I Am the First and the Last

Revelation i. 17.

PW E have attempted an impossible task in discussing the theme which has stood at the head of this series of articles. And so at last we relinquish our attempt, declaring ourselves defeated — and well we may; because God lives in the Present Tense: He is the I Am: He knows not a Past,

and anticipates no Future: He is the

same yesterday, to-day, and forever.

All His dealings and promises move on the pivot of the word now: and

therefore, to discuss the Present Tenses of the Blessed Life — is to attempt to pour the ocean of His infinity into the narrow earthen cup, which we have held to the thirsty lips of His children in these few chapters.

And yet, as we turn away from our unworthy attempt, we cannot forbear saying a few broken words on one of the noblest of them all; and one which seems to comprehend them all, as a ray of sunlight comprehends, interwoven in its texture, the seven-fold beams which make up the prismatic band.

It was the lone isle of Patmos, washed by the iEgean: the light of the sun seemed brighter to the exiled Apostle, because it shone upon the day of resurrection: and as he thought of the

loved circle, which was meeting on the other side of the dissevering sea, and longed for the world where the sea should be no more, he was startled by the glory of a light beyond that of the meridian sun: and there stood before him the form of One on whose bosom he had leaned in earlier days, with “»efore HU Ubings.” 159

confiding love; but who was now marvellously and gloriously changed.

That voice, which once faltered in dying agony, had in it a volume of sound like many waters. The face once marred with bitter anguish, shone as the sun. Those feet once nailed to the bitter cross, were bright with the glory of burnished brass. In those hands that once were bound by cruel thongs, glistened the stars of the Churches. Whilst the breast on which St. John Had been wont to lean, was girt about with the insignia of the dignity of His offices Was it wonderful that the beloved Apostle fell at His feet as one dead, and needed to be raised by those hands and re-assured by that voice?

What music there was in those words! — “Fear not: I am the First and the Last!” What infinite conceptions cluster around those simple words, far-reaching as eternity, and infinite as God! Jesus Christ is the sum of all being; the alphabet of all existence; the Creator and the Final Cause of alj creation. “He is before all things;” and “fo / His pleasure they are and were created.” The first germ of being was originated by His creative hand; and when this frame of nature has run its course, and fulfilled its purpose, it is He who will speak the word of dissolution, and bid it cease, and sink back into the nothingness from which it came.

Is He not equally the First and the Last in the Scheme of Redemption? When the first thought of it arose in the heart of God (speaking after the manner of men), Christ was there Every step in the unfolding of the mighty scheme bears the mark of His finger. No other hand has been permitted to intrude into the execution of this masterpiece of Love. He laid the foundations of salvation in the depths of His agony; and every sueceeding course in the structure has been laid by Him: and He will bring forward the top-stone, amidst shouting of “Grace, Grace unto it!”

And this is also true in the history of our personal salvation. It was He

who originated the first desire for better things — as the first ray of light in the chaos of the primeval ages. And it is to His grace that we must attribute every virtue we possess; every holy aspiration; and every blessed lesson in the divine life. Yes, and beneath His hand we are to develop in growing years, till we come to the dividingline between time and eternity: then He who was the Author of faith in us, will be its Finisher; His face will shine as the bright day-star heralding the eternal morning. And whatever height of blessedness we attain, He will ever be before us, as a something beyond our highest attainment, beckoning us forward: for He must ever be the Last to those for whom He has been the First.

“Fear not!” says this Glorious One. “Fear not! you will need nothing outside of Me. Fear not! I am all-sufficient. Fear not! all others may drop away, leaving you as the sole survivor of your generation: but I will be always the same, and remain with you to the last. Fear not! Time, and Life, and Earth, may pass away; but I will be at the end of all, as I was at the beginning. All things seen may dissolve as the phantasmagoria of cloud and, from which the hues of sunset have faded; but I shall remain, as the Rock of Eternity, which can never move from its solid base, or know the shadow of a change. Fear not! Fear not! Fear not! I will never, never leave thee; I will never, no never, no never, forsake thee!”

Oh, who shall fear, when He stands by, uttering such words as these!

But before we can derive from them their full weight of comfort, we need t:o make Him the First and the Last of every enterprise; of every act of <2very day — aye, of every hour. Let everything be begun, continued, and ended, in Him. Let His counsel be sought on the threshold; His succour on the prosecution; and His blessing at the close. Let Him be the star of every morning and of every eve. No man need fear when that is so; for He is impregnable. We may well fear when we step out on a new enterprise, or initiate a new scheme, or begin a new day, without Him; and close without His benediction of peace.

But when He is the Alpha and Omega of all; First, and Last, and Midst; “all and in all”; then heart may fail, and flesh may faint, and difficulties gather; but the spirit may still press on with undaunted courage, whilst He whispers “Fear not!”