Jesus is the Beginning and the End

God is the First and the Last. This designation was ascribed to Jehovah by Isaiah three times (41:4; 44:6; 48:12) and by the apostle John three times in Revelation (1:11; 2:8; 22:13). Most of our translations have four occurrences of the phrase the First and the Last in Revelation, which included Revelation 1:11, but some of the oldest manuscripts omit this.

It can almost seem redundant that Jesus says Alpha and Omega, then First and the Last, and even later adds beginning and the end, but He does this for a reason. These three phrases do not mean the same thing. Alpha and Omega speaks of divine order and authority, but First and Last points us to God being the One who is and was and is to come. Specifically, it points us to the unique role Jesus plays in all of creation and in our redemption.

Revelation 2:8 gives us more insight. “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘The First and the Last, who was dead and came to life” (MEV). Jesus being fully one with the Father, shares all the attributes of Jehovah God, but He also had a unique role when He came to this earth and took on the form of a man. I find it instructive to note that Jesus in the above verse focused on His death, burial, and resurrection.

For me, the First and the Last points us to the incarnate Christ. Jesus, being fully God, emptied Himself of all His divine attributes and humbled Himself to become a man just like you and me.