesus Christ. Everything in Scripture is setting up Jesus Christ as heavenly reign.

And obviously, the enemy is worth it. So you have this big picture, this conflict. Satan and Christ, Christ being the hero, the serpent being the savior, the king, he gives his life for many, and prevents him from many.

He saves his people by dying, right? And this is why we see all today, all the movies, all the great stories, all the great superhero movies, have some type of Christ figure, or some type of messianic theme to them.

If you remember the movie Man of Steel, it's very messianic. They have Superman very much looking like Jesus. There's even a scene, and he's got all the messianic trimmings, and that's what makes a great story.

But then you have also Anakin, who's like born of a virgin, all these things. Very much messianic, and there's a redemption, always a redemption, pointing again towards the greatest story ever told, the story of God's redemption through Jesus.

Talking so far, any questions? Let's move on then. What does the Bible say about this Messiah figure? We see the first prophecy is chapter three. Promise of the sea would overcome with a question of the serpent.

Now, what else does the Bible say in expectation of the... First, I want you to turn to Isaiah chapter seven. So, the Messiah would have to be born of a virgin. A virgin, to write that in the first and second part.

Messiah would be born of a virgin. This is important because it teaches at here, in verse 14, excuse me. It says in verse 14 that the Messiah, that the Lord himself will give you a sign. The sign will be this, behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.

Now, I'm just gonna debate over this text because of the Hebrew word that's used here, I think it's alma. And alma can mean, in the Hebrew, it could mean maiden, it could mean young lady, or it could mean a virgin.

So, a lot of critics of Christianity, particularly the Jewish counter, they say, well, no, you guys are misinterpreting the text because Isaiah seven was fulfilled in its time in the reign of a king, and not something that was gonna be fulfilled in the future, and it was not a virgin, it was a young woman, it just said young lady.

But when you compare this, the use of the language here of other verses, the thing where alma is used in regard to a virgin, that kind of dispels some of the hard notions that would contradict that this king.

Of course, there was a fulfillment in the time of the writing of this, as it has, but we do see that there is a price, and we know this because when you look at chapter nine, which we'll look into in a couple, there's a meta-narrative at play.

Remember, you gotta think big picture, not just small picture. Sometimes we look too narrowly at a scripture, we'll kind of miss the big overall painting. So, too narrowly at a scripture, that we miss the overall big picture, and how it's important that we look, but not to the exclusion of the overall story that the Bible's painting for us.

Does that make sense? So, the Messiah would be born of a virgin, and that's an important aspect, that Christ was indeed born of a virgin. If you remember the story of the incarnation, of Jesus coming into the world, he was born of a virgin Mary, and born of the main aspect of the Messiah's identity.

So, we know by whom he'd be born, it would have to be miraculous conception, but then, where would he be born? Let's look at what the Bible says in Micah chapter five. Micah's in the Minor Prophecy, verse two.

Among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel, coming forth is from ahold for ancient days.

Where would the Messiah, where would the creature ruler of Israel be?

Bethlehem, right? Now, this is another example why I'm actually, I think the ESV doesn't do justice in this aspect, but when we grab another Bible, I want to compare it to Micah five, two. It says, whose coming forth is from ahold.

The LSB translates it more accurately, his going forth are everlasting. Okay, so there's some important details here that the ESV is missing. ESV also puts it in the LC thing. But here, in verse, Micah five, two, the LSB makes the point very clearly that the Messiah comes from Bethlehem, who will be among the clans of Judah, from you will go forth for me to be ruler of Israel, his going forth are from everlasting, and from ancient days.

This is an important text because it shows two things. The Messiah actually has two origins. Did you catch those two origins? Two origins of the Messiah. Well, he's gonna come from where? Where is he gonna be born from?

Bethlehem. Bethlehem, but where is his true origins from? Everlasting, from ancient days. His going forth are from everlasting, right? That is to say, we're talking about an eternal person. We're talking about God coming down in human form, okay?

