Isaiah 44: 6
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god besides Me.
(See also Revelation 1:8: the Alpha and the Omega; and Revelation 22:13: Alpha and Omega, First and Last, Beginning and End.)
This is obviously Jesus! He is the Lord God of the Old Testament, as well as the Lord God of the New Testament--the only God, Who has revealed Himself to us.
Jesus taught us that the Father is the Authority He obeys, but the Son has always been the Member of the Godhead Who deals with Mankind. He does not change.
45: 23
...That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance to Me.
(See also Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10-11, and Revelation 5:13.)
Jesus is God's Christ for us. From Creation through the New Heaven and New Earth and beyond, He will never change.
The Godhead (Elohim) pronounced within Himself, "Let us make Mankind in Our own Image, after Our own Likeness" (Genesis 1:26); then the Lord reached out and formed the man from the dust of the Earth (Genesis 2:7). And we have belonged to Him ever since.
When God made the world, He knew that Mankind would fail the test, so He devised that, if Man refused the Tree of Knowledge and ate of the Tree of Life instead (there was no prohibition on the Tree of Life), then we would all live forever. But if he disobeyed and ate of the forbidden fruit, then he would have to die. But then he could have a Savior to redeem him.
Jesus is the Lord God Who gave the Law to Moses, and the One Who fulfilled the letter of every precept. With His life He fulfilled all the requirements of all the rules and regulations; and when He died He fulfilled all the sacrificial laws, as the Lamb of God.
The first law for sacrifice listed in the first chapter of Leviticus is the personal sacrifice. It's first because it's the first sacrifice each person needed to make in order to have a connection with God through forgiveness through the blood of that animal. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).
But animal blood can only cover sins, never take them away (Hebrews 10:4). It took the Blood of the Lord God Himself to take away our sins, to wash us clean of every stain.
We all deserve to die, and we all will die. But we don't have to be separated from God when we're separated from our bodies. When we humble ourselves before God and admit to Him we deserve death, then let Jesus take our place in death individually on the Cross; that's when God will forgive, wash away our sins, and give us His own Holy Spirit to live in our spirit, making us alive. Life itself is spirit, and His Spirit gives us Life.
Jesus also fulfilled the corporate sacrifice that was given for the whole Nation, and He purchased us all, along with the whole of Creation, making us twice His property--by creation and by purchase. That makes Him our rightful Judge.
So He died for us individually for Salvation, and He died for all of us together for judgment.
Think about it. Are you "the one" Jesus died for, as though you're the only one? Or are you one of many He died for? Your viewpoint here makes all the difference, for eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
