The book of Revelation begins and ends by reminding us that Jesus is the Beginning and the End! This is not a fluffy reductionism of Christian thought, but a centering of everything we do, believe, and practice in the Savior!

<p>The book of Revelation begins and ends by reminding us that Jesus is the Beginning and the End! This is not a fluffy reductionism of Christian thought, but a centering of everything we do, believe, and practice in the Savior!</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Jesus, All- Communion Message

The book of Revelation begins by making it very clear that it is a revelation not of the beast or the dragon, but a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And throughout the book of Revelation, we find that Jesus remains the center.

I hope that as we've spent some time recently in the Unlocking Prophecy series that you with me have enjoyed and rejoiced in the centrality of Jesus in the books of prophecy.

We see here in Revelation chapter 21 and verse 6 that Jesus says, I am Alpha and Omega.

Now if you have your Bibles, I wanna just invite you to stay here in Revelation.

We're going to look in Revelation chapter 1 and we're going to look at a couple of other verses here.

Revelation is actually bookended, you might say, by 2 pronouncements, 2 at the beginning and 2 at the end, actually, of Jesus as the Alpha and the Omega.

Let's start in Revelation chapter 1 and let's look at verse 8.

Revelation chapter 1 and verse 8, he says this, Jesus is speaking and he says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Now, I'm sure most of us are familiar that what Jesus is saying when he talks about alpha and omega, he's using the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet.

He's basically saying in our parlance, he would be saying, I am A and I am Z.

He says again, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

What you see, write in the book and send it to the 7 churches.

We read our Scripture today, Revelation 21.6, Look with me now to Revelation 22 and verse 13.

So we see 2 instances of Jesus as the Alpha and Omega at the beginning of Revelation.

We've seen Revelation 21, 6, and here we see in Revelation 22 and verse 13, he says, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

And there's 1 thing that I've learned about the Bible.

When the Bible repeats something, it doesn't do it just because, you know, they hadn't reached their quota of words.

The Bible is not written, students, as an assignment for class.

So they didn't have to get a certain number of words, right, to make the grade.

The point of repeating something is to emphasize it, to underscore it, to convey the importance and the necessity of hearing and understanding.

And when something is repeated 4 times, twice at the beginning of the book and twice at the end of the book, it leads me to conclude that it must be important.

That somehow, God wanted us to see something in this Alpha and Omega that we could benefit from.

Now, there are other places where similar things are said in the Bible.

If you'll turn with me to Hebrews 12, 1 of my favorite passages, Hebrews 12, also gives a bit of a similar idea as Jesus being the author and the finisher.

Hebrews chapter 12, and we're going to read verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto who?

Jesus, the author and the, what does it say?

The finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God Now I think that what the Bible is trying to tell us is that from beginning to end It's all about Jesus Jesus is the 1 who gets the glory from the beginning of our first inklings of spiritual drawing, from the beginnings of our first awakening of a desire for righteousness and goodness and eternal life, Jesus is the 1 who gets the glory.

And all the way to the end, all the way to the glorification, the final triumph of our faith, Jesus is the 1 who gets the glory.

You see, I don't believe that this is a reductionist neutering of Christianity to strip it down of doctrine or truth.

There's some of that in evangelical Christianity today.

There's this idea that all we need is Jesus, and It's a very fluffy Jesus that's left.

It's this Jesus that's just sort of, you know, a good moral teacher and we should be kind people.

That's the essence of Christianity and of Christ.

I don't believe that That's what Jesus is trying to say when He says, I'm the Alpha and the Omega, I'm the beginning and the end, I'm the author and the finisher, I'm the first and the last.

I think that Jesus is not saying that the rest of the Bible isn't important or the truth doesn't matter, except I think what he's trying to say is that all the Bible finds its center of gravity in Jesus.

All of truth finds its real meaning in Jesus, And all of our experience finds its real purpose and value and meaning in Jesus Christ.

When I awake in the morning, I remember that Jesus is the light of the world, the life of men.

When I eat my breakfast, I remember that Jesus is the bread of life, and man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

When I do my work, I remember that Jesus said, without me you can do how much?

But he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I remember that Jesus is the 1 who was dead and is alive.

When I think of the meaning of the Sabbath, I remember that it's Jesus Himself who created the Sabbath and now invites me to rest in His forgiveness and the power of His blood.

When I think of stewardship, I realize that Jesus owns everything, and I'm only a caretaker, a guardian, custodian, a steward.

All that we have, all that we do, all that we believe centers in Jesus.

And friends, if it's not centered in Jesus, if it's centered in me, if it's centered in you, if it's what I've done to become a Christian or what I'm doing to get to the kingdom of heaven, It doesn't match what the Word of God says because Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

He's the beginning, He's the end, He's the author, He's the finisher.

From sixth volume of the Bible commentary, I wanna share this paragraph with you.

Listen to me carefully, because I think it puts in perspective What it means when we say Jesus is everything, or as the title of my short thought today, Jesus all.

Hanging upon the cross, Christ was the gospel.

Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

Will not our church members keep their eyes fixed on a crucified and risen Savior in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered.

This is our message, our argument, our doctrine, our warning to the impenitent, our encouragement for the sorrowing, the hope for every believer.

If we can awaken, listen to this carefully, this sentence just blows me away.

If we can awaken an interest in men's minds that will cause them to fix their eyes on Christ, we may step aside and ask them only to continue to fix their eyes upon the Lamb of God.

The goal isn't to have a church that teaches all the right things.

The goal isn't to have a pastor that every week encourages the faithful in the straight and narrow way.

The goal is for every single 1 of us individually to fix our eyes on Jesus.

And if we can lead men and women to fix their eyes on Christ, we may step aside and ask them only to continue to fix their eyes on the Lamb of God.

Listen, thus they receive their lesson, Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

He whose eyes are fixed on Jesus will leave all.

He will believe in all the word of God, which is so gloriously and wonderfully exalted in Christ.

Oh friends, when we say Jesus all, we're not reducing Christianity to a reductionist form.

We're keeping him where he belongs, at the center of everything we do, everything we see, everything we believe.

And that's where I want Jesus to be in my life.

You know, communion is an opportunity for us to renew our covenant with Jesus.

We've witnessed a baptism today, and it's always a joy.

I don't think of very many things more exciting than baptisms in the body of Christ.

Because of what they mean, because of what they mean, The Bible says there's a joy in heaven, right?

But some people might ask the question, well, because I'm baptized, does that mean I'm not gonna make any more mistakes?

And I can say, with some degree of confidence, it doesn't mean that.

Being the pastor won't end your mistakes.

We need Jesus just as much after we're baptized as we do before we're baptized, amen?

But when we fall, when we misrepresent the Lord, when we do make mistakes, Jesus doesn't ask us necessarily to be rebaptized, but he does give us the opportunity to publicly once again remind ourselves and refresh, renew our commitment to him.

So in communion, We practice the ordinance of humility, remembering what Jesus has done for us.

We take of the body and the blood of Jesus, symbolized by the bread and the wine, to symbolize our faith in his sacrifice, to wash away our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we practice open communion.

If you are a believer in Jesus, you're welcome to partake in this ceremony with us.

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Jesus, All- Communion Message

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