3 The First and the Last
CHAPTER
3
The First and the Last
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 22:13).
As we think of the friends of life, how few there are that were linked with our earliest associations and memories! There was a period when every friendship began, and many of those we love the best we only knew for the first time a little while ago. But here a Friend addresses us who was before all other friends, who loved us long before we knew the love of brother, or even mother; long before we were even conscious of our own existence. “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love’” (Jeremiah 31:3a). Jesus is indeed the First.
And then, how many of those that were the first in our life are not the last? The very mother, on whose sweet face our eyes gazed before they recognized any earthly countenance, has long since passed from our view. Only a few of the friends of youth remain, and how many of the fondest attachments of life have been like rivers that run into the desert and are lost amid the sands. But here we have One who will be there at the close, who will remain when all others have passed away, for Jesus is the Last.
Amid the passing years and the passing forms of loved ones and the changing scenes of life, how sweet it is to know that Jesus is the First and the Last! Let us gather up by the help of the Holy Ghost some of the precious lessons of this wonderful name that covers all the present and the future.
The First
His preexistence
1. This expresses the eternal preexistence of Christ. We find Him constantly declaring this in His own addresses in the Gospel of John. “He was before me” (John 1:30b) is the witness of John to Him. “I came from the Father and entered the world” (John 16:28a) is His own testimony. “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58b). Even in the Old Testament we have some sublime pictures of the eternal Christ. “He will be called … Everlasting Father (or the Father of Eternity)” (9:6b) is Isaiah’s picture. “Whose origins are from of old,/ from ancient times” (5:2) is Micah’s picture.
The Lord brought me forth as the first of his
works,
before his deeds of old;
I was appointed from eternity,
from the beginning, before the world
began.
When there were no oceans, I was given
birth,
when there were no springs abounding
with water;
before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
…
I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the
face of the deep,
…
Then I was the craftsman at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
(Proverbs 8:22–31)
This is Solomon’s inspired picture of the eternal Logos, His ancient love to the world and the men that He was coming in the fullness of the ages to redeem.
His preeminence
2. This expresses His preeminence. This also is most clearly taught by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures and claimed by Christ Himself. “That in everything he might have the supremacy [preeminence, KJV]” (Colossians 1:18b) is the Father’s purpose regarding His dear Son, for His is the preeminence of deity. He is higher than all men, higher than all angels, very God of very God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, the express image of His person, the King of kings and Lord of lords. There is no doubt that this is what He claimed Himself, and for this claim His life was threatened again and again by the Jews, and taken at last in His final judgment and crucifixion. “He must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God” (John 19:7b) was their charge.
The hands into which we commit our souls are divine and infinite hands. The ransom which has been paid for our sin is of the infinite value of deity. The grace that is sufficient for our full salvation is the grace of the infinite God. The kinship to which He has raised us is nothing less than to be partakers of the divine nature and sons and heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Let us not fear to bring forth every diadem and crown Him Lord of all.
The work of creation and providence
3. This expresses His relation to the work of creation and providence. This thought is expressed by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Colossians in these strong and significant words: “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (1:16–17). This expresses Christ’s relation to the natural creation and to the affairs of providence. It was through His hand that the material universe was framed, and it is by His constant superintendence that the whole machinery of providence is carried on. By Him all things consist or, literally, “hang together.” He is the cohesive force that holds the whole universe in order and harmony. All power is given to Him in heaven and in earth. Like the Roman centurion, all beings and forces are at the service of His will, and He can say to this one, “Go,” and he goes, or to this one, “Come,” and he comes, and to all things, “Do this,” and they do it.
To Him we ascribe all the sublime descriptions that Jehovah gives us in the Old Testament of His sovereign power and glory. Every robe of majesty and might will fit the Son of God as perfectly as the Father, for it is He that does according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stop His hand from working, or say, “What are you doing?” In the midst of the throne ever sits the enthroned Lamb, while all angels and all creation sing in adoring reverence and love,
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and
strength
and honor and glory and praise!
. …
To him who sits on the throne and to the
Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever! (Revelation 5:12–13)
This is our Christ: the first and the last.
His relation to the Bible
4. This expresses also His relation to the Bible. Christ is first in these sacred pages. The one object of the Holy Scriptures is to reveal the person and portrait of Jesus. This is the key to its interpretation; this is the glory of its pages—Jesus in the story of creation, already planning the new creation; Jesus supreme above the ruins of the fall; Jesus in the ark, the rainbow and the dove; Jesus in the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the ladder of Jacob and the story of Joseph; Jesus in the Paschal lamb, the desert manna, the smitten rock, the smoking sacrifice, the fragrant incense, the suffering scapegoat, the enrobed priest, the golden candlestick, the sacred ark, the sprinkled mercy seat, the hovering cherubim, the awful Shekinah, the glorious tabernacle and all its ministries and furniture; Jesus in the land of promise, in the temple of Solomon, in the story of Joshua, the Psalm of David, the throne of Solomon, the visions of Isaiah and the panorama of ancient prophecy as it unfolds toward the advent, the manger, the cross and the throne; Jesus in the apostles; Jesus in the apocalypse.
The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. The face of Jesus can be traced like water lines in fine paper back of every page, for He is the Alpha and the Omega: the first and the last of this Holy Book.
