Alpha and Omega

Colossians 1:15-17

The sovereignty of God is something that we wrestle with on a daily basis.  Maybe we don’t always recognize the battle, but it is there.  It was there in the garden of Eden at the beginning of the story of man.  Consider what the deceitful serpent said to Eve when she explained what God said to them concerning being forbidden to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge:

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die. 5 For God knows that on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.”

Now, depending on your particular flavor of translation, what you read here that says “like gods” is sometimes translated into “like God.”  The reason for that is the understanding of the use of the Hebrew word Elohim which is the same word used for the triune God in the beginning of Genesis, but generically used to represent “heavenly beings” which includes Yahweh, the Holy Spirit, and also angels and demons.  I’m purposely avoiding the theological rabbit trail this may take us down and staying focused on the fact that God’s sovereignty is called into question here.  It might not seem like it, but this is the nuance of the enemy’s tricks to convince us that God is not sovereign!

The sly trick the serpent is not saying here is that God is afraid of what humans may be capable of.  If He is truly God Almighty, Creator of the universe…why would He be afraid of what He created?  This isn’t like us playing around with Artificial Intelligence and wondering if one day it will become self-aware and start a 1,000-year war with us for survival (although that is our present reality).  Yet, this is what the great deceiver tries to embed in us to distort our belief about Yahweh.  

Ironically, Lucifer tried to usurp God and got cast out of heaven!  He knows the truth, but refuses to accept it.  Since he can’t do anything about that, he tries to “get back” at God by tarnishing His prized possession: us.  This is a very important principle for us to understand, although, in our limited human minds, isn’t always easy to accept or understand.  We are left with many questions about God (we will get to that in chapter 2).  We don’t understand how or why He does things.  We get confused by the world and its perception of God.  Is He really God Almighty, or just God the angry dude “up there” making life complicated and difficult for us “down here”?  Paul’s explanation in these 3 verses don’t make it any easier, do they?

…whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created by Him and for Him.

That is a hard fact to accept!  He even created Lucifer for His own purposes.  Why???  Why would He do that?  Didn’t He know what would happen?  Yes.  But why???  We want to know why, don’t we?  It doesn’t make sense to us and it leaves us feeling confused and maybe even angry because WE WANT TO KNOW!  Well, that’s why we ate the fruit in the first place.  We want to be like God. But, we cannot.  If we could, then we would be God, and He would be like one of us.  I don’t want to serve a God that is “like me.”  I don’t want a deity I can compete with and overcome or be equal to.

Consider what Jesus said in Revelation 22, a vision given to John (the one Jesus loved).  Paul did not see this letter before writing to the church at Colossae.  In fact, he may not have even heard of it at all.  It is interesting to see how the messages intersect, however:

12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to repay each one according to what his deeds are! 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”  14 Blessed are the ones who wash their robes, so that their authority will be over the tree of life and they may enter into the city through the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral people and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and who practices falsehood.  16 “I, Jesus, sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

He has left us to our own devices for a time, patient and slow to anger, allowing us to repent and turn toward Him and recognize that He indeed is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Creator and Destroyer of all things.  Right now we have a choice to recognize Him as such, but there is coming a day when we will have no choice.  In Matthew 25, while still in human form, Jesus laid out for His disciples what this will look like:

31 Now when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 41 Then he will also say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.’

There is more to the story, but the gist is: this is what is going to happen!  Those who choose to recognize God’s sovereignty over all creation now will inherit His Kingdom and get to enjoy eternity with Him.  Those who reject Him, will be rejected by Him. Why???  Because He is sovereign and that is His prerogative!  He can do what He wants because it is all His anyway!  We are not God and cannot figure it out ourselves.  The only option we have is to choose to accept the facts and live with them, or not.  This is what a God does and what a King can do.  They can make the rules, they can change the rules, and they can enforce the rules.  

Throughout the Scriptures, we see this pattern both in God’s Kingdom and in earthly kingdoms.  In the Western context, this is hard for us to accept because we live under democratic rule where the people have a “voice,” although we usually sneer at that because regardless of whom we vote into office to rule over us, we automatically assume that they are corrupt and it is the power of money that rules, not democracy.  Yet, what are we going to do about it?  There are some people that try to raise a stink, change the system, and influence it for good with what little power they have.  But has it changed much?  We accept it and live under the system the best we can.

So then, why is it so hard for us sometimes to live under a reign and rule that is not corrupt, that is for the people, and is ultimately good?  Why must we “kick against the goads” (to use a biblical term from Acts 9:5)?  As a sidebar…here is a really good article explaining what that means and why it applies to this message.  In short, it means to try to fight against something you cannot change or control; when you do, you only hurt yourself more.

The quicker we learn that God is good, God is sovereign, and His rule is the best to submit to, the better off we will be.  Satan did for a while but then thought he had a better way, and lost.  None of us are more powerful than he is, so what are we going to do to subdue God to our own will?  I know I sometimes struggle with, “well, if God did things my way…” well, it probably wouldn’t turn out for the best for the entirety of creation anyway.  It might turn out well for me, at least for a little while.  But, that is the deception of sin.  That is also why God took away the tree of life once we ate from the tree of knowledge.  God knew that it is not good for us to live in sin and live forever.  So, we could even complain about that, but ultimately it isn’t for our own good.

Whenever you find yourself questioning God, which I don’t think is a bad thing, by the way, we should check our motives.  Is it to make us feel better about ourselves or elevate ourselves in some way?  Or is it about glorifying God, which is the chief end of mankind?  If it is the latter, God might actually relent, much like He did when Moses questioned Him about wiping out all the Israelites and starting a new nation with Moses’ family. (Exodus 32:9-14).  But if it is the former, it is better we ask God for help and let Him do what He does best.