The First and the Last: Jesus is Yahweh

Throughout the Bible, what might be one of the most difficult ideas for people these days to swallow is that God claims exclusivity. The notion that this Yahweh/YHWH (that's what it says in Hebrew anytime you see LORD in all caps in your English translations) who seemed from the outside looking in (by the other nations) to be a regional deity, actually claims to be the God of all.

 

This doesn't get much clearer than in Isaiah 44:6 (ESV):

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel

and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:

'I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god.'"

 

The Hebrew text employs the divine name יהוה (YHWH) twice, emphasizing the speaker's identity. The phrase "I am the first and I am the last" (אֲנִי רִאשׁוֹן וַאֲנִי אַחֲרוֹן) serves as a powerful declaration of Yahweh's eternal nature and supreme sovereignty. The personal pronoun "I" (אֲנִי) underscores the exclusivity of this claim.

 

The Hebrew terms for "first" (רִאשׁוֹן, rishon) and "last" (אַחֲרוֹן, acharon) carry connotations of primacy and finality. This statement asserts Yahweh's existence before all creation and His endurance beyond all things. In other words, saying he's the "first" doesn't imply a beginning, or an origin, but a priority prior to all things that exist.

 

Now, I know this is hard for some people to embrace. It's not because it isn't logical, but because people don't want to believe it. No one wants to have to tell other people that they're worshipping a fairy tale. To get around this, some folks will just say, "Yes, there's only one God, but... you know... we're just on different paths to get there."

 

I'm sympathetic to that view, really, though I don't embrace it. We know, for instance, that God is actively seeking true worshippers all around the world. We know it from the Old and New Testaments, that even among people who are not addressed in the Bible, God is working through mysterious ways we do not know to reach them. There's a universal and indiscriminate reality that actually flows from the very assertion that God is the creator of all.

 

I think we miss the mark, sometimes, when we get this idea that while God created the entire world, he just sort of left most of it spinning out of control while he fixated on a peculiar people known as the Hebrews for thousands of years in one small part of the world.

 

But it's precisely this universality of God's love for all of creation that God called Abraham, and Israel, to begin with. They were called to be a kingdom of priests (intermediaries/representatives of God to the entire earth), and "through you" God told Abram, all the peoples of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3).

 

God clearly had the long game in mind, here. There were people Israel couldn't reach, for instance. There were parts of the world, inhabited by humans, totally unexplored. Still, in time, it was through a seed of Abraham that the entire earth would one day be blessed. A seed that was also promised to the first woman in Gen. 3:15.

 

The Scriptures tell us that this seed was Jesus Christ. But we're told more about who this Jesus is. And if we pick up on the language of "the first and the last" we're in for quite a surprise.

 

Look at what Jesus says about Himself in Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV):

 

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.'"

 

Here, we find Jesus applying the same title to Himself. It's clear that Jesus is the one speaking, albeit in the context of John's vision, since he identifies him as the one who died and is alive.

 

The Greek phrase "ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος" (ho protos kai ho eschatos) directly mirrors the Hebrew phrase from Isaiah.

 

The definite article (ὁ) with both "first" and "last" emphasizes the uniqueness and absoluteness of this claim.

 

The context of this declaration is crucial. John's response—falling "as though dead" (ὡς νεκρός)—echoes typical reactions to divine encounters in Scripture. Jesus' reassurance, "Fear not" (Μὴ φοβοῦ), further aligns with divine interactions throughout the Bible.

 

Jesus expands on this title, describing Himself as "the living one" (ὁ ζῶν), using a present participle that denotes continuous, eternal life. He then makes a paradoxical statement: "I died, and behold I am alive forevermore."

 

This unique claim bridges His human experience of death with His divine eternal life.

 

The declaration "I have the keys of Death and Hades" (ἔχω τὰς κλεῖς τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦ ᾅδου) further emphasizes His supreme authority over life and death, a prerogative belonging to God alone.

 

Revelation 22:13 (ESV) reiterates and expands this claim:

 

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

 

Jesus combines three parallel phrases: "the Alpha and the Omega" (τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ), "the first and the last" (ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος), and "the beginning and the end" (ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος). This triple declaration leaves no doubt about the comprehensive nature of His claim to deity.

 

The theological implications of these passages are profound and far-reaching. By applying to Himself the very title that Yahweh uses in Isaiah, Jesus makes an unequivocal claim to deity. This is not a claim to be like God or to represent God, but to be Yahweh Himself. 

 

This identification carries several important implications:

 

1. It affirms the full deity of Christ, supporting the doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus is not a created being or a lesser god (sorry Jehovah's Witnesses), but fully divine, equal with the Father.

 

2. If Jesus is Yahweh, then His sacrifice on the cross takes on infinite value, capable of atoning for the sins of all humanity. That's why it's essential to affirm that Jesus is Yahweh, the Creator through whom all things were made (see John 1:3).

 

3. As the "first and the last," Jesus has supreme authority over history and its culmination. This provides assurance to believers about the ultimate triumph of God's purposes.

 

You see, the claim that YHWH is the one and only God, and Jesus' claim to be YHWH in human flesh, might be an exclusive claim, but it's not an exclusionary claim.

 

It's just the opposite!

 

Precisely because YHWH is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the creator of all things who will bring all things to consummation, means that He has domain over the entire world. This is His creation, the same world that He loves so much that "he gave his only son" (John 3:16) not that the world would be condemned, but so that all the world might be saved through Him (v. 17).

 

At the same time, God doesn't write his promises in the sky. Yes, He reveals Himself in creation, through all the things that He made, so that we're without excuse if we don't seek him at all. We can even discern something of God's general care and provision from natural revelation, from the world around us, as we see how things continue to be sustained, how the world keeps spinning, and the earth provides according to God's design.

 

But it's through the specific revelation of the Son that God reveals Himself absolutely, and particularly, for us. It's there where we see God's love demonstrated in a way that actually absorbs the worst of the world, the greatest injustice and hate, and bends it back on itself, so that what looks to be the greatest sin man could ever do (murdering God himself) actually becomes the most powerful revelation of God's true heart, His love for us.

 

That's why Jesus, then, tells his disciples to go out into all the world to preach the Good News. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'" (Mark 16:15). 

 

You see, there's a reason why its so important (and why it's one the issues I think it's worth defending as Christians) to affirm that Jesus is God, to affirm that he's equal to the Father with respect to His essence/being, even if the Father is greater than the Son in terms of role and responsibility (e.g. all humans are equal in terms of dignity, but a manager is "greater" than an "employee" in terms of role and responsibility).

 

If Jesus isn't Yahweh, the one we heard about in Isaiah who was the first and the last, besides whom there is no god (who is also called the Redeemer here), and if Jesus isn't likewise the first and the last, Yahweh Himself, we end up with a God who can't totally love and die for the entire world. You see, the peculiarity of God seeming to be overly occupied with Israel, coming in the form of Jesus in a very particular time and place incarnate as a first century Jewish man, isn't about excluding people. Quite the opposite, it's about saving everyone.

 

God is particular precisely because His love is universal and personal. It doesn't do much to declare from the skies "I love everyone!" It does everything to tell you that He loves you when He lives like one of you, endures what we endure on a daily basis, and even suffers a death more horrible than most of us ever will, so that He can call you, personally, to follow Him... so that He can incorporate you into His history, calling you into his death and resurrection through baptism (Romans 6), as we take hold of Him and His promise in faith.

 

It's through God's particularity that His universal love is manifest abundantly for more than humanity at large, but for you, for me, for each one of us.

 

God Bless,
Judah