The First and the Last

The first and the last is how God describes Himself in Isaiah 44:6: I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. The name means that God was already there before anything started and will still be there when everything else is over. Isaiah sets it right next to one of the most memorable scenes in the Bible, a man praying to a piece of his own firewood.

A carpenter, a fire and a homemade god

These chapters of Isaiah speak comfort to God's people in a dark time. Babylon, the great empire of the day, would destroy Jerusalem and its temple, which historians date to about 586 or 587 BC, and carry many of the people away as captives. In Babylon they would see grand temples and parades of golden statues. It would be easy to think those gods had won.

So Isaiah tells a story that is almost funny. A man plants a tree, and the rain doth nourish it. Years later he cuts it down. Part of the wood he burns to bake bread and roast meat, and he warms his hands and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. Then he picks up the leftover piece:

And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

Isaiah 44:17

Residue means what is left over. A graven image is a carved statue. Same log, two uses: lunch and a god. Isaiah says the man never stops to ask the obvious question, shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? A stock is a block of wood.

Here is the point. That carved god has a starting day, the morning the tree came down. It will have an ending too. It will rot, burn, or be hauled off. Isaiah later pictures the idols of Babylon loaded onto tired animals, gods that need to be carried instead of carrying anyone (Isaiah 46:1 to 2). The LORD is the opposite. He has no starting day and no last day.

Rishon and acharon: first and last in Hebrew

The Hebrew words are simple and common:

• Rishon means first. Strong's dictionary says first "in place, time or rank." It is related to the Hebrew word for head, the top or front of something.
• Acharon means last. Strong's gives "hinder; generally, late or last." Hinder here means behind or at the back.

Because rishon can mean first in rank as well as first in time, the name carries two ideas. God came before everything, and He is also the chief, the One everything else is measured against. And because acharon means the one at the back of the line, it says no one will come after Him to have the final word.

The setting makes the claim even bolder. Isaiah 44:6 stacks up titles before God speaks: the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts. A redeemer is someone who buys back and rescues a family member. Then the LORD sums it all up by saying He is first and last, and that there is no other God. Monotheism is a big word for believing there is only one God, and this verse is one of the clearest statements of it in the Bible. It was spoken to a small nation that looked beaten.

Three times in Isaiah, and once more in Revelation

Isaiah uses this name three times, each with its own shade of meaning.

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Isaiah 41:4

Wrought means made or worked. Look at the words "with the last." God does not only outlast the final generation of people. He will be with them.

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:6

Two verses later He adds a word of comfort for frightened people: Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Knowing who stands at both ends of time is meant to calm us, not scare us.

Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

Isaiah 48:12-13

Hearken means listen closely. Here the name is tied to creation. The One who is first is the One whose hand laid the foundation of the earth.

Centuries later, the apostle John had a vision of the risen Jesus on the island of Patmos and fell down in fear. Then, John writes:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 1:17-18

Christians have long seen this as one of the strongest moments in the New Testament, because Jesus takes the very title God used in Isaiah. The book follows that thread much further.

Living between His two hands

Most of our fears are about endings. How will this turn out? Will my family be okay? Will I fail this class, lose this job, or get bad news from the doctor? This name speaks right into those questions. Whatever chapter you are in, God was there on page one, and He will be there on the last page.

That changes how you can look at a hard season. The chapter you are ashamed of is not the end of your story. The chapter you are stuck in right now is not the end either.

The name also asks a hard question. What are we bowing to? Most people today do not carve wooden statues, but we still give our hearts to things that had a beginning and will have an end: money, status, a body that ages, a team, a phone. Isaiah offers a simple test. If something had a first day and will have a last day, it cannot be your God.

• Write down the one outcome you worry about most, and pray Isaiah 44:8 over it: fear not.
• Look for your "leftover wood," the thing you made yourself and now lean on, and set it back in its place.
• Read Psalm 90:2 slowly and let it remind you that God was God before the mountains.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Psalm 90:2

If you are young, you cannot see your ending yet, and that is all right. Someone can. If you are older and the last page feels close, He is already standing there.

Number 69 on the list of names is the First and the Last, and only one name remains after it: A God That Hidest Thyself, the God who is near even when we cannot see Him. You can also go back to the earlier name the Hope of Israel, or browse every name on the names of God in the Bible page.