Revelation 21:5-8 - Alpha and omega

The Lord then speaks directly declaring that He is making all things new.  In 2 Cor 5:17 Paul says that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Jesus is about transformation, it applies to us as individuals, and will apply to the whole world. 

Now we need to remind ourselves of the context, especially as we are nearing the end of this book and it is easy to get lost in all the imagery and to forget where we are coming from. The church was facing, and would face, serious persecution, living in the midst of the world system. They, and we, need to know that these words of God are "trustworthy and true".

Back in Rev 1:8 Jesus announces that He is the alpha and omega, now He reiterates that call. "It is done". The defeat of evil, the purifying of His people, the salvation of His people will be completed.

The second part of verse 6 reminds us of Isaiah 55:1, and John 4:13. Indeed the metaphor of living water is used throughout the Bible.

Then it says "those who are victorious". We are not passive in Christ's victory, rather He gives us an active role. And we will be His children, He will be our God and we will have a wonderful inheritance (Rom 8:17). 

Having said who will receive this great prize, there is a severe warning about those who will not receive it. The first mentioned are the cowardly. This is put at the front of the list because of the massive temptation to compromise with the persecutors. The cost of giving in is always greater than the cost of resisting. The KJV is wrong when it uses the word "fearful" here, and NKJV corrects this to cowardly. Being fearful is not a problem, it is normal to be fearful in the extreme circumstances these people might encounter, it is how we react that counts.

Then the list includes those we would expect to have in it: the unbelieving, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, magic arts, idolaters and liars. This would fairly well describe those who were persecuting them. These will be consigned to the lake of fire forever. We need to be fully aware of the reality of judgement,