Jesus Christ is Almighty God
“I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “Who is
and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
Here
Jesus Christ is the Speaker, Who calls Himself “ὁ Παντοκράτωρ”, THE ALMIGHTY.
It is
very clear from this chapter, and from others, that the Speaker here is the Lord
Jesus Christ, and not as some suppose, God the Father.
In
verse 1 we read, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”, and in verse 2, “and to the
testimony of Jesus Christ”. Then in verse 5, “and from Jesus Christ, the
faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of
the earth To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood”.
Again, in verse 7 of the Lord Jesus, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and
every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the
earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen”. Then we have the words in verse
8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord,
“Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty”. Then in verse 9 we read,
“and patience of Jesus Christ…and for the testimony of Jesus Christ”. Verse 10,
“the Lord’s Day”. And 11, “saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and
the Last, and, What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches
which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis,
to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”. In the next chapter, in verse 8 Jesus is
speaking, “‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to
life”. Again, in Revelation chapter 22, Jesus is the Speaker, “And behold, I am
coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his
work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the
Last.”.
There
is no reason to take the words in verse 8, as spoken by God the Father. All of
what we have read here, is about Jesus Christ, and spoken by Jesus Christ. It is
only that some “theologically” cannot accept that Jesus Christ can be called
“The Almighty”, who would have a problem with this passage as referred to Jesus
as the Speaker. On the words, “the First and the Last”, it is interesting to
note the remarks of Dr Thayer, in his Greek lexicon: “ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος, i.
e. the eternal One, Rev 1:17; Rev 2:8; Rev 22:13”. Jesus Christ says of Himself,
that He IS “The Eternal One”, how then can some say that Jesus was created at
some time? As He IS “The Eternal One”, he must be Almighty God. Dr Thayer was a
Unitarian, who denied Jesus Christ IS God. In Exodus 3:14 we read the Name that
God gave to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM”. The Greek translation of the Old Testament
(LXX), made some 100 years before Jesus Christ was born, have rendered the
Hebrew as “Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν”, that is, “I am The Eternal One”, which is what Jesus
says of Himself in Revelation. In Isaiah 44:6 it says, “Thus says the LORD, the
King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am
the last; besides me there is no god”. The Speaker here is Yahweh. Jesus
Christ uses these same words for Himself.
In
Isaiah 9:6, the Prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Names that He has,
is “’êl Gibbôr”, which is correctly translated as “Mighty God”. Here too there
are some who try to weaken this to “God-like Hero”. However, when the exact same
Hebrew is used in chapter 10:21, for Yahweh, it is never translated as “God-like
Hero”, but always as “Mighty God”. Why the difference? This is a theological
block for some. Interestingly, that in 9:6, the Jewish Bible by Isaac Leeser,
reads, “the mighty God”; and in the 2013 edition of the New World Translation,
the Jehovah’s Witnesses translate the Hebrew, “Mighty God”. So the JW’s deny in
their “theology”, that Jesus Christ is “God”, as they corrupt John 1:1 to read,
“and the Word was a god”, yet here in Isaiah 9:6, they clearly call Jesus
Christ, not just “God”, but, “Mighty God”. So it is clear that there are TWO,
Who are equally called in the Old Testament, “’êl Gibbôr”. Surely this proves
beyond any doubt, that a belief in the God of the Holy Bible, as being “UniPersonal”,
is wrong.
Back
to Revelation chapter 1, we go on to read from verses 12-16, a description of
the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Who here appears to the Apostle John. In verses
17-18, we have Jesus speaking, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I
am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen”.Again
Jesus uses the words spoken by Yahweh in Isaiah, for Himself. Then He says, “I
am He who lives”, which in the Greek is, “ο ζων”, which is in the present,
continuance, literally, “The Ever-Living One”. As the LXX has in Exodus 3:14.
Then Jesus continues, “and I am ever living for all the ages to the ages”.
In
Revelation 5:12 we read about Jesus, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to
receive: the power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.”. In the
Greek we have the definite article “την”, before the word “δυναμιν” (power), and
the following words taken together “και” (and), all in the accusative case. ALL
THE Power, Wealth, Wisdom, Might, Honor, Glory, Blessing”, belong to Jesus
Christ! Impossible for anyone who is a created being, and not Himself Almighty
God. In fact, in the next two verses in this chapter, we read, “To Him who sits
on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the
power forever and ever.” And the four living creatures were saying, “Amen.” And
the elders fell down and worshiped”. Notice that this to directed to, “Him Who
sits on the throne AND (και) to the Lamb”. BOTH TOGETHER. In chapter 22, verse 1
it says, “And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb”. The Greek here is very
interesting, “του θρονου του θεου και του αρνιου”. We have the article “του”,
with “God” and “The Lamb”, showing that there are TWO “distinct” Persons. And,
“θρονου” (throne), is in the singular, which means that THEIR Reign is JOINT.
Showing complete equality. The same is in verse 3. In Revelation 11:15, we read:
“The kingdom of the world is become [the kingdom] of our Lord, and of his
Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever”. “He shall Reign” is one word in
the Greek, “βασιλευσει”, which is also in the singular, yet we have “Our Lord”,
which is the Father, and “His Christ”, TWO. Clearly of Joint-Reign. The Father
Who is Almighty God, will never jointly Reign with a lesser being.
No
one who says that they believe that the Holy Bible is the Infallible, Inerrant,
Word of God, can deny what the Bible actually says that Jesus Christ IS Almighty
God, The Great I AM, Yahweh.