THE FIRSTBORN

THE FIRSTBORN

On the night of the first Passover, when the death angel passed over the land of Egypt and killed the firstborn of every creature, the Lord laid claim to the firstborn of every Israelite.

EXO 13:2 Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, [both] of man and of beast: it [is] mine.

I do not claim to know WHY the Lord planned it the way He did. I merely know a little bit of WHAT He did. But, I am sure that if our eyes were able to focus more clearly on what was done, we might be able to know more about why it was planned that way.

The Law of the Firstborn was incorporated into the Ordinances and ceremonies of the Law given by Moses. The Bible informs us that the Law given by Moses was for the purpose of TEACHING us about Jesus Christ and His work in our hearts. If we understand the Law of Moses, we can also understand the work of Jesus in the world.

GAL 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Biologically, there is little reason to believe that the first child is any better than the second or third. But, the Lord, in His plan for the Church, placed a premium on the firstborn of the family.

It is a type of something that has little to do with the natural order of birth. The Lord is trying to teach us something about HIS PLAN that we would otherwise know nothing about.
If we can learn what the Lord is trying to teach us through this, we can know more about what to expect in the future of the Church.

Being the firstborn son in a family entitled a person to the BIRTHRIGHT. This custom was started long before the Law of Moses, the same as the practice of tithing of our income to the Lord. It also carried the blessing of the DOUBLE PORTION of the fathers goods

There were some notable EXCEPTIONS to the rule or custom. Some firstborns LOST their claim to the birthright and double portion, while others who were not the firstborn ATTAINED to those blessings.


GEN 49:3-4 ¶ Reuben, thou [art] my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou [it]: he went up to my couch.

GEN 48:20-22 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Joseph, in Egypt indicated that God had a plan in store for the sons of Jacob when he arranged the seating and the portions at the table as he entertained his brothers who had returned with Benjamin.

GEN 43:33,34 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. And he took [and sent] messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

We also see here that the racial hatreds we see today are not just a recent thing,

GEN 43:32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that [is] an abomination unto the Egyptians.

A little while after the first Passover, Aaron made a golden calf for the Children of Israel, and they danced around it. Moses came down from the mountain and called to them, "Who is on the Lord's side?" The tribe of Levi came out. There was a fight, and several people were killed. It is not wise to play with the things of God.

When it was time to start the ceremonies of the Tabernacle. God did NOT choose the firstborns to be priests. Rather, He chose the Levites. I suppose that the episode at the golden calf influenced His choice. Only God knows the real reason.

The fact remains that He reserved the firstborns FOR ANOTHER PURPOSE and substituted the Levites to be Priests.

The firstborns were symbolic of something else, and it was NOT TIME for that yet, in the economy of God.

The LEVITES were to portray, IN SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE, what the firstborns were chosen to do IN REALITY at a later time.

And, by the way, REALITY is what the word TRUTH means as it is used concerning the work of Jesus in the Church. TRUTH equates with REALITY, as compared with symbolic activity. "Grace and TRUTH (REALITY) came by Jesus Christ.

JOH 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, [but] GRACE AND TRUTH came by Jesus Christ.

The Law was SYMBOL; Jesus is the REALITY.

The LEVITES were SYMBOLIC; Jesus, the FIRSTBORN is REALITY.

COL 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the FIRSTBORN OF EVERY CREATURE:

TRUTH IS NOT A DOCTRINE. There are several true doctrines, but none of them is THE TRUTH.

There remains a CHOOSING of people, which will be done by the Lord. The purpose of the choosing is for the selecting a group of followers whom He can make into what the FIRSTBORNS and the LEVITES of the Old Testament were symbolic of.

ISA 66:1,2 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven [is] my throne, and the earth [is] my footstool: where [is] the house that ye build unto me? and where [is] the place of my rest? For all those [things] hath mine hand made, and all those [things] have been, saith the LORD: BUT TO THIS [MAN] WILL I LOOK, [EVEN] TO [HIM THAT IS] POOR AND OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT, AND TREMBLETH AT MY WORD.

ISA 66:21 And I will also take of them for priests
[and] for Levites, saith the LORD.

As the Levites administered the Law of Moses, so will the Firstborns (those who have attained to the status of the Firstborn) administer the Spirit of the Kingdom.

We have so much more to look forward to than we have been told about in the standard Christian curriculum. We have been sold short.

HEB 12:18-24 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) BUT YE ARE COME UNTO MOUNT SION, AND UNTO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD, THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, AND TO AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF ANGELS, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN, WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN, AND TO GOD THE JUDGE OF ALL, AND TO THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT, AND TO JESUS THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT, AND TO THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING, THAT SPEAKETH BETTER THINGS THAN [THAT OF] ABEL.