Without Beginning or End

One of the names of the Savior in the scriptures is Alpha and Omega, which is used to signify that He is the beginning and the end as I’ve written about before.  What is interesting to me is that the scriptures also speak about the Savior by suggesting that he is without beginning and without end.  For example, this is how Jehovah introduced Himself to Moses: “Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?  And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease” (Moses 1:3-4).  Here He suggested that both He and His works have no beginning or end and therefore He is Endless.  The idea certainly boggles me as I try to wrap my brain around it. 

               There are at least three things that are without beginning or end according to the scriptures: Christ, His Priesthood, and His works.  Of the Lord, the Doctrine and Covenants tells us that “the Holy One” is “without beginning of days or end of life” (D&C 78:16).  When Adam was baptized he was told in a voice from heaven that the Savior is “without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity” (Moses 6:67).  In the Book of Mormon Alma similarly taught that the Only Begotten of the Father “is without beginning of days or end of years” (Alma 13:9).  He also taught this about the eternal nature of the Priesthood: “This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things” (Alma 13:7).  The covenant that God made with Enoch through the Priesthood was “after the order of the Son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end of years; but of God” (JST Genesis 14:28).  Paul also testified that “Melchizedek was ordained a priest after the order of the Son of God, which order was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (JST Hebrews 7:3).  The Lord Himself declared in our dispensation that the “priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years” (D&C 84:17).  The Doctrine and Covenants also testify of the endless character of the works of God: “But unto myself my works have no end, neither beginning; but it is given unto you that ye may understand, because ye have asked it of me and are agreed” (D&C 29:33).  How God and His Priesthood and works can be without beginning or end certainly defies our own comprehension given our mortal understanding and experience with time. 

               So how can Christ be Alpha and Omega (the definition of the beginning and the end) but also be without beginning and without end?  It seems to me that one possible way to understand these scriptures is that the verses declaring Him to be the beginning and end refer to our mortal experience on this earth: He was prepared from the foundation of the world and will come in its ending; He was the Way to salvation for Adam and Eve and will be as well for the last man and woman; His great atoning sacrifice was in effect in the very beginning of the earth and will be until the end.  But His works span many worlds and His Priesthood is in effect for all of His Father’s creations across the universe, and they have no end and, in some way beyond my comprehension, had no beginning.