Christ, the Alpha and Omega

2/2 Reading Portions: Genesis 34; Mark 5; Job 1; Romans 5

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2/2 Reading Portions: Genesis 34; Mark 5; Job 1; Romans 5

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

CREATING

The second word in my Hebrew Bible is בָּרָא (ba-RA), which means “to create from nothing,” as opposed to creating or assembling from preexisting materials. This creation is by none other than the Lord Jesus Himself, as alluded to in yesterday’s devotional, as it is written:

All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3

And again,

but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. Hebrews 1:2

Our verse itself so states that this is so because of a little definitive marker used in Hebrew, the word אֵת (et) placed before “the heavens” and “the earth.” Now, while it is often used to more definitely point out the object of a verb or preposition, it is also a little word that demonstrates a sense of entity. Simply put, it associates the subject of the sentence, “God,” with His action, “created,” and the objects He has created, “the heavens and the earth,” as having been created by Him and by no one or nothing else. Thus, the “Big Bang” as an origin theory not only defies English theology and Hebrew grammar, but it is also a direct assault on the character and work of God, warring against the magnitude of the first sentence of the Bible.

Moreover, by the Hebrew structure of the sentence, the Lord Jesus is the specific Creator of the heavens and the earth because, as the associated Entity by the Hebrew article את (et), the letters alef and tav are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alef-beyt. These two letters correspond directly with the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and omega. We know that Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, as it is written:

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

Therefore, we can easily translate the first sentence of the Bible like this:

“In a beginning, God the Alpha and Omega, created the heavens and the earth.”

And in a new beginning to come, God the alef and the tav, will create a new heaven and new earth. Hallelujah! What a Savior!