[quantadev]

A simpler answer is just what happens if you look thru a telescope or binoculars "the wrong way" (backwards). The correct way shows a "zoomed in" view of that you're viewing, but looking the wrong way shows a "zoomed out" view.

So lifeforms on the other end of this cosmic "lens[es]" cannot use it to see us better, because in fact it makes us look further away from them than we are, from their perspective.

[ben_w]

If only relativity were so simple :)

If I understand right, objects further than a redshift of z ~= 1.8 can't be reached by any signal we emit, and the second galaxy is at a redshift of z = 1.885. But I don't know how precisely (standard deviations rather than decimal places) the distance to the outbound cosmological horizon is being approximated, so it might be reachable by a signal sent by us:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Home_in_...

Not sure what the practical analogy would be. You can't use an exploding telescope?

[quantadev]

The question I addressed is "does the lensing work the same from the other end". It's a very specific and clear question, and the answer is "no it does not", because if you reverse a telescope lens you get the opposite effect (from zoom-in to zoom-out)

The question of at what distance and relative velocity are the two locations so far apart that light can never make it from one to the other (due to expanding universe) is a completely separate issue.