The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. —Jeremiah 31:3

Se agapó, my dear one—I love you, my friend.
From alpha to omega, beginning to end.
Before the first planet had gone ’round the sun,
Til after the last day on earth here is done.
My love is more constant than tides of the seas,
And reaches much farther than sky’s strongest breeze.
I loved you before you were formed in the womb,
And I’ll love you still when you’re laid in the tomb.

© 2017 Angela Umphers Rueger – All Rights Reserved

Just last night I was watching a television program, and a man stated that one of the Greek words for “love,” agapó, begins with alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and ends with omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. So the Greeks have this saying: “May God bless your life with love from beginning to end.”

I was struck with the fact that the word agapó begins and ends with alpha and omega. I’m sure I’ve heard it before because I studied the Greek language a little in Bible college, and I’ve sat under some great Bible teachers through the years. But this time it really sank in, and I applied it in particular to how much God loves us. Just think of what is perhaps the single most popular verse in the Bible:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever  believeth in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. —John 3:16

God really does love us a lot. And He really did love us all the way from the very beginning, from before He created anything—before Adam and Eve, before the Garden of Eden, before sin.

According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. —Ephesians 1:4

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. —Hebrews 4:3

What does this mean? It means God had already devised a plan to redeem mankind from sin before He created the first man. Not only that, but it was as good as done. He calls it the finished work. That’s pretty awesome! That’s love!

Okay, so I’ve established the fact that God’s love goes all the way back to the beginning, but what about the end? Can His love be exhausted, or does it truly have no end? Look at this verse.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. —John 13:1

It doesn’t get much clearer than that. But here is one more thing that I found that to me is pretty exciting. I was searching in the final chapter of the book of Revelation for evidence of God’s love at the end of time, and I found Jesus speaking, and saying:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:13,16-17

Wow! Jesus Himself is saying, “I am Alpha and Omega.” Do you know where I’m going with that? What word begins with alpha and ends with omega? Essentially Jesus is saying, “I am love.” We already know that to be true, for it is clearly stated twice in the book of I John (4:8 and 4:16).

I believe I’ll close with the same verse that I opened with…

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. —Jeremiah 31:3

Photo taken in Brevard, NC, 2017