Oh, he's gonna be born, he's got an earthly origin. His actual origins are from everlasting. He's eternal. He's an eternal being, eternal person. And this is very, this is at the heart of Christian theology, starting in verse four in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God, and he's man, he's divine. And yet, to hear a perfect example of scripture that gives us two origins, an earthly one, but an eternal one, as to his deity. So he would be born in Bethlehem.

So I want you to write that down. I would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem. So remember, think of yourself as if you were a first-century Jew, and you're looking at the Bible, and you're trying to find all the signs of who the Messiah would be.

And you have this one person come onto the scene in human history, and he's the Nazareth, and he claims to be the Messiah. And so what you have to do is take the scriptures, and you compare, all right, does he meet the requirements?

Matter of fact, we see this in Acts 17, where Paul goes into the synagogue, and it says he reasoned from the scriptures, demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Messiah. The word Christ, Christos in the Greek, is the equivalent to the Hebrew for shock, which is Messiah.

So when we say Jesus Christ, we're not saying Jesus' first name, last name Christ. That's not what the Bible's painting. Instead, Jesus Christ is a title. Well, Jesus is a personal name, Christ being a title.

Very similar to how in the Old Testament you have the term Jehovah God, or the Lord God, Jehovah being a personal name, God being a title, a deity. So we have, with Christ, a personal name, Jesus, a title of his divinity as the Messiah, because the Bible teaches very clearly the Messiah would be divine, right?

We kind of demonstrated that last week as well, when we looked at some scripture. Jeremiah 23, verse five and six says, what would be the Messiah's name? Does anyone remember? Jeremiah 23, verse five and six.

Emmanuel, well, that's in Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. We did read that. That also means God with us, which is a good point. But in Jeremiah 23, verse five and six, it says that Jehovah is the kidney of righteousness.

The name of the Messiah would be the divine name. Jehovah is our righteousness, which is beautiful, because Jesus Christ is Jehovah, our righteousness, because from whom do we receive righteousness, the imputed righteousness of the perfect one?

Along the same lines, let's go back to Isaiah chapter nine, as we've been in Isaiah seven. Again, we're looking at the meta-narratives. We're not just looking at one part of scripture. We're trying to look at the big overall picture here.

So back to Isaiah nine. This is a prophecy concerning the Messiah. Isaiah being a very prophetic and messianic book. Verse six, it says this about the Messiah. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders.

And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end of the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness.

And then, from then on and forevermore, the seal of Yahweh of hosts will come. We have a child who's gonna be born to us. So I want you to see very clearly the beginnings of the doctrine of the incarnate God-man.

I will say as it did be a son, human, a human son. Verse, chapter seven, verse 14, we know that it's gonna be a virgin. Chapter nine, this is why we obviously know that when critics say that, oh, this had to be accomplished only in the times of King Ahaz.

Well, you can't have that because you can't divorce chapter seven, verse 14. Chapter nine, verse six and seven, you see the continuation of the theme of the son. So you gotta think, again, metanarrative.

There's a son who's promised, a son who'll be born, and then it shows you Emmanuel, God with us, okay? And then the prophet Isaiah goes to expound that even more, this eventual Emmanuel that will come, and a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, okay?

And so these are the criterias. He's gonna be born, obviously, human. He's gonna receive a kingdom or a government that will rest on his shoulders. And these are his divine titles, wonderful. Now, some Hebrew scholars say that we probably, wonderful counselor probably isn't correct.

Maybe it's actually wonderful, then counselor, then mighty God. And one interesting point of this is when, yeah, it's in Joshua, I think, where the angel of the Lord appears, and they ask him, what's his name?

And he says, why do you ask my name? Well, it is wonderful, the Lord is often, and so he asks, why do you ask my name? It is wonderful. And so this could be pointed to Isaiah chapter nine as well. So it could be wonderful, counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace, divine titles of the Messiah.

