Of the four gospel records of Jesus Christ’s life and death on earth, John’s gospel was known, in the early church, as the “spiritual” gospel. Why the spiritual gospel?

John doesn’t only present the story of Jesus’ life on earth. He also weaves into the story his understanding that Jesus, the man, was far more than a man. He was God incarnate, clothed in a human body, fully God and fully man, with all the attributes of God and man, yet completely submitted and obedient to the Father as a son.

Each of the four gospels tells the story of Jesus from a different perspective and for a different purpose. Together, they present a comprehensive picture of Him as the king of Israel, (Matthew), the Servant of Yahweh, (Mark), the Son of Man, (Luke), and the Son of God, (John).

Each story begins with and at the point of its purpose. For Matthew, Jesus was born to be king of the Jews. For Mark, as a servant, Jesus’ origins and birth were not recorded. His story begins with His arrival on the public scene to carry out His servant role. For Luke, as the Son of Man, Jesus was fully human, the son of Mary, with all the attributes and characteristics of a human. Yet, He was more than human. He was the Son of Man, the Messianic figure of Daniel 7.

However, to John, Jesus was first and foremost, the Son of God, existing eternally with the Father before time. He was sent from the Father to live as an obedient Son, always connected and accountable to Him, doing the Father’s will, revealing the Father’s true nature to His people, and fulfilling His mission as sacrifice and redeemer.

So, John begins to write… “In the beginning…”

John 1:1-3 NLT
[1] “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He existed in the beginning with God. [3] God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

In the beginning…the beginning of what? Echoing the first words of the Bible…

Genesis 1:1-2 NLT
[1] “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

John presents Jesus’ presence as the bridge between the Father and His creation. In a perfect expression of the unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Three persons function together to produce the universe in all its splendour and detail. Assuming that the triune God created everything, the story of Genesis begins, not with nothing but with an earth that was created, then corrupted. This planet needed intervention to prepare it for human habitation.

In the Genesis 1 account of this process of restoration, the writer slips in two Hebrew letters, “aleph” and “tov”, in the middle of the first verse which are both untranslatable and seem to make no sense. The same two mysterious letters reappear many times throughout the original text of the Old Testament. The ancient rabbis, despite years of study, could not find a solution to the puzzle… until John reveals its secret to his readers.

Google says…

“In some interpretations, particularly within Messianic Judaism, the Aleph Tav is seen as a divine signature or placeholder, indicating the presence and authority of God or Yeshua throughout Scripture. This is often linked to passages in Isaiah and Revelation where God declares Himself to be the First and the Last.”

In the book of Revelation, which of course, John also wrote and which presents all of history as the unfolding story of Jesus, Jesus identifies Himself, at the beginning and the end of the book, as the Alpha and the Omega.

Revelation 1:8 NLT
[8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Revelation 21:6 NLT
[6] “And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.”

Revelation 22:13 NLT
[13] “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

The writer to the Hebrews, likewise, presented Jesus as the initiator and completion of our faith, the Alpha and Omega…

Hebrews 12:2 NLT
[2] “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…”

So, the secret of the “aleph” and “tov” is hidden in plain sight.

Jesus, the main character in the Bible story, was present and active in creation, directing the preparation of God’s people in history, and active in redeeming His people from the consequences of their rebellion. His signature, “Aleph Tov” puts Him in the centre of the book as the driver of the story.

Jesus was a Hebrew and would have spoken, in the main, in Hebrew. The Hebrew equivalent of “apha” and “omega”, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, are “aleph” and “tov”, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. John wrote in Greek, the common language of the Roman world. He would, therefore, have written aleph and tov as alpha and omega.

The implication is huge. Jesus’ signature, “Aleph Tov”, is repeatedly written into the pages of Scripture, reassuring God’s people throughout the ages that it He who is both author and subject of the book.

So, with confidence, John could begin his gospel record with the indesputable truth that the Jesus of history is, first, the God of creation. He was present and active with the Father and the Spirit, bringing forth the universe and shaping the earth to be the stage on which He played out the glorious plan of redemption.

The second person of the Trinity in eternity became the Son of God in history to put into action in history what the Trinity had planned in eternity.