God, the Alpha and the Omega!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” – Revelation 1:8 NLT

First of all, God is the Creator (Genesis 1:1) and our heavenly Father (Ephesians 4:6). For these reasons, all of us are created in His image (Genesis 1:27) However, Adam, the first man that He had created (Genesis 2:7), sinned by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that God told him not to eat. This is because Satan, the demonic angel of God deceived the first women that the fruit is not going to make anyone die (Genesis 3:4-5), and then she and Adam eventually ate it (Genesis 3:6). Because of this issue, Satan has entered the world (Revelation 12:7-9) to deceive many more that God has created (Romans 5:12). Thus, for this reason, God sent His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ as an image of God (Colossians 1:15-17) into the world (John 1:14) to be crucified on the cross as an atonement of our sins (Colossians 2:13-15). This had been done, in order to make Him our Saviour (Philippians 2:5-11) and to set us from our sins that leads us to death at the end of the age (Hebrews 2:14-15). Thus, instead of sin and death, Jesus Christ has offered us eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). This is why the word of God states,

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Furthermore, our heavenly Father has given us two things to help us to walk with Jesus Christ until the end of the age—the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Firstly, when Jesus was resurrected, God has poured His Spirit into us (John 16:7) to advocate us to do the will of God (John 14:15-27) until the end of the age (Matthew 7:21). Otherwise, it is quite hard to follow God, since the Spirit controls our passions and desires for Him. This is because the Bible declares,

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. (Galatians 5:24-25)

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. (Galatians 5:16-17)

Secondly, God has appointed specific prophets and apostles to create the word of God for future generations. This means that they had created it to help us to become righteousness of God by following and obeying His Word (Hebrews 4:12, Romans 1:17). This is also because faith without deeds is useless (James 2:14-26). “For it is by grace you [we] have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves [ourselves], it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) This is the reason Jesus proclaims,

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. (Matthew 7:24-27)

Therefore, Apostle Paul declares,

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians 1:27-29)

However, we ought to overcome the world as well (1 John 5:1-5) if we want to get fully-accepted by our heavenly Father. This is because all of us are meant to belong at the kingdom of heaven that is also known as Garden of Eden (Genesis 1-2). In addition, the word of God declares, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4) Thus, for this reason, the word of God also declares,

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (1 John 2:15-17, Hebrews 11:6)

Thus, overall, if we obey the word of God, follow the Holy Spirit, and continue to look at the kingdom of God rather than the world (Colossians 3:1-4) even though it is hard (Mark:8:34-38)—it is very possible that we are going to hear from our heavenly Father at the end of the age, such as “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master's happiness!” This is because when we become true follower of Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24-27), then our citizenship has been transferred over to the kingdom of heaven (Philippians 3:20-21, 2 Corinthians 5:1). Moreover, at the end of the age, we can confidently declare,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)