His relation to redemption
5. This expresses the relation of Jesus Christ to redemption. He is the first in the plan of salvation. Long ago He was heard exclaiming, “I have come … I desire to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:7–8a). It has all been accomplished through Him, and His glory is all to return to Him, and He is forevermore to stand as the center and head of God’s grandest work—the restoration of a ruined race, the salvation of sinful men. Christ is not only first in redemption: He is all. This winepress He hath trodden alone; none can share with Him this glory. His was all the cost; His alone the honor shall ever be. No name is so sublime in heaven as the Lamb, no song so loud as that which celebrates His redeeming love, and therefore all who receive this great redemption must give Jesus the supreme glory, or they cannot share it.
Relation to individual salvation
6. This expresses His relation to our individual salvation, for every soul must acknowledge Jesus as the first. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16a), He tells us. The first desire to come to Him came from Him. The very hunger that longed for Him was His grace beginning to enter our hearts. He has loved us with an everlasting love and, therefore, with loving-kindness has He drawn us. Not only has He pardon for us when we repent, but He is exalted to give repentance to Israel and the remission of their sins. Not only will He fulfill our earnest prayers, but He makes intercession within us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Not only will He meet us in blessing if we will come to Him, but He will even take our will and work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. His arms reach down to us at the lowest depth. His grace is beforehand in all its manifestations. Christ will take us at the very alphabet of Christian life and from the very beginning will count us His disciples and then will set us free. Let us fully learn this precious truth, and always take Him for the very thing we need the most and the first and even the very thing for which we ourselves are responsible and yet insufficient. He will not only do His glorious part, but He will enable us to do ours.
Relation to our Christian life and work
7. This expresses the relation of Christ to our Christian life and work. This is the true aim of a consecrated life—to make Jesus first. Let us give Him the first place in our heart, in our thoughts, in our aims and motives, in our plans, in our affections, friendships, occupations, our business, our pleasures, our families and our whole existence. Let us always come to Him first for help. Let us bring to Him the very first beginnings of temptation. Let us catch the lions and the dragons while they are young, and so shall we trample them under foot. And we will never see any old lions if we do so without fail, for they will all be disposed of before they have time to grow formidable. Let us take to Him the merest thing that needs help, whether it be for soul or body, for secular business or sacred experiences. Jesus first—let this ever be our simple watchword, and life’s tangles will all be unraveled, will not have time to grow serious, and so the touchstone that will settle every question of perplexity and duty will be Jesus first. Will I do this? Will I please this person or Him? Will it be something else, or will it be Jesus first? Oh, how this will consecrate, elevate and glorify our life and enthrone Him and us with Him in a kingdom of constant peace and victory! We must bring the crowns and lay them at His feet and write on everything: “From now on, Jesus first.”
The Last
The eternal existence of Jesus
1. This implies the eternal existence of Jesus. He is, as He Himself expressed it, alive for evermore; or, as the old prophet put it still more sublimely, the Father of Eternity. It is glorious to have one that covers all the future and has in His hand the scroll of every destiny and the control of every future event. The Lamb in the midst of the throne holds the sealed book of all our destinies, and forevermore can fix every event of our existence. No matter what is coming, Jesus is coming with it. Though it be trial, temptation or death, He will be there. The heavens and the earth will pass away, but He will remain. The friends we have known will disappear, but He will abide. We will change, but He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The things we commit to Him are committed against that day. The interests that He is guarding are safe forever. Beyond the smiling and the weeping, beyond the parting and the meeting, He stands in eternity with our title and our crown safe in His keeping. How often have we felt that the present sorrow or even death were nothing if it were all safe beyond, if it would be safe at last! Blessed be His name! He is the last, and His mighty works reach beyond all present vicissitudes and guard our treasures and trusts forevermore. The things He gives us will stand. The things that are linked with Him are eternal.
There is One amid all changes
Who standeth ever fast;
One who covers all the future,
The present and the past;
Jesus is the Rock of Ages,
The first and the last.
Jesus is the first;
Jesus is the last;
Trust to Him thy future,
Give Him all thy past;
Jesus is the Rock of Ages,
The first and the last.
Finish His work
2. Christ will finish His work in us and carry to consummation all that He begins. Therefore, He is called “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2b). “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me” (Psalm 138:8a). “My sheep listen to my voice,” He says, “and they shall never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27, 29). He takes us forever, and He will not leave us until He has done all that He has spoken of to us. He never leads His flock out to desert them in the hour of need. He never leads us out into the difficult enterprise without promising to stand by us and crown our work with success. He says of every true enterprise begun in His name and at His bidding, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you” (Zechariah 4:9).
The end and substance
3. Christ is not only the finisher of our life and work, but Christ Himself is the end and substance of all things. When we are done with things and people and see Him as He is, we shall find that His heart is the fountain of all love, His smile the substance of all joy, His life the life of all life, Himself the first and the last of everything, and we will have nothing that is not part of Him and linked with Him. Every face we see will simply reflect His beauty. Every joy we feel will be but a radiant from His heart. Every glory we wear will be but a reflection of His holiness. Every throb of our immortal life will be but a pulsation of His being, and Christ shall be all, and in all, and we will have reached the last line of the old chorus, “Everything in Jesus, and Jesus in everything.” So let us step out writing over every day and hour and moment, “Jesus first,” and we will find surely that Jesus is “the last.”