Daily Discipleship - Day 311: I Am the First and the Last

May 3, 2026

Daily Discipleship • Day 311 • Sunday, March 7, 2027

I Am the First and the Last

Revelation 1:17–18

Pleasant Springs Church • ps-church.com

Scripture

Revelation 1:17–18 (Greek NT / ESV) καὶ ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν, ἔπεσα πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὡς νεκρός· καὶ ἔθηκεν τὴν δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ ἐπ' ἐμέ λέγων· Μὴ φοβοῦ· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.'

Author & Audience

Michael Heiser — Old Testament scholar and author of The Unseen Realm, whose expertise in ancient Near Eastern background unlocks the divine-council imagery and the cosmic authority claims of Revelation.

Word Study

ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος

ho prŏtos kai ho eschatos · Greek NT

“the First and the Last”

This title echoes Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12 LXX where YHWH declares His absolute uniqueness and sovereignty over all history. By applying this title to Jesus, John makes an explicit identification of Christ with the God of Israel who speaks in Isaiah—a stunning Christological claim embedded in the opening vision.

Reflection

From the writers we read together

Michael Heiser

OT scholar; author of The Unseen Realm; 1963–2023

“Jesus is the embodiment of the God of Israel.” — The Unseen Realm, chapter 28

John falls as a dead man when he encounters the glorified Christ. The response is not reverent bowing—it is total physical collapse. This is not metaphor; it is the reaction of a human nervous system confronting divine glory unmediated. And then: a right hand, a touch, a voice: 'Fear not.' The one who undoes John is the same one who restores him.

Heiser shows that 'the First and the Last' is a Yahweh-title transplanted onto Jesus—Revelation is making a profound theological claim from its first chapter. The one who holds the keys of Death and Hades is not merely a great teacher or moral exemplar. He is the sovereign Lord of all history and all outcomes. Let that truth reframe whatever feels out of control today.

Continue your study: Discipleship School — Explore the divine identity of Christ and the cosmic scope of His authority in our Discipleship courses.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, King of the Universe, Lord Jesus, First and Last, Living One—You hold the keys. Whatever I fear today, I lay it at Your feet, trusting that You have authority over every outcome. Amen.

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