In a previous study of ours we have shown that Jesus Christ is also called “Yahwe” in the Holy Bible.  In the present article we intend to show that Jesus is also referred to as “the Alpha and the Omega”, as well as “the Beginning and the End”. And we are not going to use as references the translations that the leaders of various religions utilize to confuse their followers.  We are going to “speak” from within the ancient (and moreover reviewed) text itself, in which there are no “illegitimate” verses or falsifications to justify any distortion of the text, that Jesus is supposedly not the Alpha and the Omega. 

In this study, we are going to analyze the last chapter of the Book of Revelation;  for this purpose, we will quote the entire chapter of the ancient text, which we would ask the reader to study CAREFULLY and continuously ask himself: “Who is saying this?” and “Who does this characterization refer to?”  However, he will have to pose these questions based on the text itself, and not on his own assumptions.   We shall then explain the chapter - based on the text - and also point out other, parallel verses and proofs that pertain to that same point.

Revelation 22: 1-21:

1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb.

2 In the middle of that broad space and the river was Wood of Life* which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the wood were for the healing of the nations. :  

3 And every curse is no longer there, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall worship Him.”

4 And they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God illuminates them and they shall reign forever and ever.

6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show His servants those things that must take place soon. 7 And behold, I am coming swiftly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

8 “And it was I, John, who saw and heard these things; and when I heard and saw, I fell down to prostrate before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

9 And he said to me, “See that you do not (do that)! For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” 

10 And he said to me, ‘Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is close at hand.

11 He who wrongs, let him wrong even more, and he who is sullied, let him sully himself even more, and he who is righteous, let him be righteous even more: and he who is holy, let him be holy even more.

12 Behold, I am coming swiftly; and my wages are with me, to be given to every man according to his work.

13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

14 Blessed are they who wash their robes, so that their sway can be over the wood of life, and so they can enter the city through the gates.

15 Outside are dogs and the wicked, and the whoremongers, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and all those who love and practice deceit.

16 I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you in the churches. I am the root and the generation of David, and the bright star of the morning.”

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;  

19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 

20 He who bears witness to these things says, “Yes, I am coming swiftly.”

Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen!”

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To understand a certain verse, we must first examine its broader context.  Likewise in this instance:  we must first comprehend Saint John’s “environment” when he was writing, as it is the only way we can eventually comprehend with whom he was speaking, in the excerpt that we are examining.

John’s broader context thus begins at Rev.20: 11: “ And I saw a great white throne and him the one seated on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.”

We are mentioning that the context begins at this point, because upon the appearance of this throne, THE OLD HEAVEN AND THE OLD EARTH COME TO AN END.  Thus, according to what follows, these are replaced by the New Heaven and the New Earth: a new environment, which John witnesses and describes:  “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and the sea was no longer there.”  (Rev.21: 1).

It was in this new environment that John “saw” (according to 21:2) the New Jerusalem - the Church, the Bride of the Lamb -descending from the New Heaven to the New Earth.

In the very next verse (21:3), a voice was heard coming from the throne of God – which he had “seen” earlier – and from Whose face the earth and the sky had fled.   This was the voice that showed him the New Jerusalem – the “tabernacle of God”.

It is obvious that the throne continued to be in the vision, from the moment it had first appeared: “ And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God  with the people …”

In Rev.21: 5-8, the One who was seated on the throne, says (among other things) the following:  “Then He who was seatedt on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, ’Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ And He said to me, ‘They are done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son’.”    It is obvious that it is God Who is speaking to John.  He is the one Who is seated on the throne.  Keep in mind, that He is the one Who calls Himself: “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End”. And He is the one Who will also give “of the fountain of the water of life” to those who win. We will encounter these points again, later on.

Then, in verse 21: 9, one of the seven angels in the previous chapters of Revelation speaks to John and says: “..Come, I will show you the bride, the woman of the Lamb […] and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God…”

From this point onward, and for several more verses until the end of chapter 21, John describes the city, the New Jerusalem being shown to him by the angel.  In these verses, while John is describing the city, THE THRONE IS STILL THERE, WITHIN SIGHT.  It has not vanished from the vision. This is evident, in verse 21: 23: “And the city was not in need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God illuminated it.” 

But this can be seen even more clearly in the first 3 verses of Chapter 22 being examined, which is the chapter that we are going to focus on, given that it is our theme:  “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb.  In the middle of that broad place and the river, was Wood of Life*, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the wood * were for the healing of the nations.  And every curse is no longer there, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall worship Him.”

OODE note: * The Greek term “ξύλον” literally means “wood”; however it can be used when denoting a single tree, and elsewhere a group of trees, or even a certain kind of tree.  The same is observed with the English word “wood”, which can be used to mean: the material of a tree, or a grove of trees, or lumber, etc.

