The
first and the last
Revelation 2:8
There
are four meanings
1. First of all this
refers to Jesus Christ as the God-Man; it refers to the hypostatic union which
started at the virgin birth or the incarnation of Christ. Jesus Christ as “the
first” is eternal God, coequal and CO-eternal with God the Father and God the
Holy Spirit. As eternal and infinite God, Jesus Christ pre-existed history
which He controls from the computer of divine decrees. Jesus Christ also
concludes history as “the last”. He is the God-Man, He concludes history as
“the last” in hypostatic union. So He is eternal God and true humanity in One
person forever. Jesus Christ as the author of history never loses control of
history. He is the first and He is the last. He began history by personally
creating man - Adam. And as the last Adam He will personally conclude history
with the destruction of the earth. Even though history is the record of man’s
thoughts, motives, decisions, and actions, it is Jesus Christ, the first and
the last, who controls history. Therefore, there are two sources of judgements
and disasters in history: the sovereign decisions of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the erroneous decisions of mankind.
Principle: People are collectively and
individually the products of their own decisions. And remember that decision
creates environment, not environment decision. For example, there is no such
thing as a homosexual because of environment or because of genes, it is a
matter of decision. In other words, we are the products of our decisions, not
our environment. Our decisions create the environment; the environment does not
create our decisions.
2. The second meaning
has to do with the two great prophecies of history. The title “first and last”
also refers to these two great prophecies because they refer to our Lord Jesus
Christ. They are the first and second advents. So many prophecies in the Old
Testament deal with the details of our Lord’s first advent, all of which are a
part of “the first.” The Church is located in between these two great prophetical
periods of human history and therefore the Church Age becomes the dispensation
of no prophecy. Everything pertaining to the first advent was fulfilled prior
to the beginning of the Church Age — the virgin birth, the incarnation, the hypostatic
union, our Lord’s residence and function in the prototype divine dynasphere,
His resultant impeccability, His saving work — redemption, reconciliation,
propitiation — His death on the cross, His physical resurrection, His
ascension, His session, etc. The dispensation of the Church is designed, then,
to call out a royal family for our Lord’s third royal patent. Therefore the
Church Age is the dispensation of historical trends, but no prophecy. The next
prophecy is the termination of the Church Age, the Rapture of the Church, the
resurrection of the body of Christ. And because the Church Age is the
dispensation of no prophecy the next event prophetically, eschatologically, is
an imminent event. In other words, there is no intervening prophecies that have
to be fulfilled before the Rapture occurs. The Rapture was imminent even in the
time of the apostles and still is. Therefore Christ is the first, related to
the first advent and the strategic victory of the cross. Christ is the second
related to His tactical victory of the second advent. The first and the last,
then, is a title of our Lord Jesus Christ as the prophetical key to human
history.
3. The third meaning
of our subject, the Lord Jesus Christ under the title of “the first and the
last,” refers to the uptrends and downtrends of history related to the believer
in the lord Jesus Christ. Christ is either first or last to every believer; there
is no in between because every believer is either inside the divine dynasphere
or inside the cosmic system. If you are living inside the divine dynasphere —
gate 5: love of God; gate eight, which includes occupation with the person of
Christ - this means that Christ is first. But if you are a believer living in
cosmic dynasphere number one, cosmic dynasphere number two, then Christ is
last. So the up and down trends of history are related to this particular title
of our Lord. In other words, as goes the believer in Christ so goes human
history in any generation. When the believer puts Christ first in his scale of
values it is because he lives inside the divine dynasphere which contributes to
the uptrend of history; when the believer puts Christ last in his scale of
values it is because he lives in the cosmic system which contributes to the
downtrend of history. Therefore, “first and last” also emphasises the function
of human volition in history. It emphasises the importance of occupation with
the person of Christ as well as the place of Christ in one’s scale of values
and daily priorities.
4. “First and last”
also refers to the source of both temporal and eternal blessing for the
believer. Our first blessing relates to time while our last blessing relates to
eternity. “First and last” is the fulfilment of the Christian way of life
resulting in the imputation of both logistical and super grace blessing in time
plus the imputation of eternal blessing and reward at the judgment seat of
Christ.
The first two points are interpretation of
our Lord’s title; the last two points are application of our Lord’s title.