Alpha and Omega

Spurgeon opens by tracing Christ as Alpha and Omega through four areas not strictly stated in the text but closely connected to it — in rank (infinitely above angels in every title and role), in his sweeping descent from the highest throne in glory down to the lowest shame of the cross and tomb, in Scripture (where he appears on the first page of Genesis as Creator and Co-Author of the Fall's remedy and on the last line of Revelation as the coming King, with every page between saturated in types and prophecies that resolve only in him), and in the Law of God (which finds not a single letter fulfilled in sinful human nature, but finds its every precept and spirit perfectly and infinitely satisfied in Christ's life). He then works through the truths he finds genuinely in the text: Christ is Alpha and Omega in the alphabet of being — existing before creation and surviving its final dissolution as the only Eternal — in all creation (every world made by him, sustained by him, and to be dissolved at his word), in the eternal Covenant (where from election to final glorification every link in the chain is Christ's doing and Christ's glory), in individual salvation (where he is the first breath of new life and the last shout of victory), and in the whole history of the Church from Abel's sacrifice at Eden's gate to the final judgment where the lips that once wept "Come to Me" will thunder "Depart, you cursed." He closes with three urgent applications: to the sinner, begin with Christ as your Alpha and never delay by first accumulating qualifications of feeling or preparation, since every salvation that does not start with Christ has to start over; to the believer, keep Christ as the Omega by never drifting from simple trust in him toward trust in experiences, prayers, or evidences; and to preachers, let Christ crucified be Alpha and Omega of every sermon, since to leave Christ out is to leave the sun out of the day — and there is no Gospel without him.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on December 27, 1863.