The First and the Last
E. Bersier, D. D. Isaiah 44:6 Thus said the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last… Bitter was the sorrow of the prophet who spoke these words when he saw his people turn away from Jehovah. Israel had been enlightened by the purest lights. Alone of all the nations of the ancient world, it possessed the knowledge of the One living and holy God. Yet these truths are forgotten; these privileges are rejected; this God is denied. Obedient to the idolatrous inspirations of the Semitic races whose vitiated blood runs through their veins, the Israelites turn towards Moloch, Baal, Astarte. Then the prophet argues, struggles, waxes indignant, implores; he shows the inanity of that idolatrous worship and the infamy of those hideous rites; he reminds Israel of the greatness of their origin and of their destiny; he calls up before their eyes the sacred figure of Jehovah; he tells his people, in the words which the Almighty Himself has put into his mouth, "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." This history is our own. A light more resplendent far than that which illumined Israel hath shone upon the Christian nations. What has all this availed us, and whither are marching the rising generations? Doubtless, the stone and wooden idols of the past cannot be set up again. But this gloomy fatality before which men would compel us to abdicate our reason, is it not an idol too? I. "I AM THE FRIST." 1. We find in this the affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of the supreme God, the Creator of all things. To-day men would teach us another Genesis of the world: the old doctrines of Epicurus are once more becoming current; we hear of eternal matter, of millions and millions of atoms which, by whirling about continually in space, have unconsciously and spontaneously invested themselves with a motion in accordance with the mathematical laws which they had themselves called into existence. We are told that out of a mechanical combination suddenly issued a living cell, and that, millions of centuries aiding, this life has become vegetative, then animal, then conscious, intellectual, and finally moral; we axe asked to acknowledge this ascending progression of matter which, from the inert molecule it was in the first instance, has become sensitive protoplasm, then has been transformed into the plant, which in its turn has become endowed with motion, then advancing one step further has turned into the hideous animal, creeping in the mire of the primitive marshes, to rise up at length in its conquered majesty and call itself Plato, Aristotle, Jesus Christ. And having thus accounted for the formation of things, men look with scornful pity upon those who still have recourse to the intervention of an all-creating God; their idea of the Divine Being may be expressed in the words of the learned Laplace to Napoleon the First. "I have had no need of this hypothesis." In presence of this self-styled scientific Genesis, it is not only my faith which revolts, but my reason repeats, with the enthusiasm of a conviction firmer than ever, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth"; for if there is m my reason an immovable principle, it is indeed this: that no effect can exist without a cause, that all which is in the effect must also be in the cause; that, consequently, matter can never have brought forth intelligence, chaos can never have given birth to harmony, for in nowise can the lesser ever have produced the greater. 2 This reminds us, further, that as God is the supreme Cause, He must also be the supreme End of all that exists, the centre of the thoughts and affections of all the beings He has created. All things, says St. Paul, are by Him and for Him. Every being has a destination, and the noblest destination of all beings is that which the Scriptures call the glory of God. You know what this ideal has become, and what sin has made of it. 3. This means, further, that God is at the basis of all that is done to raise and save humanity, to bring it back to the true life which it has lost by separating itself from Him. God is at work in the midst of mankind. It is in a region higher than that of science that we must seek the hidden sources of the river of life which brings regeneration, consolation, and eternal hope to the world. Whence come they then? They gush from the depths of the religious revelation which the God whom we serve has given to mankind. God the Creator is also God the Redeemer, and, in order of grace as in that of nature, He may truly say: "I am the First." What has been accomplished in the world must also be accomplished in each individual being, and the redemption of humanity is nothing if it is not worked out in the innermost soul of those who are to reap its fruits. II. "I AM THE LAST." By this we must understand — 1. That God never abdicates, and that He shall ever remain the Supreme Master, when all the lords of a day shall have passed away after having made a little noise in the world. 2. That God remains the Supreme Judge, and that, consequently, the hour of justice shall certainly strike. 3. That God is the Supreme Refuge of every soul that calls upon Him, the only one which remains standing when all others have disappeared. (E. Bersier, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: "I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.