The Alpha and the Omega # 6

" ... and Perfecter"

And Christ is the Last, the Omega, the end - in this sense, that, when He begins a thing, He finishes it. "The Lord", says the Word, "will perfect that which concerns us" (Psalm 138:8). "He which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). He finishes what He begins. And He is not only the Beginner and the Perfecter, but Himself the Beginning and the Ending - the Finish. God is working all things to the end that we should be "conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29). Christ stands, so to speak, right at the end; and God is moving and working in us, His people, in relation to that One who stands at the end, that we should be conformed to His image. The servant of God cries: "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15). It is that likeness that is the end: Jesus Himself is the End. All things under Heaven's government are working towards conformity to God's Son.

Christ Makes Sense of Life

Furthermore: Christ, as Alpha and Omega, makes sense of life. I might have a tray with all the letters of any alphabet jumbled up in it. If I know what the letters are, and I know what I want, I can put them in an order so that they make sense. They express exactly what I want to express. All this that comes between "A" and "Z", between Alpha and Omega, makes sense when it is put in its right place. There are many people to day who cannot make sense of life at all. The struggle of many is to try to make sense of life: What does it all mean? What is the explanation of it all? It seems all a jumble, a confusion, an enigma. Jesus makes sense of life: He puts the jumble into an order.

That is a description of the Divine design, the great purpose of God: to provide an explanation of everything. Yes, in Him we have the answer to our life's problems; in Him we have the setting in order of lives disrupted and confused. Has that not been true of so many men and women whose lives were all mixed up and confused, distorted and twisted, without any seeming design or pattern, meaning or explanation; they could not make sense of anything. And then they came to the Lord Jesus, and life made sense: a design, a pattern came in, and they came to realize what it all meant, what they were for. That is the testimony of those who are truly His. In the Lord Jesus, we have found a pattern, a design, for life, we have found a meaning in life, an explanation of life. He can bring into life a clear pattern, a new understanding. In Him, as Alpha and Omega, we have all that we need to make sense.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 7)