Does Being "The First and the Last" Prove That Yeshua Is Almighty God?
Among the many passages cited in support of the Trinity, few are considered more compelling than Revelation 1:17–18 and Revelation 22:12–13. The argument is simple and, at first glance, appears persuasive. In Revelation, Yeshua calls himself "the First and the Last." In Isaiah, Yehovah repeatedly calls Himself "the First and the Last." Therefore, the reasoning goes that Yeshua must be Yehovah.
This logic has convinced many sincere Christians. Yet before accepting the conclusion, we should ask a more fundamental question: Does the conclusion actually follow from the evidence? Or does it rest upon an assumption that Scripture itself never makes?
The assumption is that if two individuals share the same title, they must share the same identity. That may seem logical at first, but the Bible itself does not reason this way. In fact, Scripture repeatedly demonstrates that identical titles do not necessarily identify two persons as the same being.
The title "Lord" provides a good example. The Father is called Lord. Christ is called Lord. Human masters are also called lords. The title identifies authority, not identity.
The same principle applies to the word "god." Scripture calls Yehovah, God, but it also applies the term to angels, to Israel's judges, to Moses in his role before Pharaoh, and even to Satan as "the god of this world." Clearly, the mere application of a title does not establish that everyone bearing it possesses the same identity or nature.
This observation should caution us against assuming that because both Yehovah and Yeshua are called "the First and the Last," they must therefore be the same person.
To understand the title properly, we must first examine its original setting in Isaiah.
"This is what Yehovah says, the King of Israel and his Repurchaser, Yehovah of armies: 'I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but me.'" (Isaiah 44:6)
Similarly, Isaiah 48:12 declares:
"Listen to me, O Jacob and Israel whom I have called. I am the same One. I am the first. I am also the last." (Isaiah 48:12)
Notice that in both passages the emphasis is not simply upon the title itself. The title is part of a larger declaration concerning Yehovah's unique sovereignty. He alone is the true God. He alone governs history from beginning to end. He alone is Israel's Creator, Redeemer, and King. The expression "the First and the Last" is therefore one aspect of His declaration that there is no God beside Him.
When we turn to Revelation, however, we encounter a very different context.
John writes:
"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the living one. I became dead, but look! I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.'" (Revelation 1:17–18)
There is no doubt that the speaker is the resurrected Yeshua. But notice carefully what He actually says. He does not simply state, "I am the First and the Last," and leave the matter there. He immediately explains why the title applies to Him:
"I became dead."
That statement cannot possibly describe the Father, Yehovah, who is immortal and cannot die. The context therefore gives the title a specific Christological meaning rooted in Yeshua's death and resurrection. He is the One who entered death, conquered it, and now possesses the keys of death and Hades. He was given immortality by God upon his resurrection.
This immediately warns us against importing the meaning of Isaiah wholesale into Revelation. The same words are being used within two different contexts to emphasize two different truths. Isaiah emphasizes Yehovah's unrivaled sovereignty as the only true God. Revelation emphasizes Christ's victory over death as the resurrected Messiah.
The context defines the title. The title does not redefine the context.
A similar issue arises in Revelation 22:12–13:
“Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to repay each one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." (Revelation 22:12–13)
Most readers immediately assume that Yeshua is speaking. Yet the closing chapter of Revelation shifts speakers several times. At various points an angel speaks, John speaks, God speaks, and Yeshua speaks. Since the original Greek manuscripts contain no quotation marks, determining where one speaker ends and another begins is an editorial decision made by modern translators.
It is significant that Yeshua explicitly identifies Himself only in verse 16:
"I, Yeshua, have sent my angel..." (Revelation 22:16)
This has led many commentators to acknowledge that the identity of the speaker in verses 12 and 13 is not beyond dispute. Whether one ultimately concludes that verses 12 and 13 belong to God or to Christ, intellectual honesty requires admitting that the passage is not nearly as straightforward as it is often presented.
Yet even if we grant, for the sake of argument, that Yeshua is speaking in verses 12 and 13, the Trinitarian conclusion still does not necessarily follow.