Verse seven is very important. There will be no end to the increase of his government. So we're gonna say this is fulfilled primarily in the, during the time of Ahaz, and in the course of chapter seven.

Then what do we do with that text? Because there was a stop to the increase of peace and government for Israel after that child was born, right? So this is looking forward for a greater person, just as Moses plays a role as being a forerunner to Jesus Christ, just as David plays a role in being a forerunner to Jesus Christ, so therefore, the promised child in chapter seven is a forerunner of the eventual child who would become Jesus Christ.

Does that make sense? I wanna establish from chapter six and seven of Isaiah nine is that this Messiah would be human and divine. Human and divine. His son is a child that will be born, yet he will be called mighty God.

In the Greek, in the Hebrew, it's El Gabor. El Gabor. Now, El Gabor is a title that's used in chapter 10 of Isaiah, verse 21, in reference to Yahweh, or Jehovah God. So clearly, this is a divine title.

It says he's the eternal father. In what sense is Jesus Christ eternal? Doesn't that then promote modalism? By the father? I like where you're going with that. I think you're, I think that's probably right.

There's two ways you can look at how to explain this. One is to try the use of the language. In the Hebrew, one way of translating this would be very easily the father of everlasting, or the, basically the father being the origin, the originator of all things, the originator of eternity.

So that's one way of looking at it. The second way, which I would prefer, actually, is that Jesus, it's showing that Jesus Christ is the father, the spiritual father of a new humanity. We know this because in the Bible, Adam is our father.

We're under the federal headship of Adam. And Christ, according to the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, he is who? He's the second Adam, okay? So if we're under the federal headship of Adam, our father, Adam is our representative, and our means of being the second Adam.

And in that, he's not the father. He's the father of a new humanity, by which he sacrifices his redemptive work, and that he purchases for God people under the tribulation of time. I think that makes a little bit more sense.

The Deity of Christ in John 1

All right, let's go to John chapter one real quick. Controversial text for Jehovah Witnesses, but it's reality. Anyone know John 1, 1 from memory? Without looking down at your Bible? Very easy text. If you know Genesis 1, 1, you should memorize John 1, 1, like that.

In the beginning was what? Word, and the word was? What God and the word was? God, and you guys gotta practice that. John 1, 1. I even know it in the Greek. Anarcheikakalakos ephrosomtheon, atheos, and halakos.

Pretty simple. That's first semester Greek. And in the Greek, it's actually pretty incredibly interesting. Jehovah's Witnesses say that he is not God, and that John 1, 1 should be translated, the word was a God.

And they say the reasoning is because in the second clause of John 1, you have this term, ontheon, which is the God. So the word was with the God, aphrosomtheon, and kaitheos, and halakos, and God was the word.

So there's no definite article that comes in clause C to clause B, you have a definite article associated with the God, and then it says, and God was the word. And so they say, well, because in clause two, there is a definite article, and there's no definite article in clause C, then the reason why clause B has the definite article is to distinguish it from the third clause, that's kind of complicated, from the third clause, and therefore, we have to insert the indefinite article A.

So that's how they come to that conclusion. The problem is that they're completely wrong, and they don't know what they're talking about. John 1, 1, C is what we call a quality of theos in relation to logos.

Theos being the Greek word for God, logos being the word, quality of the word. So it's not, and it's actually, it's important because John is Trinitarian. The Apostle John is explicitly Trinitarian in the way that he constructs this text.

Had he used a definite article in the third clause in relation to the word, it actually would have probably proved modalism. It would have identified Jesus with, as the same person with whom he was with, which is modalism, but he doesn't do that.

He distinguishes it by the use of the quality of noun in theos, okay? And he's showing that there's a distinction in person between the one who is with God and the one who is God. The one who is, the word who is God is to demonstrate the quality of his same essence in nature as the one with whom he was with.

