The Lord God used the same words in Revelation 1:8. The alpha and the omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. With this designation the Lord says that he is the first and the last (Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12), a phrase that in turn means that he is the origin and the goal of all things, that all things come from him and are for him, and that God encompasses everything. Or, as he himself says later in the present verse, he is the beginning and the end.
The history of this world is in his hands and will find its fulfilment in him. The implication of claiming to be the first and last letter of the alphabet is that God claims control over every letter in between. The designation implies, then, that every event happening in the history of the world (including the fall into sin and all the tears and grief that resulted) is in God’s control. More, these letters are God’s steps to get to the world to his designated Z. That “Z" is the new
pointed up by God coming to live with
humanity on earth.
6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.