March 10

Revelation 1:11—I am the First and Last.

It is true, O Son of God. Thou art! The First in order of Being, and last in the full completeness of thy glory.

First in respect of Time, for Thou art the everlasting Father—Father and Creator of the ages; and when time shall be no more, Thou wilt last for ever. From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God. Thy years shall not fail.

First in respect to Creation.—Thou wast before all things; thine was an age prior to the creation of matter; all things were made by Thee: and when the heavens and earth that are now have passed away for ever; when the elements shall have melted with fervent heat; when the sun shall be burnt out and the stars wane—Thou wilt still be the last, able to bring into being new heavens and a new earth.

First in the order of Redemption.—God first loved us. From before the foundation of the world, Thou wert the Lamb slain; before the foundation of the world we were chosen in Thee. First in the love that resolved to redeem; first in the mystery of thine incarnation, lowest in the depth of thy descent unto death, and in the resurrection through which Thou becamest the First-born among the dead; first to open the way within the vail, to bear our nature risen before the throne, and to inaugurate for man the life of resurrection-power.

First in respect to the experience of Thine elect.—None is to be compared with Thee, Thou Prince of the kings of the earth. Their Alpha, their Beginning, the Day-star of their Hope, the Dawn of their Life, the Origin of all that is good and blessed in their life; whom they take to be their Ideal, their Goal, their Aim, their Omega, their End.