Welcome back! We are starting a new mini series in our overall series called “The Aleph Tav.”

The key passage for this entire series is this one:

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:12-13 (ESV)

The Apostle John ends his incredible Revelation of Jesus Christ with this word from Jesus Himself in Revelation 22. 

Jesus reveals that He is also Alpha and Omega, first and last, beginning and end, which is a phrase that only the Lord Himself could say.

I mean, we even get this in the first chapter of Revelation:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 (ESV)

If Jesus calls Himself Alpha and Omega, He is declaring Himself to be the Lord God. This is no surprise to us, because we believe Jesus is God. God is made up of Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Every person of the Trinity is God Himself. God is not divided; He’s three-in-one.

Remember, alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. A and Z are the first and last letters of the English alphabet, so Jesus could have said, “I am the A and the Z,” in English. 

Or if Jesus was speaking Hebrew, He would say, “I am the Aleph and the Tav.” 

And we talked about how there are aleph-tav’s scattered throughout the Old Testament Scriptures that show the “strength of the covenant,” which is what the Hebrew letters aleph and tav put together would literally mean. And Who is the strength of our covenant? It’s Jesus Himself.

As a side note, this is not a popular belief. My feeling is that there are a lot of Hebrew scholars out there who are not Christians who are NOT interested in finding the so-called “Christian” Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus is their Messiah too.

And you don’t have to believe that the presence of aleph-tav in the Old Testament is indicative of Jesus. But hopefully through this series, you’ll be able to see where Jesus shows up all throughout the Old Testament, and that’s He shows up in more places than we have previously realized. 

Jesus is the Beginning and the End. He is all throughout Scripture.

Moses and the Rock

How many of you have heard the story where Moses was told to strike the rock? Well, we’re going to read about this today and see where The Aleph Tav, Jesus Himself, shows up in these events that really happened.

“All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the [aleph-tav] LORD?” 

But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill [aleph-tav] us and [aleph-tav] our children and [aleph-tav] our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 

And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking [aleph-tav-kaph] with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the [aleph-tav] Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” 

And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the [aleph-tav] LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”” Exodus 17:1-7 (ESV, brackets mine)

So when the Israelites came out of Egypt after crossing the Red Sea miraculously, they traveled many days toward Mount Sinai, but they ran out of water.

The people grumbled against Moses, and they were like, “Hey! Where’s our water? We’re so thirsty!”

Moses took this complaint to the Lord, asking what he should do? The Lord instructed him to take the elders of the nation and the staff which parted the Nile and strike the Rock at Horeb, and water would come out of it.

Moses did this, and miraculously, water came out of the rock.

Where Aleph-Tav Shows up

The Aleph-Tav shows up in several places in this passage, which I pointed out to you as I read the passage.

Notice in two places that the Lord is referred to as the Aleph-Tav LORD:

And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the [aleph-tav] LORD?” 

…because they tested the [aleph-tav] LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Who were the people testing in their unbelief and complaining? It was Aleph-Tav LORD, the working of Jesus Christ through the Godhead.

Another place worth looking is this passage:

And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking [aleph-tav-kaph] with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the [aleph-tav] Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” 

Aleph-tav-kaph is translated as “with you” in English, and it literally means “the strength of the covenant of the anointed.” The Elders of Israel were given a strong covenant position of anointing. These elders were meant to lead the people and have faith in God’s covenant. Instead, they grumbled along with the people.

The Striking of the Nile River

Another interesting spot is the aleph-tav Nile that was struck. Do you remember what happened to the Nile river after Moses struck it with his staff?

The Nile turned to blood after it was struck. So the aleph-tav in this instance could be referring to the strength of the covenant through the blood, another reference to passover as well as a reference to the future sacrifice of Jesus’ blood.

After Moses strikes the Rock with his staff, the same staff that struck the Nile and turned it to blood, guess what comes out of the Rock? Water! 

Does anyone remember a person who was struck (or pierced), and water and blood came out? Yes! It’s Jesus!

“But when they [the soldiers] came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness–his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth–that you also may believe. 

For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” [Psalm 22:17, 34:20] And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” [Zechariah 12:10]” John 19:33-37 (ESV, brackets mine)

The Rock is Jesus

This Rock that was struck by Moses was actually Jesus. We learn this in the New Testament.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (ESV)

The Rock was The Messiah. The Rock was Jesus.

And just as the Rock was struck once for the Israelites to have life-giving water, so Jesus was only struck once to give us life and salvation.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being the Rock that was struck to give us life!

We are going to pause here for this week! Jesus is the Rock that Moses struck! Amazing! Next week we will continue our look at the aleph tav and the rock / Jesus with a look at when Moses struck the rock a second time! I hope you will join me!