Jesus – The Beginning And The End
Jesus Christ in Revelation 22:13 makes some astronomical claims about Himself. He does so from the Throne of the Universe, the Throne ROOM of Heaven.
Surrounded by His Cabinet – The innumerable company of angels. Myriads! There has never been and never will be a scene like this. All seats of earthly government are like child’s Lego play compared to The Throne Room of God.
This is not a whisper, this is a cosmic shout bouncing from planet to planet. His voice echoes throughout the vast expanses of space, and to the four corners of the 🌎 earth:
“I am ALPHA and OMEGA, the BEGINNING and the END, the FIRST and the LAST.”
It comes all of a sudden. It doesn’t seem to fit the narrative. It goes off like a COSMIC BOOM. Such claims of self-awareness that blow the human mind.
Oh my goodness, I can now imagine Jesus walking to the parapet of Heaven, and it is as if Jesus is sending shock waves throughout the galaxies as He pontificates:
“I BEGAN ALL OF THIS, AND AND I WILL END IT.
Or again:
“I WAS HERE FIRST, AND I WILL OUTLAST YOU.”
And again:
“I AUTHORED HISTORY, AND I WILL CLOSE THE BOOK ON HISTORY.”
Sure, to get the real feel for this, this all would be like me standing on Mt. Everest and shouting as king on the mountain:
“I am A and Z, the STARTER and the STOPPER, the INITIATOR and the CONCLUDER.”
Of course I would never do such a thing, it would be absurd. I know what the Bible says about man in his sin-fallen state in Genesis 3:19, and therefore about me,
“For DUST thou art, and unto DUST thou shall return.”
The truth be known, my proclamation about myself could only be,
“I am DUST coming, and I Am DUST going.”
COUGH! COUGH! As the cosmic undertaker comes with his inescapable dust-mop, and gives me and you and all of us the final DUST-OFF called death.
There even now the King of kings 👑 stands towering over the wrecks of time. Space junk banging into one another, for where man goes he always leaves behind his litter. And with a booming voice He declares:
“I STARTED ALL OF THIS, AND I WILL PUT AN END TO ALL OF THIS.”
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WHO DAT?
WHO DAT? “Who Dat” is the Afro-American version of “Who’s That?” There was an awfully lot of “Who Dat” when it came to Jesus Christ’s incarnation? In plain English, many in one way or another were asking, “Just who in the world is this guy?”
There is a revealing Scripture in John 1:26 which was applicable to the vast majority of Jesus’ contemporaries,
“Among you stands one you do not know.”
All of them were in effect asking,
“WHO DAT?”
The very same observation could be made about masses of people in our world today.
STORY
There was a movie years ago about a man who to the best of his family’s knowledge was just a typical insurance salesman from Indiana.
In fact, the man was a highly trained government spy who spoke a half dozen languages fluently. He could wield weapons with the best of them, as well as knowing all of the tricks of the spy trade.
In the film, the man’s wife disappeared on a trip to Paris, and so with his son in tow, the man more and more utilized his spy skills to find his wife.
Early on the son overheard his father speaking fluent French into a pay phone even as he slicly tucked a pistol into his belt.
As dad emerged from the phone booth, his son with eyes as big as saucers, looked at his father and asked, “WHO ARE YOU?”
Something was up with the father that the son had heretofore never sensed or even slightly suspected.
Who would even slightly suspect who Jesus really is until now?
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I AM THE BEGINNING
In Revelation 22:13, Jesus makes the outlandish claim, and who would have ever imagined in the first century that they were rubbing shoulders with someone who claimed to be this:
“I am the BEGINNING.”
If you will:
“THE UNBEGUN BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS.”
SHAZAAM (to quote Gomer Pyle of Andy of Mayberry fame.)
You know, this is the age old stuff of ORIGINS! You know, Charles Darwin’s “The ORIGIN of the Species.”
Darwin is called by many “The Father of Evolution.” He answered all the questions about BEGINNINGS for the masses who believed him and went on to create messes.
