First and the last

First and the last.

 

75. First and the last: The first and the last are terms sometimes used to describe either God or His Holy Manifestations of Himself as they are repeatedly sent to this world. the cross-5pix CHRISTIANITY: Revelation: 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on The Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:” Revelations: 22:13 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Jewish symbols star-8pix JUDAISM: Isaiah: 44:6 “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: 41:4 “I The LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He.”

 

Islamic symbol-10 pix ISLAM: 3. “He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  57)

Islamic symbol-5pix 25. “But it is to Allah (God) that the End and the Beginning (of all things) belong.”

           (The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  53)

Zoroastrian symbol-12pix ZOROASTRIANISM: 3. “Let Sraosha (Obedience) be here present for the sacrifice of Ahura Mazda, (God) the most beneficent, the holy, who is so dear to us as at the first, so at the last; yea, let him be present here.”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 15)

Ahura Mazda symbol-8pix 8. “I recognize Thee, O Mazda, in my thought, that Thou the First art (also) the Last. Thou art the true Creator of Right, and art the Lord to judge the actions of life.”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 31)

Hindu symbol-10pix HINDUISM: “Never The Spirit was born; The Spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time It was not; End and Beginning are dreams! Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth The Spirit (Brahma, Vishnu, God) forever;”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 2)

Hindu symbol 5-pix “Thou art God Eternal, All-creating, Holy, First, Without beginning! Lord of Lords and Gods!” “And nowhere end of Thee.”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 10 and 11)

Hindu symbol 5-pix “The One Unborn, Unending: Unchanging and Unblending! With might and majesty, past thought, past seeing!”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 11)

Buddhist wheel symbol-10 pixBUDDHISM: “There is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed (Brahma/God). If there were not this Unborn, this Unoriginated, this Uncreated, this Unformed, escape from the world of the born, the originated, the created, the formed, would not be possible.”

((The Eightfold Path), Buddha, the Word (The Eightfold Path))

Mandaean symbol-15pix SABEANISM: “Thou art the First, Thou art the Last, Thou art the Future.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 75)

Mandaean symbol1 “For thou wast in existence before all.” “In the name of the Life! I worship The First Life (Haiyi, Qadmaiyi/God) and praise my lord Manda-d-Hiia. Thou art immeasurable, infinite and (for) ever.” Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 35 and 75)

The shrine-17pix BABI RELIGION: “Every revelation of His divine Essence betokens the sublimity of His glory, the loftiness of His sanctity, the inaccessible height of His oneness and the exaltation of His majesty and power. His beginning hath had no beginning other than His Own firstness and His end knoweth no end save His Own lastness.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 111)

The shrine10 pix “It is this Primal Will which appeareth resplendent in every Prophet and speaketh forth in every revealed Book. It knoweth no beginning, inasmuch as the First deriveth its firstness from It; and knoweth no end, for the Last oweth its lastness unto It.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 126)

the greatest name-12pixBAHA’I FAITH: “If thou be of the inmates of this city within the ocean of divine unity, thou wilt view all the Prophets and Messengers of God as one soul and one body, as one light and one spirit, in such wise that the first among them would be last and the last would be first. For they have all arisen to proclaim His Cause and have established the laws of divine wisdom. They are, one and all, the Manifestations of His Self, the Repositories of His might, the Treasuries of His Revelation, the Dawning-Places of His splendour and the Daysprings of His light. Through them are manifested the signs of sanctity in the realities of all things and the tokens of oneness in the essences of all beings. Through them are revealed the elements of glorification in the heavenly realities and the exponents of praise in the eternal essences. From them hath all creation proceeded and unto them shall return all that hath been mentioned. And since in their inmost Beings they are the same Luminaries and the self-same Mysteries, thou shouldst view their outward conditions in the same light, that thou mayest recognize them all as one Being, nay, find them united in their words, speech, and utterance.”

“Wert thou to consider in this station the last of them to be the first, or conversely, thou wouldst indeed be speaking the truth, as hath been ordained by Him Who is the Wellspring of Divinity and the Source of Lordship: ‘Say: Call upon God or call upon the All-Merciful: by which-so-ever name ye will, invoke him, for He hath most excellent names. For they are all the Manifestations of the name of God, the Dawning-Places of His attributes, the Repositories of His might, and the Focal Points of His sovereignty, whilst God – magnified be His might and glory – is in His Essence sanctified above all names and exalted beyond even the loftiest attributes. Consider likewise the evidences of divine omnipotence both in their Souls and in their human Temples, that thine heart may be assured and that thou mayest be of them that speed through the realms of His nearness.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 32)

the greatest name 8 pix“They are all the manifestation of the ‘Beginning’ and the ‘End,’ the ‘First’ and the ‘Last,’ the ‘Seen’ and the ‘Hidden’ — all of which pertain to Him Who is the Innermost Spirit of Spirits and Eternal Essence of Essences. And were they to say, ‘We are the Servants of God,’ this also is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of Being were deep immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of Divine mysteries, they claimed their utterances to be the Voice of Divinity, the Call of God Himself.

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 54)

the greatest name 8 pix“He is the First and the Last; the Seen and the Hidden; and He knoweth all things!”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries)