The Wednesday Word ~ 04 December, 2024 A.D.

Who Exactly is the First and the Last?

Part I

by D. G. Miles McKee

To Yahweh belongs the title, ‘The First and the Last.’ We know this because in Isaiah 44:6 He gives us His self-description. There we read, “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.” Then in addition the Lord declares, “Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called; I am He; I am the first, I also am the last.” (Isaiah 48:12).

 

How fascinating to find then, in the New Testament, the title First and the Last and the equivalent term, ‘Alpha and Omega’ being attributed to the Lord Jesus. Notice how in the following scriptures the one who is the Alpha and Omega is the same one who is the ‘first and the last,’ the ‘beginning and the end.’ 

Revelation 1:17-18, “I am the first and the last I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Revelation 2:8, “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive.”

Revelation 22:13 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

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…”

That Jesus is the one speaking is evident in that it is He who was living and was dead and is now alive forevermore. Here He is in His resurrected glory, identifying Himself as the first and the last, the same God who was the Yahweh of the Old Testament. We cannot suspect these as being the utterances of a crazed or deluded preacher.  His resurrection has done away with all speculation about His identity. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega and the Almighty God!

As it has been often pointed out that Alpha and Omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. As someone once quipped, “Not only is He Alpha and Omega, but He’s also all the other letters in between.”  How true that is!  He encompasses all the letters of the alphabet and, therefore, has said all that can be spoken about God. As Alpha and Omega, He has revealed all that we can know about the Divine identity, will and purpose. The alphabet is the raw material, basis and framework for communication.

Arthur Pink says,

“Christ is the final spokesman of God. Closely connected with this is the Savior’s title found in Revelation 1:8--“I am Alpha and Omega,” which intimates that He is God’s alphabet, the One Who spells out Deity, the One Who utters all God has to say. Christ is the language that both God and man understand.  He perfectly reveals God to man because He is God and perfectly represents man to God because He is the perfect man.  Since He is Alpha and Omega. He is the sum of the Scriptures. He is the theme of Scripture from first to last.”

 

If we want to meet the One True God, we must encounter Him in Christ Jesus.  There is no other way to meet Him but in, through and by the Lord Jesus who declared Himself to be The Way. Christ Jesus is the Alpha, the First; He is before all things. There was nothing before Him. He is also the Omega; all things will be finally gathered together in one in Him (Ephesians 1:10). It is no wonder that Spurgeon said, “Depend upon it, my hearer, you never will go to heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God.”

 

And that´s the Gospel Truth!