Darwin is the hero of America’s education curriculum today. God used to be our Hero when it came to ORIGINS and BEGINNINGS, but He long ago was de-heroized.
Darwin’s theory is that man did not BEGIN, rather, he EVOLVED from lower life forms such as the APE. This took gazillions of years. Problem solved:
“THE APE-MAN COMETH.”
And:
“THE ADAM-MAN GOETH.”
As for the universe, the theory is that matter is eternal. It didn’t begin either, matter has been around forever. Then matter got real dense, and there was a cosmic explosion 15 billion years ago called the BIG BANG?
The magical result of the BIG BANGER is the staggering ordered universe we call by many names – MOTHER NATURE – MAN IN THE MOON – AURORA BOREALIS – TITANIA – THE BIG DIPPER – THE FORCE – STAR POWER – LANEAKEA – and thousands of others.
And there tucked away in MOTHER EARTH 🌎 are the GOD-BELIEVERS
singing in the background, and you can hear 👂 them if you listen closely:
“This is my Father’s world… ”
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Jesus Christ at the Father’s right hand announced several of His eternal identities, among them,
“I Am The BEGINNING?
No, He does not say:
“I Am The Beginner.”
To say that He is the Beginner would mean that He is a novice, an amateur, a rookie at beginning things. In other words, He has a long ways to go, and practice makes perfect.
No. He is not THE BEGINNER. He is THE BEGINNING of the heavens and the earth. As John the Apostle writes in John 1:3,
“All Things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.”
In short:
“No Jesus The Beginning, Then Nothing At All.”
BEGINNING is in His DNA! BEGINNING is His nature.
BEGINNING is Who He Is.
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Not so says R.E.M., a rock band from the 1980’s. They wrote the lyrics of their big hit “BEGIN THE BEGIN.” (of all things)
Listen 🎶 to a few of the lyrics of that song, as it blows my mind to hear the following words:
“Mythology begins the begin,
Answer me a question,
I can’t itemize, I can’t think clear,
You look to me for reason, It’s not here,
I can’t even rhyme here in the begin.”
A philanderer’s tie,
a murderer’s shoe,
example, the finest
example is you.
Let’s begin again, begin the begin, let’s begin again.”
As far as R.E.M. is concerned, there is no real answer to our beginning. When it comes to our beginning, it is all mythology. Whether it is the Genesis creation account, or Darwin’s Origin of the Species, they are nothing but myths. It can’t be known.
And because of that, they have no answers, their thinking is all fuzzy. They don’t have a clue, and there is no RHYME or REASON to anything. So much so that a good rhyme about “begin” cannot be made. There is no rhythm to the universe.
But this they know, things are out of whack. Nothing but a landscape of sexual deviates who leave their ties at the LAST woman’s house. Nothing but a landscape marred by murderer’s shoe 👞 prints. Sex lust and blood lust!
And sensing that so much is wrong, the longing is to begin again. The longing to begin to begin the new beginning. Begin the begin! Let’s start all over!
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Huge problem:
“Jesus alone is THE BEGINNING, And whether it is BEGINNING or REBEGINNING, the need is THE BEGINNING to begin again.”
The Bible calls it in John 3:3,
“BEING BORN AGAIN.”
Jesus told an old theologian by the name of Nicodemus that he had to start all over again. He needed a brand new BEGINNING, and there is only One in all the world 🌎 who can rebuild and restart your engine.
To be born again, you must believe in the Son of God. He alone is THE NEW BEGINNING. All good and holy beginnings begin in Him. Only Jesus Christ can take away sin’s ugliness, and transform us into the beauty of holiness. You must be born again from Him Who the Beginning of all
Beautiful Begins.
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STORY
I am reminded of a scene in a fantasy novel entitled “Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helperin. Set in a Manhattan beggars imagination. It features a cast of fascinating characters. Among them is a star struck couple 💑 who lived in the same apartment building, but have never met. They learn of each other’s existence by tapping on the wall that separates their bedrooms. After a while they work out a code by which they can communicate with each other, sight unseen.
