The First and Last

One enigmatic phrase of the Savior that most are familiar with is this: “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matt. 19:30).  He spoke this when responding to Peter’s inquiry about how those who have forsaken things for the Savior will be compensated.  He repeated the phrase in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  The householder said to those who complained at his generosity, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen” (Matt. 20:15-16).  At least in the text of the New Testament, Christ didn’t really explain what He meant.

                The scriptures of the Restoration help us to better understand what the Savior was referring to when speaking of the first and the last, and I believe there is more than one valid interpretation.  Nephi gives us a clue in his words speaking about the last days: “And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations, both unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles; and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” (1 Nephi 13:42).  What Nephi seems to have been saying is that in the time of the Savior the gospel went first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles; but in the last days the gospel goes first to the Gentiles and then to the Jews.  This is what the Lord said about the Seventy and the Twelve in our dispensation: “The Seventy are to act in the name of the Lord… in building up the church and regulating all the affairs of the same in all nations, first unto the Gentiles and then to the Jews.  The Twelve being sent out, holding the keys, to open the door by the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and first unto the Gentiles and then unto the Jews” (D&C 107:34-35).  Another passage in the Book of Mormon gives a similar interpretation.  In Moroni’s record of Ether’s teachings, he wrote this about the building up of Jerusalem after the New Jerusalem would be built: “And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries, and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father, Abraham.  And when these things come, bringeth to pass the scripture which saith, there are they who were first, who shall be last; and there are they who were last, who shall be first” (Ether 13:11-12).  He seems to be saying that the New Jerusalem would be built up first in our dispensation followed by the Jerusalem of old.  Those who were originally in Jerusalem and were first (the Jews and other tribes of Israel) were scattered and will ultimately be gathered in, but they will be last in order of gathering when compared to the Gentiles.  I believe Zenos was referring to this same general order of gathering in the allegory of the olive tree: “Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last; and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time” (Jacob 5:63).

               The Lord also gave a different interpretation of this phrase in modern revelation when speaking about the time of final judging.  After saying that the righteous would be gathered unto eternal life, He said of the wicked: “I will say unto them—Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  He then commented in these words, “But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men; and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit.  For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal.  First spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work” (D&C 29:28-32).  It seems that what He was speaking of two different kinds of first/last pairs.  The devil and his angels who sought to be first in the premortal world will ultimately be last spiritually because they will be cast out.  And in the premortal realm He created us spiritually first (by organizing our intelligences into spirit bodies) before creating us physically with bodies; but then with the resurrection He will raise up our physical bodies first before finalizing our spiritual state. 

               Clearly the Lord used the phrase on multiple levels, but perhaps the most important application for us is the way in which Christ used a variation on the first/last theme to His apostles: “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).  One of the paradoxes of the gospel is that if we want to be great we have to be a humble servant; and if we want to first then we should forget about ourselves and focus on being last.