“Stop being afraid (so the emphasis in the Greek text), I am the first and the last, and the living one; I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and Hades” (Rev.1:17-18).
Consider that the expression “Alpha and Omega” is applied to the Father in Revelation 1:8. This passage demonstrate that the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” are seriously in error when they deny that the personal Word (Jn. 1:1,14) is eternal, and contend that he was the first of God’s created beings. The Bible is clear that there never was a time when the Word did not exist (cf. Mic. 5:2; Isa. 9:6; Jn. 1:1; 8:58).
The expressions “the first and the last” is also tied to an Old Testament passage that is used to show uniqueness to pagan idolatry. Isaiah 44:6 reads, “. . . I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no god.” Paul describes the saints at Thessalonica that they “turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God” (1 Thes. 1:9).
Christ is also the “first and the last” in connection to the material universe. Being present at the cration, He was the active agent in the creation of life. The plural form elohim (God) in Genesis 1:1 expresses the same thought in Genesis 1:26 that reads, “Let us make man in our imag, after our likeness.”(cf. 11:7, Isa. 6:8). Paul says, “all things were made through him; and without him was not aything made that was made.”(Jn. 1:3; cf. 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2).
In Revelation 3:14, Jesus is deignated as “the beginning of the creaton of God.” Some suggest tha this means that Jesus was the first to be created. The word translated “beginning” is described by Thayer as “that by which anything begins to be, the origin, active cause,” (Thayer, 77).
Finally, Christ is the “first and the last” with reference to the new covenant. The Hebrew writer describes Him as “the author” (beginner, leader) and “finisher” of the faith (12:12) . The expression “the faith” (the article is in the Greek text) is comprehensivere to include the sum total of the gospel plan. It needs no additions or subytractions to complete or perfect it. It is already perfect. To change anything would be to pervert it and make it less than perfect.
The lesson for us is that saints are complete “in Christ” (Col. 2:10). We do not need the mediation of a church, priesthood, or angels. We do need any council to pass any law to improve what has been accomplished for He is the first and the last.