The First and The Last
Introduction:
Colossians 1:15
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
● Christ is the firstborn of every creature.
Revelation 3:14
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
● Christ is the beginning of the creation of God. The beginning of the creation of God means He is the creation of God. For example: the beginning of miracles is a miracle. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him." John 2:11. The bible should interpret itself. "The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed." {Great Controversy 598.3}. No Greek, no Hebrew is needed to understand the language (singular) of the Bible. It is obvious.
Isaiah 43:1,10
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel...
Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
● The term "created" and the term "formed" are synonymous, like Jacob and Israel.
● Christ is formed.
What does it mean "there was no God formed" before nor after Him?
Revelation 1:17
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last.
● The Son of God is the first and the last. No God formed before, no God formed after Him.
1) Three examples of Paul's language in describing the relationship between the Father & the Son: The first "Him" is the Father, the second "Him" is the Son.
Colossians 3:10
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of HIM that created Him [God that created Christ].
Hebrews 3:1-2
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to HIM that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house [God that appointed Christ].
Hebrews 5:7
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto HIM that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that he feared [God that was able to save Christ].
2) Putting on Christ who is created in righteousness and true holiness
Ephesians 4:24
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Galatians 3:27
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
● Put on the new man which is Christ.
Colossians 3:10
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of HIM that created Him.
● The new man is "renewed in knowledge after the image of HIM (the Father) that created Him (the Son)".
3) He kneeled before His Maker and He was twice made.
Psalm 95:6
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
Luke 22:41
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.
Hebrews 1:4
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 2:7
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.
4) Ellen White Quotes
{ST May 30, 1895 par. 3}
A complete offering has been made; for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,”—not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father's person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
What does "not a son by creation, as were the angels" mean?
Hebrews 1:4
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
● Christ was not made like the angels, He was made SO MUCH BETTER than the angels.
Hebrews 10:5
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
● When His Father prepared a body for Him to come into our world, Jesus was then made lower than the angels.
(Hebrews 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:)
5) Ellen White's endorsements on the Review and Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation.
Selected Messages Book 2, Page 225.3
I feel very tender toward Elder Smith. My life interest in the publishing work is bound up with his. He came to us as a young man, possessing talents that qualified him to stand in his lot and place as an editor. How I rejoice as I read his articles in the Review—so excellent, so full of spiritual truth. I thank God for them.
October 13, 1859, Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald by Uriah Smith
But in what sense was the Word, God? In the same sense that he and his Father are one. John 10:30. We have still to inquire in what sense this is? Does it mean that they are one in person? We answer, No; for Christ uses the same expression and in the same sense when he prays for his disciples that they may be one. “That they may all be one,” says he, “as thou Father art in me, and I in thee. That they all may be one, as we are one.” John 17:21, 22. Christ could not certainly mean that all believers in him should be consolidated into one huge and massive person! The oneness then does not refer to identity of body, but only to that unity of Spirit which the apostles everywhere exhort the brethren to maintain. “Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” “Be perfectly joined together in the same mind,” “Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind,” are exhortations of the apostle, in perfect keeping with the prayer of Christ that his disciples might all be one. Just so with Jesus and his Father: they are one in Spirit, one in purpose, and one in action; but not identical in body and person. This view, and this only, is consistent with the scripture which represents Christ as a created being, [“the beginning of the creation of God,” Revelation 3:14], and that large class of texts which speak of Christ as distinct from the Father, in as plain terms as language can employ, and declare him to be subordinate to him, sent forth by him, dying to reconcile the world to him, etc., declarations utterly at variance with the popular idea of a triune God.
2 MR 444.3
Everything that can be done should be done to circulate Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation. I know of no other book that can take the place of this one. It is God's helping hand.
Uriah Smith, Thoughts Critical and Practical on the Book of Revelation, Battle Creek, Michigan: Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, 1865, p. 59
"Moreover he is "the beginning of the creation of God." Not the beginner, but the beginning, of the creation, the first created being, dating his existence far back before any other created being or thing, next to the self-existent and eternal God."
CONCLUSION
Christ is indeed "the beginning of the creation of God." {Revelation 3:14}