¹⁷ Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.^[a] He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.^[b]

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

A Call to Repentance

⁶ “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,”^[a] says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

⁵⁸ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!^[a]”

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.^[a]