The First Shall Be Last

There is a sentence Jesus says twice, almost word for word each time, as if He wanted to be sure we heard it: "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first" (Matthew 19:30; Matthew 20:16). It sounds at first like a riddle, or a small comfort for the overlooked. It is much more. It is the grain of the whole Kingdom, the direction grace always runs, and once you have seen it you begin to find it everywhere, hidden even in the stones God chose to carry His people.

A kingdom that runs backwards

The world sorts people front to back: the strong, the deserving, the early, the sure. Jesus keeps reaching past the front of the line. The thief who had nothing left to offer but a dying breath went first into paradise (Luke 23:43). The laborers hired at the eleventh hour were paid the same as those who bore the heat of the day (Matthew 20:1-16). The prodigal who wasted everything got the robe and the ring, while the elder son who never left stood outside, offended. Over and over the last become first, and the first, if they cling to being first, become last. This is not unfairness. It is mercy, which by its very nature goes to those who have not earned it.

The breastplate: a people who began in blood

Now watch where the pattern is hidden. When God dressed the first high priest, He set twelve stones over his heart, one for each tribe of Israel, so that Aaron would "bear the names of the children of Israel… upon his heart" whenever he went in before God (Exodus 28:29). The first stone in that breastplate was a sardius (Exodus 28:17), a deep, blood-red stone. The old covenant opens in blood: a people carried in on the strength of a sacrifice they could not make for themselves, named one by one, pressed against the priest's heart.

The city: a people who end in the King

Now go to the end of the Bible. John sees the city coming down, and its wall has "twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:14). Twelve stones again, but a different twelve, for a different people: not the tribes of the old covenant but the apostles of the new. And the last of those twelve foundation stones is an amethyst (Revelation 21:20), a purple stone, the color of kings. The old began in the red of blood; the new ends in the purple of the King. The whole story moves from the sacrifice that opens the door to the Christ who is the city's crown.

The stone that went from last to first

And here is the turn that ought to make you sit up. In the breastplate, the very last stone, the twelfth, was a jasper (Exodus 28:20). In the New Jerusalem, the very first foundation is a jasper (Revelation 21:19). The last became first. And of all stones, why jasper? Because jasper is the stone of God's own glory. When John is caught up to the throne, "he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone" (Revelation 4:3); when he sees the city, "her light was like… a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (Revelation 21:11). The glory of God, set last in the old order, becomes the first foundation of the new. Meanwhile the sardius, the blood-red stone that stood first on the breastplate, moves to the sixth foundation, the very middle of the city. The blood that once stood at the door now beats at the heart. First became last, last became first, and it was written into the stones before any of us were born.

Where are you standing?

This is not a puzzle for the curious. It is a question for you. The reversal is the Kingdom's open secret, and it cuts both ways. If you are certain you are first, near the front, deserving, then the gentlest thing Jesus can do is tell you the truth: the line runs the other way, and the road up is down. But if you know you are last, late, and empty-handed, lift your eyes. The foundation stone is already laid, and it is glory, and it was laid precisely for the ones who came in at the eleventh hour. "So the last shall be first, and the first last" (Matthew 20:16). The only truly wrong place to stand is at the front, sure you belong there. Come in at the back, and you will find you have come to the cornerstone.

Related: The Whole Story and Covenant Theology vs. Dispensationalism. Scripture from the King James Version, linked to BibleHub.