So the Bible teaches clearly that Jesus Christ, the word, is God. Verse 14 says, and the word became God as the only begotten from the Father. Among us we beheld his glory. I love what verse 18 says. I don't think the ESV does, I'm not trying to be a harsh critic today of the ESV, but that, I would have chosen a different translation than what the ESV translators did.

The ESV translators in verse 18 come forward and say, no one has ever seen God, the only God, who's at the Father's side, has made him known. If you look at the footnote where it says the only God, it says the one who is God.

So I mean, if you read it, LSA says, and I quite prefer this text, verse 18 says, no one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained, only begotten God.

That's actually what the Greek term is used to this, monogenesis theos, in John 18. And the ESV translates monogenesis correctly as begotten. Now, sometimes it's okay to translate monogenesis as one and only, or one and unique.

It's not necessarily fully appropriate, but I think it actually, it doesn't do justice to the doctrine of the incarnation. We're talking about the incarnate one, the incarnate son, the only begotten God.

Christ is the only person of God, who is whose begotten. And so this is where the church fathers get the language in the next scene, created, he was begotten, not created. Begotten, but not created. And I think the ESV, can we all see that Jesus Christ is both, John chapter one is really throughout the whole entire first chapter.

And even after the narrative of the incarnate word, you have this story where Jesus is encountering, as he shows his omniscience to him, by seeing him under the, the whole chapter just oozes powerful Christological implications.

Scripture Testifies to Christ

The next subject here, is this, the scriptures, all of it, the whole Bible, is testifying to, what does, and who does the Bible testify to? Christ, everything in scripture points to Jesus Christ. There's a scholar today, who I really enjoy actually, Michael Heiser, who doesn't like that, who doesn't like it when people say that.

Because he thinks that we're forcing Jesus. And I would say simply to that, that we don't need to force Jesus into the text. Because he's forcefully there. You know, all scripture is pointing to Jesus.

Let's look at what it says in Luke 24. So here, it's only John who's taking over. He was resurrected, prior to his ascension, he went and preached, and he went and taught his disciples, scriptures, he opened their eyes to the word of God.

And he says in verse 20, he starts in verse 25, Jesus said to them, O foolish ones, have a slow heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ, that's the Messiah, for the Messiah, to suffer these things, and to enter into himself in all the scriptures?

He related how everything in scripture, which is then really incredible, because when you read some of the gospels, and you read, for instance, the epistles, you see how they start to tie in things to Jesus, that you probably wouldn't have seen at first glance.

And it's because Jesus opened their minds to scriptures, showing that all of the scriptures, you have in the gospel narratives, you have the commentary from the gospel writers, as to, hey, this was to fulfill the scriptures.

Back now, they have this knowledge that Jesus, the fact that all scripture testifies of Jesus, or if you write that in there, all scripture testifies of Jesus. That scripture is not enough. Let me actually, let me make a statement.

If someone comes to you with a doctrine that they only have one verse that says that we should baptize the dead, and what they do is that they have these temples, and they'll take a person, you know, and they'll dunk them in the name of someone who's dead.

So, we're gonna baptize you in the name of John Smith, who died in 1858, and they dunk them, and then they keep doing it for ritual, and it's baptism of the dead. And they take that from one text of scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 38, baptism of the dead.

And they're totally misunderstanding that. So, I say that because if someone comes to you and they say, well, I've got proof in a mother God, or in baptizing dead people, here's a text, and they only have one text, they're wrong.

Scripture, according to the law of God, everything is established by the matter of two or more witnesses, okay? So, if you don't have at least two verses, I'm not just talking about like, you know, a few solid texts that you can exegete, and you can bring some solid evidence to it, then we can talk.

And I say that in relation to what I'm telling you about the testifying of Jesus that also, I can point to many scriptures. I'll give you one in Luke 24, John chapter five, in verse 39, Jesus says to his opponents, he says, you search the scriptures, because you think that in them, you have eternal life.