Once again, the argument depends upon the assumption that sharing a title establishes identity. But Scripture consistently distinguishes between the One who bestows authority and the One who receives it.
Throughout the New Testament we are repeatedly told that the Father gave authority to the Son. He gave Him life in Himself. He gave Him authority to execute judgment. He exalted Him above every other name. He made Him both Lord and Christ. The Son possesses supreme authority precisely because the Father bestowed it upon Him.
Receiving supreme authority from God is not the same thing as being the One who granted that authority.
This distinction is maintained throughout the book of Revelation itself.
The very first verse reads:
"The revelation of Yeshua Christ, which God gave him." (Revelation 1:1)
God gives.
Yeshua receives.
The distinction could hardly be clearer.
Later, Revelation repeatedly speaks of "God and the Lamb."
It describes "the throne of God and of the Lamb."
It never collapses these two persons into one individual. Throughout the book, God remains distinct from His Messiah.
Remember that the Trinity teaches the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit are three persons in one God. God is not a person. God is made up of three persons. That is the Trinity. Yet God is treated as a person throughout Scripture. When Revelation speaks of “God and the Lamb”, it means the person of God and the person of the Lamb who is Yeshua.
Perhaps the most decisive evidence comes from Revelation chapter 3.
Speaking from heaven after His resurrection and glorification, Christ repeatedly refers to the Father as "My God."
Four separate times He says:
"My God."
This is not Yeshua speaking during His earthly ministry while temporarily humbled in the flesh. This is the glorified Christ speaking from heaven. He is addressing God as a person.
His relationship to the Father remains unchanged.
The Father is still "My God."
This harmonizes perfectly with Yeshua's words following His resurrection recorded in John 20:17:
"I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." (John 20:17)
Nothing in Revelation alters that relationship.
The glorified Christ still acknowledges the Father as His God.
This brings us back to the fundamental weakness in the Trinitarian argument.
It treats titles as though they function like mathematical equations.
Yehovah is called X.
Yeshua is called X.
Therefore X equals X, Yeshua must be Yehovah.
But the Bible never reasons that way.
Titles describe authority, office, function, honor, relationship, or role. They do not automatically establish identity.
Indeed, if we applied the same reasoning consistently elsewhere in Scripture, we would quickly reach absurd conclusions. Since both the Father and the Son are called Savior, we would have to conclude they are the same person. Since both are called Shepherd, we would reach the same conclusion again. But then every human called savior or shepherd in Scripture would have to be God, because—by trinitarian reasoning—sharing a title means sharing identity and nature.
The same principle applies to "the First and the Last."
There is another point that deserves consideration.
When Isaiah declares that Yehovah is "the First and the Last," the statement is inseparably connected to His uniqueness as the only true God. In Revelation, however, Yeshua never says, "Besides me there is no God." Instead, He repeatedly acknowledges that He Himself has a God.
If the glorified Christ still worships the Father as His God, then whatever titles He bears must be understood in harmony with that relationship rather than in contradiction to it.
The book of Revelation presents an extraordinarily exalted Christ. He is the conqueror of death. He possesses all authority. Every creature honors Him. Every knee will ultimately bow before Him. He shares His Father's throne and reigns forever.
None of these magnificent truths need be diminished.
Yet neither do they require us to conclude that Yeshua is the very God whom He repeatedly calls "My God."
From the opening verse of Revelation to its final chapter, the distinction between God and His Christ remains intact. God reveals. Christ receives. God exalts. Christ is exalted. God sits upon the throne. The Lamb shares that throne by divine appointment. God is the Father. Christ is His uniquely begotten Son.
The titles they share reflect the authority and glory that the Father has bestowed upon His Son. They do not erase the distinction between the Giver and the Recipient, between the One who is worshiped as "my God" and the One who joyfully acknowledges Him as such.
For that reason, Revelation 1:17–18 and Revelation 22:12–13, impressive though they may initially appear, fall far short of proving the doctrine of the Trinity. Instead, they fit naturally within the consistent biblical portrait of the Father as the only true God and Yeshua as His exalted, glorified, and incomparable Son.
Thank you for listening to the end and for your support.