These first three verses clarify many things for us:  First of all, they assure us that John continues to see the throne, from the very first moment of its appearance, when the old earth and the old heaven “fled”; he also points out that the said throne is found inside that city, the New Jerusalem that was shown to him by the angel.  More importantly, that the said throne – the same throne -belongs to God and to the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Notice how John phrases verses 3 and 4:

3 And every curse is no longer there, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall worship Him.”

4 And they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

If God and the Lamb are TWO, why does John then say: “His servants”, “…shall worship Him”, “His face”, His name”?  John here has “MERGED” GOD AND THE LAMB.

In fact it is important to also note what he writes in Rev.14:1:  “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His and His Father’s name written on their foreheads”.

He makes it quite clear there, that both the Lamb and the Father have THE SAME NAME.  If he was talking about two separate names, he would have said:  “having their names written…” (using the Plural in the Greek text).  But here he says: “…having His and His Father’s name written…” (two Persons, but “name” is Singular), which signifies that he is speaking of ONE NAME common to both.  John fully assimilates the Father and the Son, as God. The two verses are obviously linked.

But let’s continue with chapter 22 which we are examining, and in particular verses 6 and 7:  6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show His servants those things that must take place soon. 7 And behold, I am coming swiftly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”  John then says:  “… he said to me…”   So, who is the one speaking to John here?

Verse 7 helps us understand that the one speaking here is Jesus Christ;  He is the One who is “coming swiftly “. This is evident from the repetitions of the same phrase by Christ further along – and especially at the end of the chapter, where He says: “Yes, I am coming swiftly.”  To which John replies: “Amen! Yes, come, Lord Jesus!”

And yet, there are those who become confused. Even though EVERYONE agrees that Jesus is the one speaking here, however, by not paying attention to the context of those words and by not examining the environment of John’s vision, they remember the angel only, and they think that those words were uttered by the angel on Christ’s behalf.  This is because they imagine that John there saw only the angel who was showing him the vision.  But if those words were uttered by the angel, John wouldn’t have written:  “He sent His angel” (v.6).  The angel would have said: “I was sent”.  Neither would the angel be claiming: “behold, I am coming swiftly” (v.7). It would have said: “Behold, He is coming soon”.  Therefore someone else is the One who had “said” those words to John.

As you may recall, we have already mentioned that (apart from the angel), the THRONE of God and the Lamb continue to be within John’s visual field – and that it is NOT only an angel who speaks to John.  He is also addressed by someone else, from the throne (also seen in Rev.21:5-8, as noted earlier on); and on that throne are both God and the Lamb!!!   Thus, there is no need for one to make any absurd speculations that Jesus is supposedly speaking to John through the angel.  Jesus spoke to John directly from the throne.  Besides, the angel mainly SHOWED things to John, whereas the Throne mainly SPOKE to him, as made evident further along:

8 “And it was I, John, who saw and heard these things; and when I heard and saw, I fell down to prostrate before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 And he said to me, “See that you do not (do that)!For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” 

Note here, that although John states he himself had "heard and seen…", when referring to the angel he states "... the angel who showed me these things..." (v.8).  John does ΝΟΤ say "the angel who spoke to me", because the One who had spoken to him earlier was someone else, NOT the angel.

Here, (v.9) however, the angel does in fact speak to John, but NOT to explain something to him (his job was to “show” - NOT to speak to John); the angel spoke to John here, merely to deter him from prostrating himself.  Out of gratitude and wonderment at the things he was witnessing, John had indeed wanted to HONOUR the angel, by prostrating himself before him - HONORARILY. Woe betide, if the Apostle wasn’t already aware that only God should be worshipped!  The angel (out of humility) had merely refused to accept even that honorary prostration by the Apostle and prophet of God, because he regarded John as his “fellow servant” - thus prompting him to worship God, Who had sent him to John.

But as of the pursuant verse (v.10), once again someone begins to speak, because this verse begins with the words: “And he said to me”.  Here too, it is not the angel who has spoken; because as we have said, the angel ONLY SHOWS what is relevant to the vision.

The one who always speaks in order to say something revelatory is someone from the throne.  When we spot the phrase “and he said to me”, there is either a change in the speaker, or a change in the natural flow of speech.  But let’s take a look at the verses once again, to ascertain clearly who is speaking here:

“10 And he said to me, ‘Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book: for the time is close at hand. 11 He who wrongs, let him wrong even more, and he who is sordid, let him be sordid even more, and he who is righteous, let him be even more righteous: and he who is holy, let him be even holier. 12 Behold, I am coming swiftly; and my wages are with me, to be given to every man according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 14 Blessed are they who wash their robes, so that their sway can be over the wood of life, and they can enter the city through the gates. 15 Outside are dogs and the wicked, and the whoremongers, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and all those who love and practice deceit. 16 I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you in the churches. I am the root and the generation of David, and the bright star of the morning.”