However unlikely it may seem, they fall in love 💘. He is convinced that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, even though he has never seen her.
Finally, they decide that it is time to meet face to face on the roof of their building. He arrives first and waits with trembling hands and bated breath. Then her hand appears on the iron ladder leading to the roof, followed by her other hand, then the top of her head. She swings the rest of her body up into the roof, and he exclaims,
“I knew it, I knew you would be beautiful. And my God, you are.”
That will be our exclamation when at last Jesus appears:
“I knew it. I knew you would be beautiful, and my Lord you are.”
Then we well might add:
” Now too I understand that only you could make something beautiful out of my life.”
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I AM THE END
Jesus from the very pinnacle of Heaven shouts over all the centuries of time:
“I Am The END.”
Here we go again! How in the world can you be THE BEGINNING and THE END at the same time. Sounds like you would STOP yourself before you got started. What we would have it seems to me would be a START-STOP situation, like travelling through Chicago at the END of the work day. A daily nightmare for many thousands of people.
Of course when it comes to the pleasurable and exhilarating experiences of life, we don’t ever want them to END. But there are those experiences in life like illness and bad storms that cannot END soon enough.
And today we are hearing 👂 with great urgency the words of hope and warning, “The END is near!” That is my conviction as well!
But really, what is the Lord Jesus talking about when He calls Himself THE END?
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Listen to the all-encompassing words about Jesus in Romans 11:36,
“For FROM HIM, and THROUGH HIM, and UNTO HIM are all things.
To Whom be the glory forever.
AMEN.”
Oh what a doozy of a text that is! It could well be the doxology of the redeemed in Heaven.
1. FROM HIM! (Romans 11:36)
Where do you come from? Have you ever been asked that? Perhaps you responded in terms of your city and state. Oh, I am FROM Holland, Michigan. Well, yes, but that would mean in the Biblical sense that Holland, Michigan made you, created you, began you. Dutchville then is your source, your origin, your DNA.
Strange as it may seem, manny people’s ancestral roots and home- land is their total and only and very prideful FROMNESS. Tracing your family tree 🌳 has become a modern obsession. It somehow gives people a greater sense of identity and belonging.
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No, No, No! Jesus is our BEGINNING, our Source. We all come FROM Him. That means everything and everyone! He is our Creator, our Originator, our Maker! He BEGAN us. We BEGIN FROM HIM. You and I are BEGINS of THE BEGINNING. I come FROM JESUS. So do you. So does everyone!
2. THROUGH HIM (Romans 11:36)
It was THROUGH the prayers and friendship and love of so-and-so that I made it day by day. I could not have made it without them! Have you ever said that about someone or someones?
We don’t start coming from Jesus, and then go and discover life with and THROUGH someone else. That really is Deism, that is, God got us going, but we have to go elsewhere to be able to keep on going.
I say it about Jesus over and over. It has been Jesus all the way! He gets me THROUGH every day! He sustains me, guides me, forgives me, cleanses me, empowers me, loves me! It is Jesus THROUGH and THROUGH. I am more than a conqueror THROUGH Him who loves me and gave Himself for me!
3. UNTO HIM (Romans 11:36)
-We come FROM Jesus.
-We live our lives THROUGH Jesus.
-We depart UNTO Jesus.
FROM Him,THROUGH Him, UNTO Him! Now here is the glorious truth:
“JESUS IS NOT A MEANS TO AN END, JESUS IS THE END.”
Jesus is the END all and BE all of Heaven.
He is not a salvation ferry to our great REWARD, He is our eternal REWARD.
Jesus is not a connecting flight to our destination. He is our DESTINATION!
Jesus is not our ticket to Paradise, He is our Paradise.
Jesus is not a tour guide to glory, He is our GLORY!
HE IS FOREVER OUR HAPPY ☺ENDING. AMEN!
