uring which
time the wicked will lie in their graves, when God's word declares that
_every eye_ shall see him when he comes?

The present description of Christ closes with the statement that he is
the Alpha and the Omega, which, being the first and last letters of the
Greek alphabet, mean the same as "the beginning and the ending"; while
the whole concludes with the statement that he is the one "which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty"--which is the same as the
description given of God in verse 4. Nothing in addition to this could
be ascribed to Christ. Every attribute with which the Deity himself is
invested is here ascribed to Jesus Christ. If our Savior is anything
more than this description declares him to be, it is beyond the reach of
our finite minds to comprehend. The sacred writers everywhere speak of
him as a being worthy of worship and praise; and this fact, taken in
connection with the universal proneness of men to take the honor from
God and to give it to those who are no gods, is a convincing proof that
Christ is God and, as such, is worthy of all honor and praise; and
nowhere is there given in regard to Christ a warning caution such as
John received from the angel at whose feet he fell to worship--"See thou
do it not ... worship God."

9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in
tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a
great voice, as of a trumpet,

11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and,
What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven
churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and
unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

At the time the Revelation was given, John was a prisoner in the Isle of
Patmos (now called Patmo or Patino), a small, desolate, rocky island in
the Aegean sea, near the coast of Asia Minor, its greatest length from
north to south being about ten miles, and its greatest breadth six. To
this lonely place, according to Jerome and others, John was exiled
during the reign of the tyrant Domitian, in A.D. 95. The reason of his
banishment is given--"For the word of God, and for the testimony of
Jesus Christ." Having confined him to