by Giuseppe Monno
Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 22:13
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Revelation 1:8 is one of the most solemn and majestic statements in all of Sacred Scripture: the divine title “Alpha and Omega” (that is, “beginning and end”) is attributed to God Himself. Yet, in the course of the Book of Revelation, this same title is also applied to Jesus Christ (cf. 22:13), revealing both the full communion of the Father and the Son and their shared divine nature.
Alpha (Α) and Omega (Ω), the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, express totality and completeness: they signify that God is the beginning and the end of all things. This expression echoes Isaiah 44:6 (LXX): “I am the first and the last, and there is no God apart from me.”
In the biblical vision, God is both the origin and the fulfillment of all that exists—the eternal Lord of time and history. The title “Alpha and Omega” therefore points to His eternity and His absolute sovereignty over all reality.
In Revelation 1:8, this title, together with the expressions that follow (“who is… the Almighty”), reveals the eternal and sovereign being of God. Yet within the same book, these very words are also spoken by Jesus Christ:
Revelation 22:12–13
“Look, I am coming soon… I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Here Christ identifies Himself with the same divine titles attributed to the Father. Revelation presents no opposition, but a profound unity: what is said of the Father is also said of the Son, revealing their one and the same divine nature.
In the language of Revelation, the Father and the Son share fully and inseparably in the same divine attributes. Christ is not a lesser god or a glorified creature, but God Himself—the Lord of time and history.
In Revelation 1:8, it is “the Lord God” who speaks; yet already in 1:17–18 and again in 22:13, the same words are placed on the lips of Christ. This reflects the clear faith of the Church in the Trinity: one God in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—equal in divinity, power, and glory.
Christ is the “Alpha and the Omega,” the beginning and the end of creation, of redemption, and of human history. Everything finds its origin and its fulfillment in Him (cf. Colossians 1:16–17).
He is also “the One who is to come” (“erchómenos”): the present tense expresses a coming that is ongoing and ever actual. Christ comes into history in the Incarnation; He comes into the Church through the Eucharist and grace; and He will come at the end of time in His glory.
In Revelation 1:8 and 22:13, the title “Alpha and Omega” reveals that Jesus Christ is the Eternal One, the Almighty—God Himself made man. He is the beginning of all that exists and the final fulfillment of the whole of creation:
“Through him all things were created and for him… in him all things hold together” (cf. Colossians 1:16–17).