Verse 12 again clarifies who is speaking, as Jesus is saying: “Behold, I am coming swiftly”. He is the one who had spoken previously, and also the one who says at the end: ““Yes, I am coming swiftly!” (v.20)  To whom John replied:  “Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus!” (v.20)  Here there is no remaining doubt that Jesus is speaking.  And we can see that when the speaker changes, it is always clarified by the text, with words like: “and he said to me”.  But this is something we will see even more clearly further down.  This is because certain heretics who, in their attempt to escape from the absolute grip of this verse, arbitrarily claim - WITHOUT ANY INDICATION FROM THE TEXT - that in the very next verse (13), it is the FATHER who suddenly speaks, and not the Son.  However, something like this is totally arbitrary, absurd, and it distorts the natural flow of the text.  If the Father had spoken immediately after the Son, he (John?) would have said: “and he said to me”, as is always the case when the speaker changes. But here, IT SAYS NOTHING LIKE THAT! The text continues, indicating that the same person continues to be the speaker.  Whoever claims that the speaker changes here, IS INSERTING IN THE REVELATION TEXT something that does not exist – with all the consequences that he will face, as described further down.

But there are more proofs in this verse that it is Jesus Himself who is speaking, and that He is not interchanged with the Father. Note the continuous use of the word: “I”. It is a word that indicates AUTHORITY, and is used  in verses 13 to 16 – three times!  The text says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega”; “16 I, Jesus, have sent My angel” and “I am the root and the generation of David”.

The statement: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel“ is a “coup de grace” for the heretics who pervert the text.  We have encountered these same words, in verse 6: “And the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel “- except that here, it says “the Lord God” sends His angel.  Once again, John is IDENTIFYING God with Jesus here, so the heretics cannot possibly “escape” by claiming that the Father is the speaker who supposedly says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega”. Because the Father and the Son are unified, when referring to “God” as perceived by John (cmp also: 1 John 5:20: “ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know the true One; and we are in the true One: in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

But there is yet more evidence than the text of verse 13 which we have seen. The verse says “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

The same words are written at the beginning of the Book of Revelations about the Son: “….and He placed His right hand upon me, saying ‘Do not fear! I am the first and the last, and the One who lived and became dead, and behold, I am alive, unto the ages of the ages…” (Rev.1:17-18)

Do you see the similarities? He, who had once died (=the Son), is now repeating the same words that we encounter in the verse we are examining (Rev.22:13)!  He again uses the word “I”, which stresses His authority, and He again refers to Himself as THE FIRST AND THE LAST.  If the Father is “the first and the last”, how can the Son be, at the same time?  The two of them - the Father AND the Son – cannot be individually referred to as “the first and the last” - unless they both comprise the same God.

It does not say “we are the first and the last”, nor does it say “we are of the first and the last”.  The definitive article - THE first and THE last - is used, which in the original Greek is in the Singular. Therefore the expression “the first and the last” applies here to ONE.

Only a blind person or an irreverent fanatic can’t see here that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

But let’s continue with verse 17: “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’. And he who hears let him say, ‘Come’. And let the one who thirsts come; he who wants, let him receive water of life for free.”

It is the "swiftly coming” Christ continues to speak here, informing us that the Spirit and the Bride are beckoning Him to “Come!”, and He in turn exhorts those of us who are listening to likewise beckon Him  (along with the Spirit and the Bride) to “Come!”

For the sake of those who continue to be confused and assert that John is narrating all those words, we remind them once again that: for one, John has not interjected “and He said to me”, therefore it is Christ Who continues with those words; furthermore, He says: “And let the one who thirsts come”. What does “let him come” imply? To whom should one “come”? Of course to Him, who gives “water of life for free”, and not to John! John would not have said: “let him come”; he would have said “let him go to”.

Therefore the One speaking here, is the One whom those seeking that “water” should go to.  And Who is that? Christ, of course!

Elsewhere - according to the Gospel of John, in 4:13-14 - then with the Samaritan woman: “Jesus replied, and said to her, ‘All who drink of this water shall thirst again. Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst again; for the water that I shall give him will become in him a source of water flowing into everlasting life”. Christ, therefore, is the One who is speaking, and it is to Him that whoever seeks the “water of life” must go.

But we are not done yet! There are more “slaps in the face” for the heretics who misinterpret the text of the Holy Bible.  Remember how we noted earlier on – at the beginning of this study – another mention of the “water of life”?  We located it, in Rev.21:5-8: ““Then He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, ’Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ And He said to me, ‘They are done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the source of the water of life. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son’.”   

So, do you see now, who Christ is?

Do you see now, Who was speaking from the throne?

Do you see now, Who gives the “water of life”?

Do you see now, Who the “Alpha and the Omega” is?

It is GOD.  

(Or did John not know what he was writing?)