Devotional 06 May 2025

May 06, 2025 • Steve Torres

Revelation 21:6.jpg

"And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:6–8, ESV)

At the climax of John’s vision, we hear the declaration from the enthroned One: “It is done!” These words echo the cry from the Cross—“It is finished” (John 19:30). While the Greek words differ, the message is the same: Christ has completed all that is necessary for the redemption of His people. Just as His crucifixion accomplished atonement, this final pronouncement marks the completion of His plan in history—the full realization of salvation and judgment.

Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, is the beginning and the end—not merely temporally, but causally. As Paul affirms in Colossians 1:16–18, all things were created through Him and for Him, and in Him all things hold together. He is preeminent in all things: Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Judge. Hebrews reminds us that Jesus, our High Priest, has done what no earthly priest could—He offered one perfect sacrifice and sat down (Heb. 10:11–14), because His work was complete.

To those who are thirsty, He offers the spring of the water of life without payment. This promise fulfills Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:14). This living water is Christ Himself, and we are invited to receive Him freely—by grace, through faith. We cannot earn it, nor could we ever repay it. As Isaiah foretold, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters… without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1).

The one who conquers—an echo of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2–3—is not the strong in self, but the one who believes. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). And this faith is not our own doing—it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). The conqueror is adopted as a son, an heir of God (Gal. 4:7), not by merit, but by mercy.

Yet this passage does not shy away from warning. Just as the overcomer receives the spring of life, those who remain in rebellion face the lake of fire—the second death. The list of vices in verse 8 is not exhaustive but representative: cowardice in the face of truth, faithlessness, idolatry, deceit, and moral rebellion. These echo the same warnings given to the churches in Revelation’s early chapters. God sees not only our actions but our hearts. Those who claim Christ but deny Him in life will drink not from His spring, but from the cup of wrath (Rev. 14:10).

This is not simply a doctrine to know—it’s a hope to cling to. For the suffering, the persecuted, the weary, this is the promise: Christ has finished the work. We will not always thirst. We will not always fight sin. We will not always be in exile. One day, the Alpha and Omega will say again, “It is done,” and the sons and daughters of God will drink freely and live eternally.

Let us remember: We do not save ourselves, but we can condemn ourselves. Salvation is by grace, judgment by justice. And in both, Christ is Lord.

Let us drink deeply from the water of life, that it may spring up in us and flow through us, until the day we see Him face to face.