Jesus Christ is Almighty God, the First and the Last

My Debate Message against the Biblical Unitarians

Friday, June 16th 2006

By Ed Enochs
Chairman,
The Evangelical Debate Society



In the pages of Holy Scripture, the Lord God of Israel is known by many names, among the many names God is called in the Bible are as follows,


~ Yahweh, or Jehovah, the one true God

~El Gibbor, “the Mighty God”

~El El-yon, “The most high God”

~ El Shaddai. “The Almighty”

~Elohim, the plural noun for the one true God,

~ El Olam, “The everlasting God”


Almighty God is also known in Holy Scripture as the Alpha and the Omega and the First and the Last.


In the Old Testament God calls Himself the First and the Last which is translated in Hebrew as

‘ECHAD and ‘Acharown” (ach-arown)

In Isaiah 41:4 God says,

“Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he”


In Isaiah 44:6 Almighty God says,

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.

Similarly, in the New Testament God calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega and the First and the Last

In Greek, the term first and the Last is Protos and Eschatos.

In the New Testament God calls Himself the First and the Last.

When we carefully probe who is speaking in these key passages, we find out clearly find out it is Jesus Christ who is calling Himself Almighty God and the First and the Last. Hence, demonstrating that Jesus saw Himself as God and that the Bible teaches the Deity of Christ, a major tenet of the Trinitarian theology.

It is also very clear in the Book of Revelation it is not the Father who is calling Himself the Almighty, who is also the First and the Last, but none other the Lord Jesus Christ, thus demonstrating unequivocally and irrefutably that Jesus Christ is God and the Doctrine of the Trinity is true and Biblical Unitarianism, is proven false.


Rev. 1:8-9 says,

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."


Rev. 1:11 says, 1 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,”

Thus it is clear from these two passages that Almighty God is speaking and that He calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega and the First Last.

Revelation chapter 1:17-18 and Revelation 2:8 clearly demonstrate that the First and the First and the Last is Jesus Christ, since these Scriptures say the First and the Last died and rose again from the dead.


Rev. 1: 17 through 18 says,


When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,

Revelation 2:8 says,

"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 'The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.



In Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."


It is clear and irrefutable in these crucial passages that Jesus Christ is called Almighty God (pantokratwr), the Lord God, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.


The errors of the Biblical Unitarians are egregious in the handling of these crucial texts and no amount of exegetical gymnastics can allow them to escape the irrefutable fact that Jesus Christ is the Almighty God, the Alpha and the Omega the First and the Last.

Dr. AT Robertson, the best Greek scholar of the 20TH Century says the following on Revelation 22:13




I am the Alpha and the Omega (Egw to Alpa kai to O). Applied to God in Revelation 1:8; Revelation 21:6, and here alone to Christ, crowning proof in this book of Christ's deity. So in Revelation 21:6 God is termed, as Christ is here, h arch kai to teloß (the beginning and the end), while o prwtoß kai o escatoß (the first and the last) is applied only to Christ (Revelation 1:17; Revelation 2:8). Solemn assurance is thus given that Christ is qualified to be the Judge of verse Revelation 22:12


I am well aware that the Biblical Unitarians believe that both Father and the Son are called the Alpha and the Omega and that in Revelation 1:18 and 2:8 when it says the First and the Last died and rises again from the dead, that in these passages pertain to Christ only, but Revelation 1:8-9 which calls the first and the last, the Lord God and the “Almighty” only refers to the Father.

However this is hermeneutical suicide and clearly exegetical evasion, since there are absolutely no textual indicators whatsoever delineated in these passages that indicate that in some cases Jesus Christ is called the Alpha and the Omega and the First and the Last, but then is some cases, especially in the case when the First and the Last is called the Lord God and the Almighty it only refers to the Father.

This practicing an exegesis of convience rather that allowing the Scripture speak for itself and demonstrates that the Biblical Unitarians have a presuppotional bias against the deity of Christ already held when they attempt to interpret the text for itself.

For example, on Page 139 of Anthony Buzzard’s Book, “The Doctrine of the Trinity”, Christianity’s Self Inflicted Womb, Buzzard, shows this exegetical bias and mishandling of the word when he says God the Father is both the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty and not Jesus Christ. He says that Jesus Christ is only the First and Last of God’s creation because God cannot die and since Christ died, He cannot die.

This shows us that the Biblical Unitarians such as are opponents tonight already hold to a bias that Jesus cannot be God before they even attempt to exegete these crucial passages in Revelation regarding Jesus being the Alpha and the Omega and the First and the Last, since there is nothing in these Revelation texts that specifically says that when Revelation 1:8-9 says Almighty God is the Alpha and the Omega and the First and the Last it refers to the Father, but in Revelation 1:18 and Revelation 2:8 says the First and the Last died and rose again from the dead it only then refers to Jesus Christ.

Nothing in these texts differentiates this and leads us to believe that the Scriptures teach that the Father is sometimes the First and the Last, specially when the First and the Last is called Almighty God and then sometimes the Son is called the First and Last, especially when it says the First and the Last is died and rose again from the dead it only then refers to Jesus. Nothing in the text distinguishes this and leads us to believe that in the Book of Revelation two individuals are called the Alpha and the Omega and the First and the Last.

The clear weight and evidence of Scripture demonstrates that the First and the Last who is called the Almighty and the Lord God in Revelation 1:8-9 is one and the same person as the same First and the Last mentioned in Revelation 1:18 and Revelation 2:8 that says the First and the Last died and rose again from the dead. And since nothing in these texts makes this demarcation, we are compelled by clear exegetical evidence that the First and the Last’s mentioned in these crucial texts is one and the same person.

And since it is clear that when the texts say that the First and the Last died and rose again it is referring to Jesus Christ, we must also be compelled to accept that Jesus Christ is Almighty God since Revelation 1:8-9 says that the First and the Last is called the Lord God and the Almighty God.

Thus, theses passages teach that Jesus Christ is God, a cardinal tenet of Trinitarian belief and the Biblical Unitarians are refuted, found wanting and left with exegetical evasionary tactics.

The evidence I have presented to you is clear and its line of reasoning is irrefutable. And like Jack Nicholson told Tom Cruise in a “Few Good Men” the Biblical Unitarians, “just can’t handle the truth!”