What does Jesus mean when He says, "I am the first and the last"?

Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam was merely a pattern of Jesus, the One who was to come, while Colossian 1:17 tells us that Jesus is "before *ALL THINGS*", including Adam. What do we learn from these two truths? That Jesus Christ is truly the "Alpha and Omega", the "beginning and the end". He is the first and final word concerning God's creation. Everything in between is just a bump in the road.

The only timeline that matters is Christ's, the one who "was, is, and is to come" (Revelation 1:4, & 8 ), and He just happens to have shared it with us. For God's timeline can be summed up in the words "I Am". His past (was), present (is), and future (is to come) are all expressions of His "I Am-ness", and do not contradict or disagree with one another. Ours, however, seem to contradict one another on every front, and so God, in His genius, has shared His "I Am-ness", His timeline, if you will, with us. Our past, present, and future are wrapped up in the person of Jesus, and Jesus alone.

He is before Adam, and Adam only ever spoke of Him in the first place. Therefore, He is before, during and after the "fall", and also, therefore, the truest definition of man. Adam was never your truest identity, and he never will be. If you are trapped in a human timeline, defining yourself by your own mistakes, or by those of Adam, look back further, and see Jesus. For what you believe about your origins determines your belief about your present. If you fear the future, feeling that you will either shrivel up spiritually and return to your former ways, or that sin will overtake you once more, look past Adam, to Christ Who is not only your point of origin, but your future destiny. And the beautiful thing is that in Jesus, your past, present, and future are all the same and always agree. You are the eternal masterpiece of God, and the truth about yourself is revealed and summed up in the "I Am-ness" of Jesus.

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Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Rev. 22:12-13)

This passage makes three sets of claims about The Lord. He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, and the First and the Last. These aren’t just repetitive thoughts.

Variations on the phrase Alpha and Omega have autographed God’s greatest work from the beginning. The first letter of the Greek alphabet is Alpha and the last is Omega. It’s like saying, “From A to Z” in English, meaning that the person or thing being referenced is the sum total, encompassing everything that can be known on the subject.

The Hebrew equivalents are Aleph and Tau. These two letters appear un-translated in a couple of interesting places in the Hebrew Scripture. One is in Genesis 1:1 right after the phrase “In the beginning God …” making the Hebrew version read, “In the beginning God, the Aleph and the Tau, created the Heavens and the Earth.” You have to get a Hebrew interlinear Bible to find it but it’s there.

The other place is in Zechariah 12:10 where the Hebrew reads, “They will look upon me, the Aleph and the Tau, the one they have pierced …” It’s a prophecy of Israel finally recognizing the true identity of the Messiah at the End of the Age.

The Greek word translated beginning is “arche” and denotes an order of time, place or rank. End comes from “telos”, which means the ultimate result or purpose; the upper limit. And so Jesus is the first in order of time, place and rank (Col 1:18), and represents the ultimate result or purpose of man; to be one with God (John 17:20-23).

The word translated first is “protos” and means the foremost or best. We get prototype from this one. In manufacturing, the prototype is the original model and serves as the standard of comparison to which all subsequent models must conform. And last comes from “eschatos” a superlative meaning farthest or uttermost. The term eschatology (the study of the end times) originates here. He is the prototype, to whom all believers will conform (Rom 8:29), the uttermost or perfect example of the race, (Hebr 1:3) the only one ever born.

Jesus (the physical manifestation of the seed of God) was the first in that the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11)... In the beginning God created heaven and earth (to create is to have the idea or concept of something). Nothing has been made yet; nothing has come into existence.

Then God spoke, which was God sowing His seed, and all things are made by a seed... "all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:2

So, Jesus, being the physical manifestation of God's word was the first. He is also the last because the seed of God IS life..."In him was life; and the life was the light of men..." John 1:4

The physical life of our physical body ends when we die. But the spiritual life of our spiritual body (the form of which is determined by the degree of light/truth that exists within us upon our physical death) continues on, which is why he is also the last.

Isaiah 41:4

"I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.......

The immutable Jehovah, the everlasting I AM, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last; all which is said of Christ, and is the person here speaking, Revelation 1:8, phrases expressive of his eternity and deity; he is the first and the last in God's thoughts, purposes, and decrees; in the covenant of grace; in the creation of all things; in the salvation, justification, sanctification, adoption, and glorification of his people; and in the church, above and below:

...... and with the last."

May be understood either of the last generations God is with, and calls as well as the first, as De Dieu; or of all believers, with whom he shall be and they with him to all eternity.

Revelations 1:13

"I am Alpha and Omega....

These characters are all put together here, which are before used in Revelation 1:8 and are very pertinently mentioned in this place, when all promises and prophecies, relating to the glorious kingdom of Christ, were just finishing, and that itself was ready to appear, in which Christ alone should be exalted, the mystery of God would be completed, and time itself be no more. The Ethiopic version adds, "the beginning and end of days", or time. A testimony this, of the deity, eternity, infinity, and perfection of Christ.

Check out verse 8. It's too long to list here.

http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?bk=65&c...

Jesus is the first to be resurrected from the dead and the last ever to be sacrificed for the redemption of mankind. Up until Jesus' time, Jews still had blood sacrifices. After Jesus @ 70ad it all stopped together with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

That is what happens when you eat those funny little mushrooms sprouting in the early morning mist. I think I have seen it before. Just sort of makes you forget where your at and makes you think your super blessed. Which of course, you are. So why not pronounce it to the whole world. The problem is that back in those times it could get you stoned by rocks instead of by some smoke emanating from a pipe. He probably had to think about what He did after it was all over.

It was Christ, as second Person of the Trinity, who brought about the creation: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3), and His Second Coming will be the beginning of the end of creation as we know it (2 Peter 3:10).

He is the fulfilling end of the Law (Matthew 5:17), and He is the beginning subject matter of the gospel of grace through faith, not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/alpha-and-omega.html#i...

He is the alpha and omega.

He's God manifest into human.

God is the begging and the end,first and the last, the alpha and omega. Simple.

he claims he left no doubts to investigate but left everybody in a sandstorm.