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FIRST AND LAST ( ὁ ðñῶôïò êáὶ ὁ ἔó÷áôïò ).—This title occurs three times in Rev. (Rev_1:17; Rev_2:8; Rev_22:13). In the first two passages it is clearly Christ who claims the title for Himself, as appears from the references to the Resurrection in the immediate contexts. In all probability the same is the case in the third passage (Rev_22:13), else there is an abrupt change of the speaker three verses later (Rev_22:16 ‘I, Jesus, have sent mine angel,’ etc.). However, Alford and some others hold that God the Father is the speaker in Rev_22:13.
‘The First and the Last’ is claimed by Jehovah as a description of Himself, with slight variations in the form, in Isa_41:4; Isa_44:6; Isa_48:12 (cf. also isa Isa_43:10). The Greek form of the title in Rev. is not identical with that given by the LXX Septuagint in any of these passages, in all of which the LXX Septuagint has differences representing differences in the Hebrew (Isa_41:4 ἐãὼ èåὸò ðñῶôïò , êáὶ åἰò ôὰ ἐðåñ÷üìåíá ἐãþ åἰìé ; Isa_44:6 ἐãὼ ðñῶôïò êáὶ ἐãὼ ìåôὰ ôáῦôá ; Isa_48:12 ἐãþ åἰìé ðñῶôïò , êáὶ ἐãþ åἰìé åἰò ôὸí áἰῶíá ). It is plain, however, that a supreme description of Jehovah in the OT is applied in Rev. to Christ, and the significance of the transference as regards the Christology of the book is unmistakable. Besides this, in Isa_22:13, where, as has been said, it is natural to regard Christ as the speaker, the title ‘the First and the Last’ stands between two others, ‘the Alpha and the Omega,’ ‘the Beginning and the End,’ the first of which is found also in Isa_1:8 and Isa_21:6, and the second in Isa_21:6, in which passages the speaker may be either Christ or, as is maintained by some (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible , vol. iv. p. 263a), God the Father, or ‘God in the Undivided Unity of His Being.’ It may be, therefore, that in Rev. itself we have the same supreme titles given to God the Father and to Christ. But whether this be so or not, once it is admitted that Isa_22:13 is spoken by Christ, the accumulation in that verse of descriptions which could only belong to the infinite being of God emphatically marks the belief of the author of Rev. as to the nature of Christ (see Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible , vol. ii. pp. 690b, 691b, vol. iv. p. 263a).
Of the ‘Thirteen Principles of the Faith,’ formulated by Moses Maimonides (12th cent. a.d.), the fourth is: ‘I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the first and the last’ (Authorized Daily Prayer-Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , p. 89). Schoettgen says that the title was also given by the ancient Jews to the Messiah (Hor. Heb. tom. ii. lib. i. [‘Nominum Messiae, quae divinam illius naturam indigitant’]: ‘ øàùׁåï Primus. Ipse Deus. Jesa. xliv. 6. Ego, inquit, primus, et ego novissimus; quibus verbis aeternitatem designatam voluit. Judaei vero antiqui etiam Messiam sic vocant’).
The nature of God necessarily transcends definition, but ‘the First and the Last’ and the parallel titles are endeavours to suggest such conceptions of God as men can comprehend. It would not be enough to say that ‘the First and the Last’ is the equivalent of ‘the Eternal.’ The title recalls the old covenant name of God, Jehovah (Jahweh), and its interpretation in Exo_3:14. It seems plainly to be an expansion of that name, of which ‘the Eternal’ is not a satisfactory rendering. Exo_3:14 (‘I am what I am,’ or, more accurately, ‘I will be what I will be’) does not give to éäåä an abstract meaning. äéä is ãßãíïìáé , not åἰìß . It does not mean be essentially, but phenomenally. The idea of éäåä is not of abstract existence, but of active being; manifestation in history. Jehovah is not a God who barely exists, but One who asserts His being, and enters into an historical relation with humanity. Not being determined by anything external to (before, or after) Himself, He is consistent with Himself, true to His promises, and unchangeable in His purposes. He will not fail or disappoint His servants. He will approve Himself. What He will be is left undefined, or defined only in terms of Himself, for the very reason that His providential dealings with His people in their ever-varying needs are inexhaustible—are more than can be numbered or expressed (see Driver on ‘The Tetragrammaton,’ Biblica, Oxf. 1885; and A. B. Davidson in Hastings’ B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] , vol. ii. pp. 199b, 845a).
