Revelation 1:11-12

THE FIRST AND THE LAST

‘I am Alpha and Omega … What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia.… And I turned to see the Voice that spake with me.’

Revelation 1:11

Christ is here brought before us as the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Is it not to teach us that He is the beginning and end of all things?

I. All things should be full of Him, and there should be nothing in which He is not. It is written (Ephesians 4:10), ‘He that descended is the same also that ascended up, far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.’ Yes, everything is empty in which He is not—an empty universe, an empty world, an empty church, an empty heart, an empty life. He was exalted above all heavens that He might fill them.

II. Christ’s person and Christ’s truth must be permanent.—‘What Thou seest write in a book.’ They are not like other things, which may only have a passing effect. They must be written, written on the memory and on the heart, in the life and in the character. He is like none other, and there is no truth like His truth. Like the fragments of the loaves on the mountain, they must be all gathered up because they were of His creation, and fell from His hand. So must it be with the Person and the words of the Lord Jesus.

III. That which He makes known to us must be handed on.—‘Send it to the seven churches which are in Asia.’ It is to be world-wide. If the light is in your own soul, let it shine out to lighten others. If you know the Saviour yourself, make Him known to those around you. Live to scatter seeds of truth wherever you go. Live to win souls to Christ in every way you can. Let this be your life aim. Whatever blessings you possess from Him, ‘send it,’ send it on. Be sure the scattered seed will turn up again one day for your ‘joy and crown of rejoicing.’ God has said it, ‘My word shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.’ Yes, one thing or the other will surely turn up again—either your scattered seed ‘sown in weakness,’ for your blessed and eternal reward; or else your neglect will turn up again to your shame and everlasting confusion.

IV. That voice behind.—‘And I turned to see the voice that spake with me.’ It is striking to observe how God’s communications are so frequently said to be from behind us. The communications of God are not for the eye, but for the ear; not for curiosity, but for faith. Therefore there is so much said, both by our Lord in the Gospels, and by the beloved Apostle in this book, about hearing. ‘John turned to see the Voice that spake’ with him, but he did not see what he looked for, but what God intended him to see. We are just like him. To live by faith is no easy thing. We are always turning round to see what is in our own mind, and God is always showing us what is in His. So it was with St. John. God showed him the candlesticks and the glorious Person of the Son of God—just what He wanted St. John to see for the blessing of the Church of Christ in all ages.

—Rev. F. Whitfield.