Today this last day of the year, may we be reminded that Christ is the first and the last. He is the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

The Alpha and the Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. It was not uncommon for Jewish rabbis to use the two letters to detail the totality of a particular thing. When they wrote these two letters in conjunction with each other, they implied that everything was included.

When Jesus said that He was the Alpha and Omega, we can conclude that He is all-encompassing. He was existent before time began, and He is existent when time ceases to be. He is before all things; He is after all things. And between the two, He is within all things. He is the Bookends of Life, the Sustainer of Creation, the Ancient of Days. He is the Originator and the Finisher of it all.

Go all the way back to January 1st of this year. Think of the particular ups and downs. Think of the trials and the triumphs. The starts and stops. Here we are now, at the end, soon to start another beginning. And the one thing we can surmise is that Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega is between it all because He is before it all and He will be after it all.