Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Revelation 1:4-8 Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. ⁷ Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. ⁸ "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

If you have ever watched any kind of nature shows like Jeff Corwin or the Crocodile Hunter or National Geographic specials, you may have heard the term "Alpha Male" before. The alpha male (or female) is the individual in the community of animals to whom the others defer. In the wild, certain creatures become leaders of the pack and exhibit the sort of behavior that makes others follow them instinctively. Gray wolves, for example, will travel in packs, and one male and his mate will emerge as leaders.

A certain aggressiveness, a strong body, the ability to react swiftly to danger, a protective spirit, the power to defeat challengers to his authority – these are all things which mark the alpha male among gray wolves. And similar behavior can be found in the animal kingdom in a variety of creatures, from chimpanzees to iguanas.

The alpha male is the one who takes charge, asserts himself, makes things happen, and allows for no rivals. He is every bit the leader of the pack. He is the one others follow. They trust him. He is the one who keeps peace in the pack by the force of his leadership.

God knew what he was doing in creating alphas in the animal kingdom. I believe that God has also provided alphas in human society. We need alphas. We human beings also need to have someone to follow. Whether that be in the military, in the workforce, in the church, in the home, or in our country.

After September 11^th and during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, I believe the majority of Americans saw President Bush as a strong alpha leader. But not being able to locate bin Laden, the roadside bombings by insurgents and the mounting deaths of our soldiers has caused some of his leadership abilities to be tarnished and questioned. Can he really bring peace to America and Iraq and other "hot spots" in the world? Can Tony Blair of England? Can Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel? Can the Shunei Muslims of Iraq? Can any of the other leaders in the world bring peace, true peace, lasting peace?

In a world of change and conflict, in a time of war and terror, if we are to have peace, we must follow a leader who is an unquestioned alpha. Someone who stands without blemish at the head of the pack. Someone whose life, whose heart, whose mind, whose spirit we must trust completely.

Two thousand years ago, just as today, the world was hungry for true peace. The world needed someone to bring it peace. The world needed an alpha leader to follow. Into that desperate world was born a child, but not just any child. He was the Prince of Peace. He was the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. He was the Almighty God in human flesh.

Jesus Christ, the child of Bethlehem and the ruler of the kings of the earth is the world’s alpha leader. He is the One who can be trusted. He is the only One we must follow if there is to be true, lasting peace.

Jesus is first our alpha leader because he leads by identifying with us. He doesn’t lord it over us that he is the "ruler of the kings of the earth" or that he could end our existence at any moment. No, Jesus became one of us. He identified with us. He lived among us. He felt what we feel. He saw what we see. He tasted what we taste. He suffered what we suffer … and more. We don’t have a God who stands over us and doesn’t understand us. No, Jesus is is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

If you travel around the world and see the images of Jesus as they are presented in various cultures, you will see a remarkable thing. You will see Jesus’ face taking on the characteristics of all the peoples who worship him. In Japan, his almond-shaped eyes look out at you from rice paper paintings. In Peru, his high cheekbones are those of an Inca noble. In Poland, his features are unmistakably Slavic. In Africa, he is pictured as black. In northern Europe, his image looks a bit like mine (except taller and with a better beard). It’s not that any of these images are historically and literally correct. Very likely Jesus the man looked something like your Jewish neighbors. They may not be historically accurate, but they are spiritually correct. They are spiritually true. We are picturing Jesus as being one of us.

I’m sure there have been times in your life, though, when you have questioned Jesus. "How could you allow this to happen to me God? How come I can’t seem to get ahead of my bills? Why do you let my kids drive me crazy? Why did you let my mom get sick like that? How could you let these things tear my family apart like this? Don’t you care? Don’t you understand?"

Jesus does understand. He is our alpha precisely because he does understand -- because he identifies with us. It is he, not Santa Claus, who knows what you’ve been thinking, for he knows who we are and what we face. He has been here. He has walked among us. He is like us and yet unlike us. He is not a God way out somewhere in the stratosphere, remote and untouchable. But with us. Among us. Like us. He is Immanuel – God with us. (Matthew 1:23)

He is like us in that he understands and identifies with us, yet is also unlike us in that he is greater than us. He says to us, "I am the Alpha and the Omega who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Jesus is saying, "I am the beginning and the end. I AM, I always HAVE BEEN, and I always WILL BE." He’s eternal! So all the things that you’re worried and complaining about now, Jesus knows how they will turn out. He is using his almighty power to guide all those things in the way that’s best for you and for your eternal future. Knowing that Jesus is like us, yet greater than us, brings us peace!

