I. "I am the first." (1) We find in this the affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of a Supreme God, the Creator of all things. (2) This reminds us, further, that as God is the supreme cause, He must also be the supreme end of all that exists, the centre of the thoughts and affections of all the beings He has created. (3) This means, further, that God is at the basis of all that is done to raise and save humanity, to bring it back to the true life which it has lost by separating itself from Him.
II. "I am the last." By this we must understand (1) that God never abdicates, and that He shall ever remain the Supreme Master, when all the lords of a day shall have passed away after having made a little noise in the world. (2) This means, further, that God remains the Supreme Judge, and that consequently the hour of justice shall certainly strike. (3) This reminds us again that God is the supreme refuge of every soul that calls upon Him, the only one which remains standing when all others have disappeared.
E. Bersier, Sermons,2nd series, p. 350.
References: Isaiah 44:7. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxiii., No. 1377. Isaiah 44:8. Preacher's Monthly,vol. v., p. 319; Bishop Walsham How, Plain Words,2nd series, p. 39.