Page 58 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

angles, and to Moses. Christ is the ultimate revelation; He is affirmed as the Creator and Sustainer of
the universe and is said to have the very nature of God. And in this verse, God the Father is calling all
the angels to WORSHIP (proskuneo) Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that in Rev. 5:11-14 that the angels around the thrown of God and living creatures and
elders (thousands of them) cried out with a loud voice and said, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
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(Jesus) to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And
every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all
things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor
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and glory and dominion forever and ever." And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen " And the
elders fell down and worshipped.

Remember Jehovah said, (Isaiah 42:8a) I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to
another…” Yet in Hebrews 1:6 Jehovah commands “all the angels of God to worship Him.” In Rev. 5,
both the one sitting on the throne AND the Lamb are worshipped.

WITNESSING NOTE: What does it say about Jesus’ true identity that He receives the same worship
that is given to Jehovah (the Father)?

The Alpha and Omega

As you know, alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter in the
alphabet.
It means “FIRST and LAST”, or “Beginning and End.” It speaks to the eternal nature of
God…His existence extends back before any beginnings and will extend past any endings. It
literally means, “the eternal one and is the same descriptor as “I AM” or “YHWH” which both
describe the eternality of God. Only God can declare Himself as the Alpha and Omega!
Jewish readers in the first and second centuries understood what this term meant. In Jewish
thinking, a reference to the first and last letters of an alphabet (aleph and tav in Hebrew) was regarded
as including all the intermediate letters and came to represent totality or entirety. They used to say that
Adam transgressed the whole law from aleph to tav. Abraham, by contrast, observed the whole law
from aleph to tav.

When attaching this phrase with the “first and last”, it relates the beginning and ending to time and
eternity. It describes that One as the eternal one who has no beginning or ending. To ascribe this
description to Jesus Christ would be utter blasphemy unless He is eternal God!

When witnessing to a JW, turn to these passages and ask these questions:

Revelation 1:5, 7-8
5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings
of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…

7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all
peoples on earth will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.

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

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