Jesus is also our alpha leader because he teaches a radical new way of life. It is a way of life, which, if we take it seriously, will lead to peace. Jesus is our pioneer, for he teaches a way of life like no other teacher who has ever lived.

Do you ever feel like you are mediocre in your Christian faith? What I mean by that is … you know you are not going to hell, but you aren’t really living like you are going to heaven. You are just "getting by."

When I graduated from college, some of my classmates had cum laude and summa cum laude written on their diplomas, meaning with honor, and with greatest honors. Then there were others in my class who received rite on their diplomas. Rite means good or duly earned. Some of us joked that it meant "just good enough."

Do you ever feel like that in your Christian faith – not with honors, not excellent, not excelling, just good enough to get by?

We feel that way and we live that way when we aren’t taking seriously the radical demands of our Lord and King. When Jesus tells us that if someone strikes us on one cheek, we are to turn the other, we dismiss that as not being realistic. When he tells us that anyone who speaks in anger is subject to judgment, we make excuses for our anger. When he says that anyone who looks at another person lustfully has committed adultery in the heart, we believe we can look, but just don’t touch.

When Jesus tells us to be perfect because our heavenly Father is perfect we dismiss him as being impractical. When Jesus warns us that we cannot serve God and Money, we rationalize why the obvious choice is Money. When Jesus says not to worry about our life, we respond that if we didn’t worry, we wouldn’t know what to do during the day. (cf. Matthew 5-7)

What a radical teacher Jesus is! And yet we just don’t always take him seriously.

When we do take him seriously, think about what he brings into our life. He brings grace and peace to you. "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen."

When we take him seriously, we are reminded how much Jesus loves us. Jesus loved us before the beginning of the world. He loved us while we were still sinners. And he loves us now. His love has been shown to us in the best possible way, freeing us from our sins by his blood. The horrible payment for sin is always blood. We were slaves to sin but have now been released. We were subject to death but have been delivered from the punishment we deserved.

Jesus has not only set us free from punishment; he has given us an exalted position. We are made kings to rule with him in his eternal kingdom. We are made priests who will serve him day and night in his eternal temple. Jesus’ love is ongoing, eternal, and it never wavers from one day to the next. And, oh, how that changes us!

But most of all, Jesus is our alpha, our great leader, the one whom we will follow, because he has fought through the deadliest of battle zones and won the victory. He has faced down the worst of our enemies, including Satan and Death, and has won the victory. He has gone where no one had gone before, into the very jaws of death and escaped, unscathed and victorious. He beat death on its own battlefield and came out of the tomb. He is our alpha and we will follow him into death for we know that means we will also follow him into life eternal. And so we have a Captain that we can trust, a Commander who has gained our complete confidence.

Jesus is our alpha. Jesus is our leader. Jesus is our peacemaker, for he paid the price that was not his to pay. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He went to the cross, not as the victim of historical circumstances, and certainly not as a criminal worthy of punishment, but because he loved us and wanted to bring us back to God. And so in the awesome words of the apostle Paul, "when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)

On Easter morning Jesus became the "firstborn from the dead." As the "firstborn from the dead" death did not have the power to keep Jesus dead and in the grave. He was "born" to life again. He is the first one to conquer death once and for all. We will follow. And so we join with the apostle Paul in taunting death, "Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Without that, we would not gather here this morning. For without his atoning death and risen life, he would be nothing more than a guy about whom we would sing wonderful songs, but nothing more. Without his sacrificial death and glorious life, he would be nothing more than a sentimental story that was empty of substance.

But because he lives, we gather to worship. Because he lives, we gather around his altar to give him glory and praise. Because he lives, we partake of his Body and Blood, committing ourselves to follow wherever he leads. Because he lives, we look for him coming with the clouds to judge the living and the dead. Because he lives, he is our alpha leader.

He is alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending. He is the first and the last, who is and was and who is to come. He is the foundation of my new life and the focus of my life to come. He is the fragile babe of Bethlehem and the conquering lion of Judah. He is the Word made flesh and the Ancient of Days, enthroned forever in glory. He is the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father -- to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

O come, let us adore him, our Alpha and Omega. Amen.