29. [verse 8] 'And I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending' signifies Who is the Very and Only One from Primes to Ultimates, from Whom all things are; thus Who is the Very and One Only Love, the Very and One Only Wisdom, and the Very and One Only Life in Itself, and thus the Very and One Only Creator, Saviour, and Enlightener from Himself, and thence the All in all of heaven and the Church. These and more besides are the things that are contained in those words, by means of which the Lord is described. That they have been said concerning the Lord, and indeed concerning His Human, is quite plain, for it follows that [John]:-
heard a voice saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; and he turned to see the voice that spoke with him, and he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands Rev. i 10-13,
Who [i.e. the Son of Man] also soon after said:-
I am the First and the Last, and am the Living One, and was put to death Rev. i 17, 18; ii 8.
Moreover it is not possible in a few words to confirm that all the things that have been stated above are contained in those words, for to confirm them to the extent that they can be grasped (ad captum) would require many pages. They have, however, been confirmed in part in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM recently published at Amsterdam, which may be seen. The Lord declares Himself to be 'Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending', because 'Alpha and Omega' have reference to His Divine Love, and 'the Beginning and the Ending' have reference to His Divine Wisdom; for there is a marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, in the details (in singulis) of the Word, and concerning this marriage THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE (n. 80-90) may be seen. [2] The Lord is called 'Alpha and Omega' because Alpha is the first and Omega is the last character in the Greek alphabet, and consequently they signify all things inclusively. This is because any one letter of the alphabet in the spiritual world signifies some particular thing; and a vowel, since it is serviceable for sound, signifies something of affection or love. This is the origin of spiritual and angelic speech, and also writing. Up to this time, however, this arcanum has not been known; for there is a universal language in which all angels and spirits are, and this has nothing in common with any language of men in the world. Every man comes into this language after death, for each man has it implanted as a result of creation, and therefore in the entire spiritual world any one is able to understand another. It has often been granted me to hear that language, and to speak it also, and I have compared it with languages in the world, and found that there is no identity with any natural language on earth (in terris) even in the least thing. It differs from these by virtue of its first principle, which is that each letter of any word is the sign of some meaning both in speech and writing. Now, it is in consequence of this that the Lord is termed 'Alpha and Omega', by which is signified that He is the All in all of heaven and the Church; and since these are two vowels, they have reference to love, as has been stated above. In ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 295), some things may be seen concerning this language and its writing flowing out of the spiritual thought of angels.