He is First and Last

Scripture Readings for Today

Isaiah 44:6
This is what the LORD says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.

Isaiah 48:12-16
Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called:
I am he;
I am the first and I am the last.
My own hand laid the foundations of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
they all stand up together.
Come together, all of you, and listen:
Which of the idols has foretold these things?
The LORD’s chosen ally
will carry out his purpose against Babylon;
his arm will be against the Babylonians.
I, even I, have spoken;
yes, I have called him.
I will bring him,
and he will succeed in his mission.
Come near me and listen to this:
From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;
at the time it happens, I am there.
And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me,
with his Spirit.

Revelation 1:17
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.”

Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Followers of Christ recognize that He is indeed the Beginning and the End and that in Him all is complete.   Symbolized by the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet we know that He was before all things and is at the end of all things.  Nothing in this life or beyond is beyond His realm.  There was no God before Him.  No God will follow Him.  He was.  He is.  He will be.

Jesus is complete. He was with God in the beginning and He will be with God in the end.  Because of His great gift that we recognize this Christmas season, we have the opportunity to be there with Him.

Hymn for the Day

Hark, What a Sound
Words: Frederick W. H. Myers, 1867, in his poem “St. Paul.”
Music: Welwyn, Alfred Scott Gatty,

Hark, what a sound, and too divine for hearing,
Stirs on the earth and trembles in the air!
Is it the thunder of the Lord’s appearing?
Is it the music of His people’s prayer?

Surely He cometh, and a thousand voices
Shout to the saints and to the deaf and dumb;
Surely He cometh, and the earth rejoices,
Glad in His coming Who hath sworn, “I come.”

So even I, and with a pang more thrilling,
So even I, and with a hope more sweet,
Yearn for the sign, O Christ, of Thy fulfilling,
Faint for the flaming of Thine advent feet.

Yea, through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning,
He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficèd;
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of daily Advent posts, now through Christmas Day.

Previous Posts
December 1 - The Word Became Flesh
December 2 - Prepare the way for the LORD

B2R stands for “Blue to Red” (or “Blue 2 Red”), a project of participating Virginia blogs and websites that will target select Democrat-held seats in 2009 for Republican takeover. For too long, Republicans have been on defense in Virginia. It is time to go back on offense. Until now, conservative, libertarian and Republican-leaning blogs have been largely content to stick with commentary over activism. Those days in Virginia are gone. More to come. Soon…

Over at Bearing Drift, Brian Kirwin takes on RPV for hosting this year’s Advance at The Homestead. Brian asks: Why the Homestead?

In full disclosure, the Advance comes at a bad time of year for me. Last time I went I shook Pat Robertson’s hand. He was a candidate for President. And the last time I made it up to the Homestead was for the Southern Governor’s Association meeting in George Allen’s last year as Governor.

Let’s face it, The Homestead is gorgeous. But it’s not exactly a “big tent” arena. If the message is to expand the party, this isn’t the way to do it.

From his throne room high in the Senate Majority Leader Tower, Harry Reid is glad that he will no longer have to “smell the tourists” on hot summer days.

“In the summertime, because (of) the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol.”
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) at the dedication for the new Capitol Visitor Center
Fox News.

I’ve lived in DC. I know what tourists can be like on hot summer days. So while what the Senator said was not necessarily incorrect. However, it was impolitic.

Senator Reid seems to have forgotten who sent him to Washington.

To be fair to the Senator, he’s not alone. And it’s not just the Democrats. Seems something happens when Joe Citizen is elected and moves to Capitol Hill.

Mr. Smith goes to Washington and becomes Mr. Smithsonian Institution. Gone are the days of the citizen legislator.

The attitude Reid is displaying shows that he’s fallen into the trap of thinking the Capitol belongs to Congress. That somehow they have a special claim to the building.

He’s forgotten who he works for and who pays his salary. They all have.

He, along with his compatriots in the Senate and the House need to be reminded that it’s the people’s Congress. The people’s Capitol.

It doesn’t belong to Senator Reid and his fellow Senators and Congressmen.

It belongs to the people.

Every last rotten, smelley, stinky one of us.