Stumper Questions for Jehovah’s Witnesses, #23

In Rev 22:12-13, Jesus Christ, the one who is “coming quickly”, says of himself, ” I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end”. In Rev 1:17-18, Jesus, the one who “became dead, but, look! I am living forever and ever”, refers to himself as the first and the last. Rev 21:6, in speaking of God, says, “…I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end …”. God is also referred to as the “first” and the “last” in Isa 44:6 and Isa 48:12. How can this be since by definition of these words there can only be one first and one last?

Alpha and the Omega (Α – Ω) is a title. In Greek is like saying from A to Z – implying that it encompasses everything in between. However, Trinitarians would have you ignore the fact that Jehovah and Jesus share certain titles. For example, Jehovah and Jesus are both called Lords. This fact is brought home in a somewhat humorous way in the common versions of the Bible that have removed the divine name, rendering some passages such as Psalms 110:1 to read “the LORD said to my Lord…”  Obviously, in this instance there are two entities that share the title of Lord,  but one is superior and commands the other Lord.

While on the subject of definitions, the words father and son and the relationship between the two are universally understood. No one has to look in a dictionary to learn their meaning. After all, everyone has a father and everyone is either a son or daughter of a father. These are not abstract concepts.

But when it comes to Jehovah and Jesus according to the Trinitarian no such relationship exists, even though over and over and over again the Scriptures refer to Jehovah as the Father of Jesus. And, of course, Jesus repeatedly referred to God as his Father.  But in the Trinitarian’s world Jesus and Jehovah refer to themselves as father and son for no particular reason, because the heavenly Father did not really father the son and the Son did not come from the Father. The Son has always existed and needed no fathering.  Why they insisted upon claiming a father/son relationship is anyone’s guess. 

So, this is the kind of abject stupidity and unreasoning dishonesty that confronts Jehovah’s Witnesses and anyone else who tries to reason with someone who has been steeped in the mind-numbing dogma of the Jesus-is-God cult.  So, if a Trinitarian wants to talk about the definition of simple words the definition of a father/son is the place to start.

As regards the Alpha and the Omega, Jehovah and Jesus may properly share this title of being First and Last, but for different reasons. Jehovah is the only living entity in existence that did not have a beginning. Jehovah is the only person who did not come from the father. He has simply always existed. By virtue of his having no beginning, you might say by default he is the first. And he will not be succeeded by anyone else, forever. So in that sense he is also the last.

But Jesus is first and last in another sense. He is the first creature that God created. Revelation 3:15 says simply that Jesus “was the beginning of the creation by God.”

Jesus is also called the only begotten son of God. What does that mean? He was the only creature that God personally, directly created. Because after having fathered the spirit who later became Jesus Jehovah then empowered his Firstborn to create everything else. So, Jesus was not only the first person born, but also the last born, in the sense that God will never directly create another person. Any future creation will come through the agency of his Firstborn.

Jesus is also called the last Adam. Why did the apostle Paul refer to him as such? In explaining Jesus having come down from heaven to become a man Paul referred to him as the second man and the last Adam; meaning he was the second perfect man that God produced, not from scratch – not from the dust of the ground as in the case of Adam – but from the spirit, having transferred the life of his heavenly Son and grafting him into the DNA of his earthly mother, Mary. Such a miracle will never occur again. It will never be necessary. In that sense, Jesus is the last.

Also, he was the first and only person that Jehovah resurrected from the dead to everlasting life, because now Jesus is in position to resurrect everyone else. That is why he is called the Resurrection. 

In the first chapter of Colossians Paul wrote concerning Jesus: “Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist, and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might become the one who is first in all things; because God was pleased to have all fullness to dwell in him…”

In Paul’s saying that Jesus was “before all other things” that is obviously to the exclusion of Jehovah God. And that is plainly evident in the very text, as the apostle went on to say that it was pleasing to God to have all fullness dwell in him, in the Son.  Since that is the case, since it has pleased Jehovah to have his unique Son administer all things, Jesus will never be surpassed by anyone else. He is the first and last of his kind. In that sense he is just like his Father, Jehovah.

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