Article by Dr. Sam Storms (original source but because the NT so clearly and repeatedly teaches it. One such place is the book of Revelation. There we see consistent and repeated evidence of the Deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: three co-equal persons existing as One undivided God.
The first explicit reference to the Triune character of God is found in Revelation 1:4b-5a,
“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
There are only two occasions on which God himself speaks in Revelation, and they are both declarations concerning his identity as God:
“I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (1:8).
“I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (21:6).
What makes these important is that they correspond to two self-declarations of Jesus, thus testifying to their shared deity:
“I am the first and the last” (1:17).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (22:13).
The words “the first and the last” are taken from Isaiah where it occurs as a self-designation for God (44:6; 48:12). One could hardly find a more explicit claim to exclusive deity than this. As the first and the last Jesus is not only claiming equality of nature with the Father but is declaring that he both precedes all things, as their Creator, and will bring all things to their eschatological consummation. He is the origin and goal of all history. Continue reading