This interpretation of the Divine name is amplified in the prophets. Delitzsch on Isa_41:4 says: ‘It is the meaning of the Divine name Jehovah which is thus unfolded (‘I the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he’), for Jehovah is God as the absolute, eternally existing, and absolutely free Ego’; and, on Isa_43:10 (‘I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me’): ‘He is the sole realization of the idea of God inherent in human consciousness, and He is this eternally. His being has no beginning and no end, so that no other being with Divine claims and character could precede or follow Him’ (cf. also Isa_45:5; Isa_45:21-22, Isa_46:9-10, Isa_48:12). These chapters again and again insist on the ‘fundamental truth that God is eternally the same (as He is the only) Self-existent Personal Being. To Him the whole range of creaturely existence in all its cycles must be visible,—and to Him only can it be so’ (Speaker’s Com.). The prophets emphasize the expression of the moral unchangeableness of God in the name Jehovah (see esp. Isa_26:4; Isa_26:8; Isa_41:4, Hos_12:5-6, Mal_3:6).
It may be said, then, that the title ‘the First and the Last,’ as applied to Christ in Rev., recalls, and attaches to Him, all that the OT writers had realized of the nature of God. How much more it contains for a writer who uses it in the light of the Incarnation may be gathered from Col_1:15-20, a passage related as resting upon the same Christological basis of faith, and which is indeed the ὁ ðñῶôïò êáὶ ὁ ἔó÷áôïò of Rev. written out at full length. Both authors alike claim for Christ absolute supremacy in relation to the Universe, the natural Creation, and in relation to the Church, the new Moral Creation, ἴíá ãÝíçôáé ἐí ðᾶóéí áὐôὸò ðñùôåýùí . For both Christ is ðñùôüôïêïò ðÜóçò êôßóåùò ,—prior to all creation and sovereign over all creation. He is the source of life to the Universe, the centre of all its developments, the mainspring of all its motions— ἐí áὐôῷ ἐêôßóèç ôὰ ðÜíôá ) (cf. Joh_1:4 ä ãÝãïíåí ἐí áὐôῷ æùὴ ἦí ). And as all things had their origin in Him (the First), so all things return to Him as their goal and consummation (the Last)— ôὰ ðÜíôá äé ʼ áὐôïῦ êáὶ åἰò áὐôὸí ἔêôéóôáé (cf. Rom_11:36, Heb_2:10, where the reference is to God). All things have their sphere within the sphere of the life of Him who is ‘the First and the Last.’ In Him they originate and in Him they cohere— áὐôüò ἐóôé ðñὀ ðÜíôùí , êáὶ ôὰ ðÜíôá ἐí áὐôῷ óõíÝóôçêåí (cf. Act_17:28, in reference to God). He is the äåóìüò of the Universe. And such also is His position in relation to the Church, the new spiritual creation—He is absolutely prior and sovereign, because there too He is the source of life. His Resurrection is the ground of His headship of the Church (Rev_1:17. See Lightfoot and Meyer on Col_1:15-20; cf. Eph_1:10, Php_2:8; Php_2:10-11).
It is interesting to trace the same underlying thought about the nature of God in Rev. and in the Fourth Gospel. A connexion has been pointed out between ἑãþ åἰìé ὁ ðñῶôïò êáἰ ὁ ἔó÷áôïò of Rev. and the similar phrases of Isa_41:4; Isa_48:12 and the explanation of the Divine name Jehovah in Exo_3:14. There seems to be a correspondence between the ἐãþ åἰìé of the LXX Septuagint in these and other passages (Isa_43:10; Isa_43:13, Deu_32:39) and the ἐãþ åἰìé of Joh_8:24; Joh_8:28; Joh_8:58 (cf. also Joh_13:19). In all these passages the words have a pregnant meaning. In John 8, Christ presents Himself to the Jews not simply as the Messiah, but as One who has ‘life in Himself’ as being the spring of life. He is infinitely, as God is. He shares the being of God. Therefore e claims supreme control not only of the seen and the finite, but of the unseen and the infinite (see Westcott, ad loc.).
Cheyne (on Isa_41:4) thinks that the ἐãþ åἰìé of Joh_18:5 is intended in the same sense, and finds this view confirmed by the supernatural effect of the sounds described in Joh_18:6.
All existence is necessarily relative to Him who is ‘the First and the Last.’ Nothing can enter into the final summing up of all things, or partake of eternity, which does not receive life from Him and is not conformed to His purpose. When Christ claims this title for Himself, it is plainly announced that the revelation of God in Christ, in what He was and what He did, is the key to the issues of human life. Christianity is final. See also art. Alpha and Omega.
A. E. Ross.