God is the First and the Last

Article for July 19, 2026

Isaiah 44:6–7a 6Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.  7Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.  Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. 

It’s hard to explain, God is the first and the last because He is the only one true God.  Harder to explain is God has no beginning and has no end.  God is and always will be.  Here Isaiah speaks of the Redeemer of God the second person of the trinity of the one true God as we know Him.  The Lord of hosts, that is, the Redeemer as we know Him, Jesus Christ our Lord and our savior.

As the world wants to proclaim itself as our god, or other man-made religions want to throw their false idle gods at us, not one of these can do, or even compete with, the one true God.  It is God who appoints His people, first the Hebrew nation who become the Jews or Zionists, and then the Christians. 

We pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters that they realize the complete truth of God through Jesus Christ.  We pray for all Christians that they too realize the complete truth of God through Jesus Christ as well.  And we pray for those fallen Christians that they will realize the truth of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and that God’s word in the Holy Bible is the infallible inspired word of God.  And let us also pray for the unbeliever that they too may know God through His word, through Jesus Christ and through redemption that they also may be saved.

Romans 8:18–19 18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Too many people and too many times we concentrate on our problems that we blind ourselves from the glory that awaits us when we pass on to God’s realm of heaven.  We spend too much time feeling like we’re getting cheated and that the world owes us something.  Still waiting for the world to buy me that Lamborghini. The world loves it when we blind ourselves and hates it when we see our salvation through Jesus Christ.  We might suffer greatly in our earthly lives, and this is at times hard to take. 

We need to keep our eyes and reasoning on Jesus and His salvation. Jesus is our lifeline to get through our suffering for it is to His glory that He does this for us.  Do you realize eternity?  Do you realize that we are here for a second compared to eternity?  Do you realize that most of our life will be lived in eternity?  This is the glory we believers receive as we not only live in eternity but that we live it for an eternal relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:20–21 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Adam subjected us all to our futility, which is our sinful nature.  We all suffer because of sin, our own sin and that of others.  Some we suffer through choice, and some through choices.  In other words, we sometimes choose to make ourselves suffer as we wallow in our sadness.  And sometimes we make the wrong choice and do something we know we shouldn’t have.  Either way, we are the cause of most of our suffering.

But as Adam sinned, he hoped that we would be given hope through salvation.  See as you read through the third chapter of Genesis, God told Adam and Eve that a savior was to come.  This was to give both Adam and Eve hope of salvation, too. 

Redemption was given to Adam and Eve when Jesus died on the cross.  Redemption was given to all past, present, and future when Jesus Christ died on the cross.  Better than just redemption, is resurrection that came when Jesus was resurrected for all of those who waited in the grave before Jesus came. And a resurrection we all wait for on that glorious day.

Romans 8:22–23 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Look at what is being said here.  Even those who bore the first fruits of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit moaned and groaned for.  Life of a Christian is not and will not be easy.  The evil one is not happy with us.  If the evil one can throw calamity at us and try and bring us down, he will, he has, and he will continue the more you follow God and share in the glory of God.  So, what! We have the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Here is the good news, the evil one only can bother us during our life on this earth, and only in the time we have on this earth.  After we pass on to God and the earth is no longer inhabitable the evil one will no longer be able to affect our lives as they will be eternal in the glory of God.

Romans 8:24–25 24For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Our hope then rests in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our hope is a sure thing as God does not lie and does not go back on His promises.  This is important!  The world wants us to hope for those things we can see and greed for those things we can see.  God wants us to hope in those things we cannot see for one day those things we do not see will be revealed to us that we might see them.

Romans 8:26–27 26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

      So, we put our hope and faith in those things we do not see yet as Jesus Christ came to give us real hope and real faith.  We are saved through hope and faith as these too are gifts from God who works through His Holy Spirit and Holy Word to show us the true love God has for us through the body, blood, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

      Written by Curtis A. May