Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6)
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect manifestation of God. He is God. All angels, creatures and humans imago Dei reflect something of Him, but He alone is original and initiating. The greatest composers, artists, poets and inventors who have ever lived have not being original in the strict sense, because they have had no origin within themselves; they have operated within great traditions and epochs, building upon and refining further the works of others, arranging and re-arranging yes, but not bringing anything into existence, merely refashioning pre-existing means and modes. When through Jesus the world was brought into being, it was an utterly unique and original event. From the infinitely content and perfect Creator, He who needed nothing outside of Himself, came this thing called heaven and this thing called earth. It pleased our Creator to look upon it, although He knew what He would do to perfect it, for for all the multitudinous benefits lavished upon it it would neither obey nor love Him.
Because we would not love nor obey our holy Creator who fashioned us from the dust, He would reveal His word unto us and preach through chosen vessels, warning the world of impending doom as in the days of Noah. Even so, it was not such preaching that would save us but the direct action of the Redeemer Himself. He created us, we did not create Him. He loved us, we did not love Him. Every good gift upon this earth is because He has first seen fit to bestow it. Every trial and cursed thing is instructive for His children to apprehend and apply, in God-given wisdom; nevertheless, those who hate Him will hate Him; never will they accept His Lordship over them, His Firstness in their lives, for they themselves want to be both first and last.
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