את

    The bible we have today is very different from the one back when the characters and the stories were written. Inspired by God and written by 40 different authors over the span of about 1500, the Bible we know has been translated into a language we speak and know. The original, however, was written in 3 main languages Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. As the scribes and the prophets sat down to transcribe the texts, there were some words that were lost in translation. One example of this is the letter את, which translates to TavAleph. In the Hebrew alphabet, these letters, read from right to left rather than left to right as we read it in English, are the first and the last letters, essentially AZ to us. This word, found over 7000 times in the Old testament alone, was hard to translate, because at the time, it made no sense. This word is found all throughout the Torah, the major and minor prophets, and the psalms, but it wasn't until the Book of Revelation that this word began to take on meaning. We see in the book, right near the last chapter of the bible, that Jesus, in a vision tells the apostle John,

            "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."-Revelation 22:13

    Jesus, the Son of God, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, has been around since before the beginning, even before the world was a thought. Even back in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, in the Hebrew, we can see this see right next to the first name of God, this word את appears. 

    After Jesus came to the earth, lived a perfect life, and died on a Roman cross, he revealed that he is, has been and always will be the beginning and the end. The Alpha and the Omega. The First and the Last.

            "I am the Alpha and the Omega', says the Lord, ' who is, who was and who is to come, the Almighty."- Revelation 1:8

    What these 2 letters represent throughout all of scripture is that Jesus has been in and through all of the history of the Bible people: through the prophecies and exile, throughout all of Israel's history of creation, slavery, wilderness period and the promised land; through the gospels and epistles and visions from the Garden to the Island of Patmos and beyond. Jesus is weaved throughout all the whole timeline of God's creation. 

    So what does this mean for us today? How do 2 little letters that make up the whole of the alphabet bring us closer to the Father? If God is in the beginning and the end, how do we fit in the middle of it all?

    God is omniscient and omnipotent, meaning he is everywhere and all powerful. He is before us at the beginning, and he is waiting for us at the end of all things, but because he is everywhere all at once, it means that while we seem stuck in the middle, God is there with us too. He was there to set the plan in motion, Jesus is at the end to bring it all to conclusion and the holy spirit resides with us, to get us to the goal set before us. These 2 letters are essentially Jesus' signature on the earth that what is done is done. What will come has already been set in motion. Our job is let the holy spirit work through us trust that from the beginning to the end, God plans to bring everything to completion, and Jesus' seal is the proof we need to keep pressing toward the goal.     

    God is the TavAleph, the Alpha and the Omega. The one who is, who was and who is to come.

Adam Semple- A Young Man on a Mission From God.