The-Alpha-and-The-Omega

Mathew 5:8

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

Revelation 1:8 (ESV) reads, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, “says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

There is a much deeper meaning to this Scripture than the simple surface reading indicates. Keeping in mind that Jesus was a Jew and spoke Hebrew (and Aramaic) it seems reasonable that His declaration to John would not have been in Greek, but would have been in Hebrew. Acts 26:14 (ESV) teaches that when Paul met Jesus at Paul’s conversion, Paul heard Jesus speak to him in the language of Hebrew not Greek.

When Jesus the Jew met John the Jew in Revelation 1:8, would Jesus have used the Greek reference of “Alpha and Omega” or would he have used the Hebrew reference of “alef and tav?” I think Jesus would have used the Hebrew reference of alef and tav.

This is where the Hebrew word pictures come into play. The Hebrew language was originally a picture language, evolving over thousands of years. The early proto Canaanite pictorial language was about 1,000 BC, the time of King David. In this period the alef was represented as the head of an ox or bull denoting a strong leader or strength. The tav, the last letter of the alphabet, was pictured as a cross meaning the sign or covenant. Even though the pictures progressed somewhat, the meanings did not change.

I think the answer is found in the meaning of the Hebrew word pictures. The word picture here is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the alef, the strong leader, and the tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, meaning the cross or covenant. These two pictures put together say that Jesus is the strong leader, the sign of the covenant: the strong leader of the covenant.

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