The First and the Last

Zachm531 said:

In Revelation 1:17-18 Jesus says:

“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.”
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And many other times God says that He is the “First and Last”.

How can Jesus be the last if Gods kingdom is eternal?

Will we cease to exist at some point?

Click to expand...

You can have a last page of a book, doesn't mean there aren't other books. You can have the last day of the year, doesn't mean there aren't more years. you can have the last day of an age, doesn't mean there aren't other ages.

Jesus is the first and the last, meaning he's all in all. The wording is what we might call poetic, saying that he's the driving force of everything, but it doesn't refer to the start and the finale of anything in particular.

You, Zach, thought there was some particular aspect of life that was being referred to, and it alone, but that's not the case.

Zachm531 said:

In Revelation 1:17-18 Jesus says:

“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.”
‭‭
And many other times God says that He is the “First and Last”.

How can Jesus be the last if Gods kingdom is eternal?

Will we cease to exist at some point?

Click to expand...

It means He is before all things, and after all things. The One who stand outside of time, there was never a time when He was not; and there will never be a time when He is not. He is forever.

Yes, we look forward to that life and world which will never end--it is forever. When we say He is the Last, the End, etc we do not mean there is a cessation of the Age to Come; but rather that He is before and after, eternal, uncreated, without beginning and without end.

That is what it means to call Him the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

-CryptoLutheran

Imagine the world as you know it is a video game. The game began with Jesus, He was the first, it ends with Jesus He is the last. Before the video game there was Jesus and after the video game is over there is Jesus.

God is the first cause and the beginning of our timeline. God exists outside of time and is not contained by it. Cause and effect form an unbroken chain through all time, originating only in God, and terminating only in God. The whole timeline will eventually come to an end, but God is forever. He is self-extant and timeless.

What will happen to us if we abide in Christ? Will we die with the rest of creation? Will we come to an end when time, itself, ends? Christ will not end, and we will be with Christ. Our only hope as mere mortals is in the one who has no end.