It is these that bear witness about me. He's talking to the Jews, he's saying, you're pouring over the scriptures, you think you'll find eternal life in there, but you have not yet come to me, of whom the scripture testifies.

So, all the scripture testified points to. I would say in this regard, Michael Heiser, good scholar, good guy, wrong. Action that Christ is, picture. So, again, remember, Jesus Christ, beginning in the scripture in the book of Genesis, he's, first of all, we know from John one, comparing that to Genesis one, Jesus is already in the scripture.

I'll see concerning this particular person of God, the seed, who would come to overthrow the serpent. So, this metanarrative is building, and it's gonna crescendo, and it is, so I want you to turn to Revelation chapter one.

We see the hallmarks of the Messiah, who the Messiah is, who he came to be, he came to be a virgin, not virgin, well, technically, actually, that's true, too. But he would be born of a virgin, of Bethlehem.

He would have to be both clearly a human and divine, and all the scriptures testify to this one. But then in Revelation chapter one, Dan Brown, Dan Brown, he had, like, you know, the,.

I think it was in the premise of the book.

That the Holy Grail was actually like a bloodline that Jesus had his, or a very, echelon or something, and that that bloodline, that was the holy bloodline, the sacred bloodline, in all this nonsense.

Clearly, just, who, Jesus was a virgin, but he had to be pure in every respect, in every regard, in every conception, purity. And I think that chapter 53 points to the fact that he did not have children, that he would be barren, that he did not have earthly children, that he would be a virgin.

Revelation 14 points to the purity that Christ gives, and it talks about virgin purity, and so, so he was a virgin. Revelation chapter one, you see, this is one of my favorite depictions of Jesus. You see, starting with verse seven, notice what it says.

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who hear him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Yes, amen. Who's coming? Who's coming again? From the clouds that every eye will see?

Jesus, verse eight. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty, God Almighty. Here's right when, this is actually a really great verse. So it is just God, but he's that God Almighty.

He's God Almighty. He's El Shaddai in the Greek, El Shaddai in the Hebrew, and this point, this is pointing towards Christ being Almighty, and I want you to put it, this is the last thing I want you to put in here.

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. So Alpha, what does Alpha and Omega mean? Yeah, another way of putting it is first, and that's the first letter of the alphabet, is Alpha, the Greek alphabet. Omega, being the last letter of the Greek alphabet, is, it would be us saying the A to Z, which means he's A to Z and everything in between.

Everything, he's all encompassed, which points to the fact that I just mentioned beforehand, all the scripture testifies to Jesus, he's everything in between. And particularly, this is a divine title, Alpha and Omega.

He's the one in verse seven who's coming to the palace. Jesus promised he would come again in glory. He promised that he would come again to destroy his foes, and that he'd be coming to the palace. I've got Acts chapter one, verse 11, and he says, I am the Alpha and the Omega.

This is the word, and it identifies him in the text as the Lord God, the Almighty. Now, you could say, like the Jehovah Witnesses, well, no, there's Jesus, and then there's the Father, the Father's Almighty, and really, Jesus is coming, but he's coming as a representative of the Almighty.

He's not coming as the Almighty, he's simply as a representative of it. Well, that doesn't make sense, because notice there's a picture that we get starting in verse 14. John sees a vision of this one, and he describes it in these ways.

And his head and his hair were white like white gold, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet like the burnished bronze when it has been made to blow. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and having in his right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword which came out of his mouth, and his face was like the sun shining in its power.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me, saying, do not fear. Stop there for a moment. The depiction that we see in verse 14 is perfectly 100 of the ancient days.

Identical to the scripture, and yet this one says, in verse 15, he starts off by saying, do not fear. Now, if you know your Old Testament well, Jehovah says that quite a bit to his people. Do not fear, do not fear, do not fear.

He gives that assurance. The word, that phrase, do not fear, appears to us in the Bible, okay? And it's mostly from Jehovah God. God says to his people, do not fear. I think if I say this, do not fear, for I will uphold you with my right hand.