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Protestant Apologetics

Revelation 22:13

NT Prophecy
Revelation 22:13
13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
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JW Usage

JWs insist that the Alpha and Omega in is Jehovah, not Jesus. They argue that different speakers alternate throughout Revelation 22 and that a speaker change occurs between verse 12 (which they concede is Jesus) and verse 13. This allows the Watchtower to maintain that the divine titles "Alpha and Omega," "the First and the Last," and "the Beginning and the End" belong exclusively to the Father. When pressed, JWs typically respond that they would need to look it up, as most have not closely examined the speaker chain in this chapter.

Protestant Usage

The Protestant reading demonstrates that is spoken by Jesus. The speaker says "I am coming quickly" in verse 12, then claims "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" in verse 13, with no speaker transition. Verse 16 confirms the identity: "I, Jesus, sent my angel to you." The same "I am coming quickly" phrase appears in verse 20, where it is explicitly attributed to Jesus. If only Jehovah is the First and the Last (), and Jesus takes this title upon himself, then Jesus is claiming the very identity that Jehovah says belongs to him alone. The self-identification "I, Jesus" in verse 16 makes it impossible to argue that the Father is speaking. This is the key insight of the Alpha and Omega argument: there is no ambiguity in the text.