---
title: Revelation 1:17
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-17/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-1-17.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 1:17
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 1:17

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

## JW Usage

JWs acknowledge that Jesus is called "the First and the Last" in Revelation 1:17 but argue this title carries a different meaning when applied to Jesus than when applied to Jehovah in Isaiah 44:6. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is "first" as the firstborn of creation and "last" as the last one directly created by God. This interpretation allows them to maintain a strict separation between Jehovah's identity and Jesus' subordinate role. In the Isaiah 48:12-16 argument, JWs attempt a voice-change explanation — claiming a prophetic speaker shift — to avoid the implication that the same "First and Last" who created the earth also says "Jehovah has sent me."

## Protestant Usage

The Protestant reading recognises that "the First and the Last" is an exclusive divine title. In Isaiah 44:6, Yahweh declares "I am the First and I am the Last; apart from me there is no God." When Jesus claims this identical title in Revelation 1:17, he is taking upon himself the very designation that Yahweh says belongs to him alone. Isaiah 48:12-16 strengthens this identification: the speaker who calls himself "the First and the Last" and who laid the earth's foundation (clearly Yahweh) then says "the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his spirit" — revealing plurality within the one God. The title does not merely describe sequence or rank; it is a claim to eternal, uncreated deity that bridges the Old and New Testaments.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus as Alpha and Omega](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/alpha-omega.md) — Revelation 22:12–16 [Deity of Christ]
- [Yahweh Sent Yahweh](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/yahweh-sent-yahweh.md) — Isaiah 48:16 — Plurality Within the One God [Deity of Christ]
- [Every Title For Yahweh Is Given To Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/yahweh-titles-applied-to-jesus.md) — Isaiah 44:6 / Acts 4:12 / Romans 10:9 / Hosea 13:4 / Revelation 22:13 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Incarnation Is Addition, Not Compression](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/word-became-flesh-not-michael.md) — Why the Logos-to-Michael-to-Jesus-to-Michael cycle does not match the New Testament [Deity of Christ]