The Alpha & The Omega
June 14, 2022
Do you like reading? I do not know about you, but I surely love a good book. Often these days, I do not read simply for pleasure, but for education. Yet, to sit down and read a good book is such a great experience. From the beginning to the end, you are drawn into the story. Good books will make you experience the situations taking place. You can almost feel the bricks with which the buildings are built, smell the odors, and hear the sounds taking place in the story.
Some of my favorite stories come from the Chronicles of Narnia and the Prince Warriors books. Both offer fantastic imaginative worlds. Both engage the reader’s senses to bring the situations to life. Both convey deeper biblical truths.
Unfortunately, when we come to the pages of scripture, the greatest story ever told, we tend to get bogged down in the drudgery of the things we do not like. For instance, some only like narrative and could sit and read the story of Gideon’s triumph, David and Goliath, or Jesus on the sea all day long. Yet, all that these readers tend to remember is the boredom he/she felt when reading through the lineage and census passages.
Sadly, when we approach scripture in this way, we miss so much more! Think for a minute upon the passage above. God is the beginning and end – the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus came before all things and will be after all things. The Holy Spirit understands all things before they ever take place. Our triune God stands continuously outside of time knowing always what shall be in all situations prior to its inception.
And lest you miss what is being said here, let me be very explicit in my intentions. This same God provided all of the genre’s of scripture to reach the hearts of His people to show them His grandeur and draw them into His story on how He has interacted throughout time with His creation: from mechanical creation (the creation story) to emotional/artistic expression (poetry) to engineering design (the tabernacle) to lineage accounts (genealogies). God knew before you ever entered humanity what would speak to your heart and He included it into His word.
That does not mean He put it there just for you (that would be an exceptionally narcissistic statement). Rather, it is a recognition that ALL scripture is God-breathed and beneficial. That does not say that we can or should skip those parts that are mentally taxing to read. Rather, it is to encourage us to still engage His word to see His grandeur in how He speaks to ALL people.
