8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Ver. 8.--The same divine person, to whom the apostle directs the
doxology in the 6th verse, is introduced in the 8th: that is, the Lord
Christ. He claims eternity and omnipotence. He describes himself here in
the _very words_ which in the 4th verse are descriptive of the eternal
subsistence of the person of the Father. "Alpha and Omega," the first
and last letters of the Greek alphabet, are explained in the
words,--"the beginning and the ending." This language is not to be
understood as expressing or defining the duration of the Godhead only;
but it points also to the divine purpose and providence. To the same
purpose speaks our Redeemer under the name of Wisdom:--"The Lord (the
Father) possessed me in the beginning (head, purpose) of his way, before
his works of old." (Prov. viii. 22.) In joint counsel with the Father,
ere the wheels of time began to move, and being "almighty" to execute
the purposes of God, he is perfectly qualified to act as the final Judge
of the world. And in the great and last day "every tongue must confess
that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. ii. 11.) "For
to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be
Lord both of the dead and living." (Rom. xiv. 9.)--"God is judge
himself." (Ps. 1. 6.)


9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is
called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ.