In the New Testament - which was inspired in Greek - we learn that God is the Alpha and the Omega. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. God is called the Alpha and Omega because he is the beginning and the end:
Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 21:6
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Revelation 22:13
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Now, notice that he connects the title of first and last with an alphabet, in this case, the Greek alphabet, which is what the New Testament was inspired in. He called himself the first and the last in the Old Testament too:
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Isaiah 44:6
Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Isaiah 48:12
Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
The Old Testament was inspired in Hebrew, which means God would have been calling himself the Aleph and Tav in the Old Testament, (Aleph and Tav being the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, of course).
Now we need to keep in mind that Satan always copies and counterfeits God, and tries to imitate him as much as possible:
Isaiah 14:12
12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Satan wants to be like the most High, so, back in the Old Testament days, he wanted to be the Aleph and Tav. He wouldn't have known yet that God was going to call himself the Alpha and Omega later on; all he would have known about was the Aleph and Tav of the Hebrew alphabet.
In the Hebrew alphabet, the first and last letters are Aleph and Tav (or Taw). When you look at the picture of the Hebrew alphabet below, be sure to look at the ancient picture meanings of the letters in the bottom, and remember to read from right to left, top to bottom. Aleph is in the upper right corner, and Tav is in the lower left corner:
Satan was already able to lay similar claim to the letter Aleph as God and this will take a little explanation. In Hebrew, each letter has three aspects: A number, a meaning and a picture. Aleph (or Alef) means the beginning, of course, but it has an interesting picture. The picture that goes with the letter Aleph is the bull or ox.
And you can confirm that the picture that goes with Aleph is the bull here:
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/alphabet_letters_aleph.html
Satan is a cherub. He is call the anointed cherub that covereth (Ezekiel 28:14). The beast that is depicted by the cherub is the bull or ox. We see this by comparing Ezekiel 1:10 and Ezekiel 10:14. Notice that the cherub and the ox are interchanged:
Ezekiel 1:10
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an OX on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Ezekiel 10:14
And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a CHERUB, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Also, notice that the Israelites made an idol in the figure of a bull after they left Egypt:
Exodus 32:8
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And notice that in the book of Acts, Peter reveals that this bull was made in the image of the host of heaven, which means a principality in the heavens. He was referring to Satan.
Acts 7:41-42
41. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
So, like we said, Satan could already lay a similar (although lesser) claim to the letter Aleph. In this manner, he was similar to God, and God even calls him a familiar friend who will betray him:
Psalm 41:9
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
John 13:18
I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Those two verses refer to Judas Iscariot, of course. But in scope, Judas was very much a type of Satan. He was called the "son of perdition" in John 17:12, and in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 we see that the son of perdition is none other than Satan himself.
So, already being a likeness of the beginning (Aleph), Satan had to find a way to become a likeness of the end (Tav). In Hebrews 2:14, we read that Satan's power was that of death:
Hebrews 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
So, Satan had to turn the letter Tav into an instrument of death. Thus, he inspired the heathens to make the infamous pagan cross, which looked like the early Hebrew letter Tav (basically a capital 'T'), and moved them to dream up the most horrendous death possible for whoever was hung on it. Now, if Satan was responsible for inspiring this gruesome device, surely we can find his signature on it, right? Yep, we sure can.
When people were crucified on the cross, they were nailed to it with 3 nails or spikes: One through each wrist and one which went through both of their feet, which were placed one of top of the other. Now, in the Hebrew alphabet, the 6th letter is the Vav, and it's picture meaning is that of a nail or spike:
You've probably already figured this next part out. If you take 3 of the letter Vav, the number of which is 6 in the Hebrew alphabet, you get 666.
Now, I need to be clear here and make sure everyone understands that I'm not saying that Jesus was the Anti-Christ (how would that even make sense?) What I'm pointing out here is that Satan's fingerprints (666) can be found on the cruelty of the crucifixion. "666" can be found in many places in the Bible as a signature exposing Satan's influence over some event or person. You'll see one such case with King Nebuchadnezzar further down.
Satan thought he could become the likeness of the end by turning the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet into a likeness of his power of death. But, like we said, he didn't know what Jesus had in store. The cross obviously wasn't the end, since Jesus rose from the dead and overcame Satan's power of death. Likewise, the Tav ended up not being the last letter in God's alphabet. Do you know why? Because the New Testament was inspired in GREEK and the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew letter Tav is the Greek letter Tau:
And guess what? Tau isn't the last letter of the Greek alphabet. OMEGA is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Can you see how all of this worked together so well? Satan's plan to hi-jack the likeness of the beginning and the end failed. He came up short. Five letters short, to be exact.
Speaking of which, it's interesting that exactly five more letters came after the Greek Tau. Check this out:
In the Bible we see that the cross is also associated with a tree:
Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Deuteronomy 21:23
22. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23. His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Now, guess who is represented as a tree in the Bible? Yep! Satan. We see this in two places in the Bible. Daniel 4:8-16 and Ezekiel 31:3-16).
In the book of Daniel, we see that King Nebuchadnezzar was a type of the Anti-christ. He created a giant image of gold that was 6 cubits wide and 60 cubits tall, and was to be worshipped at the sound of 6 different types of musical instruments. Did you count the 6's? 666 (Daniel 3:1-5). Now, in Daniel chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar is likened to a giant tree which gets cut down:
Daniel 4:8-16
8. But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,
9. O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.
10. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.
11. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:
12. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.
13. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;
14. He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:
15. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth:
16. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.
Verse 16 goes with verse 32, wherein King Nebuchadnezzar's heart is changed into that of a beast - specifically, that of an OX - for seven years:
Daniel 4:32
And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
Remember that, as a cherub, Satan's beast image is that of an OX, and the seven "times" represent the time of Jacob's trouble, where the Anti-Christ will rule over the earth for seven years. Are you seeing all of these interesting connections?
Now, getting back to the tree, if we compare the tree mentioned in Daniel 4:1-16 with the tree of Ezekiel chapter 31, we see that they are the same. They both depict Satan:
Ezekiel 31:3-16
3. Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
5. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
6. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11. I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12. And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13. Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14. To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
15. Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
Now, put all of this together: Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom were likened to a great tree that fell, and the letter Tav, which was made into the cross, was likened to a tree, as well. The Greek equivalent of the Hebrew letter Tav is the Greek letter Tau. There are five more letters after the letter Tau in the Greek alphabet: Upsilon, Phi, Chi, Psi, and Omega.
Guess how many more kingdoms were to come after Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon?
FIVE.
(1) Medo-Persia. (Daniel 2:32 & 39), (Daniel 7:5), (Daniel 8:4 & 20)
(2) Greece. (Daniel 2:32 & 39), (Daniel 7:6), (Daniel 8:6-8 & 21)
(3) Rome. (Daniel 2:33 & 40), (Daniel 7:7)
(4) Revived Rome. (Daniel 2:33 & 41-43), (Daniel 7:8)
(5) Jesus' kingdom. Jesus' kingdom is the final kingdom. (Daniel 2:43-44), (Daniel 7:9-14)
And Jesus' kingdom will last forever:
Isaiah 9:7
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
JESUS is the true Alpha and Omega. Jesus is the true beginning and end. The only thing Satan managed to end was himself.
