Firstborn: December 2024
Table of Contents
Firstborn
The Lord Jesus Christ was born first in Joseph and Mary’s family (Matt. 1:25; Luke 2:7) and He is also set in the first place, in rank and position, in everything in connection with the purpose of God (Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15,18; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5). Thus, He is “Firstborn” in both ways.
Colossians 1:15 says that He is “the Firstborn of all creation.” Being the Creator of the universe (John 1:3), when He came into the world (His incarnation), He could have no other place than that of Head of His own creation. Being the Firstborn among His creatures distinguishes Him as having a superior place to them. Colossians 1:18 indicates that the Lord is Firstborn in another way. When He rose “from among the dead,” He became the “Firstborn” of a whole new race of men (Rom. 8:29 – “many brethren”). Since they are of the same “kind” as He is in new creation (compare Gen. 1:24), they are entirely suited to be His eternal companions, and thus “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11). As “the Firstborn from the dead,” the Lord Jesus is the triumphant Redeemer who now has the right to receive the saints’ praise and worship (Rev. 1:5-6). Revelation 1:5 indicates that the Lord as “Firstborn” has the title and right to take the inheritance (every created thing) and to reign over it, which He will do at His appearing (Rev. 1:7).
B. Anstey
The Beginning
We desire to call attention to a new commencement, which introduces us to the prospect of an eternal day of unclouded joy. This new beginning is CHRIST — Christ in resurrection, Christ as the Firstborn from the dead. To understand this, some consideration must be given to the term, “the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18). Death is thus pointed out as the close of the old period and resurrection as the beginning of the new order of things. Death was the consequence of sin, and the cross of Christ was really the termination of God’s trial of man under responsibility. The first man came to an end there, under the just judgment of God. Until this is seen, there can be no proper apprehension of the significance of the resurrection of Christ.
The Commencement of New Creation
Together with the disappearance of the first man from the eye of God, the world in which he had lived came under judgment, and its prince was cast out. There was thus, if we may so speak, a clean sweep, the ending up of everything. The first man and his world came under a common doom. But this only gave the occasion for the revelation of the eternal counsels of God. Before the foundation of the world, God, in the sovereignty of His grace, had chosen a people in Christ, that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The foundation for the accomplishment of these counsels was laid in the death and resurrection of Christ. His death was the end of the responsible man’s history in the flesh. His resurrection, while it was the display of His victorious power over sin, death and Satan, was also the commencement of that new creation, of which He is the center and the glory and in which all things are made new, as suited to His condition as the Second Man who is out of heaven.
Christ in Incarnation
It must not be forgotten that Christ, in incarnation, was the Second Man, and it is only as we remember this that we can understand the language of John, who speaks of Him as “from the beginning.” This “beginning” dated from His introduction into this world. But while He was the Second Man when He became flesh and dwelt among us, He was not in the condition of the Second Man until after His resurrection. In His life here, He was in the form of a servant, in fashion as a man, “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” In resurrection this was all changed, and now, for the first time, God’s eternal thought for man in redemption was realized and set forth. It is on this account that He is termed “the beginning” in our scripture (Col. 1:18), and the words, “the Firstborn from the dead,” are added to mark the fact that He became this in resurrection. The similar expression in Revelation 3:14, “the beginning of the creation of God,” differs only in this, that here our attention is directed rather to the nature and character of the new creation, as seen in a risen and glorified Christ.
Firstborn of All Creation
One word must be said as to the context in Colossians. Immediately after describing our blessed Lord as the Firstborn from the dead, it proceeds, “That in all things He might have the preeminence.” The Apostle had already spoken of Him as the firstborn of every creature, or “Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:5), and he explains that this place belongs to Him in virtue of His creatorship: “By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17). If the Creator Himself steps, so to speak, into His own creation, He must, of necessity, take the first place, and this is one of the glories of His supremacy. Then, on introducing us into the new circle of the church, we are also reminded that He has the first place in it, for He who is the head of His body, the church, is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. Thus, wherever Christ is, whether regarded as connected with the first creation or the new, He is first, in the absolute preeminence of His personal and acquired glories.
Christ Our Life in Resurrection
But the point to be pressed at this moment is that if God now dates everything (we speak reverently) from the resurrection of Christ, so must we, if we would be in communion with His mind. Think for one moment of the unspeakable significance of this truth. All men are in a state of spiritual death, and Christians are, by the grace of God, associated with the death of Christ, so that it can be said of them, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). There is only one Man, therefore, before the eyes of God, only one in life, the Life itself, and this is He who is the Firstborn from the dead. That it is He who is our life is also blessedly true, but it is He who is this, and He is our life in resurrection. He is consequently our new beginning, and His resurrection will be invested with new light and power for our souls. Entering into this, we shall not be occupied with our birth into this world or with times and seasons, but everything for us will be associated with Christ as risen out of death and glorified.
Christ Is Our Beginning
All will admit the truth of this as doctrine, but what we want is to be in the power of the truth. After a new language is learned, many continue to think in their own and to translate their thoughts into the new as required. Many Christians are like this. They live the old life, they profess to have died with Christ, but endeavor to use the new life, life in a risen Christ, as the vehicle for the expression of their old thoughts, feelings and affections. No wonder that constant failure marks their path and that their Christian lives are characterized by sorrow and disappointment! New wine must, as our Lord teaches, be put into new bottles. The old life must be refused, and grace must be sought always to bear about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. Possessing Christ, we then have to learn that we came to an end before God in His cross and that our true life is Himself who is the Firstborn from the dead. Then we shall indeed apprehend that He, the risen One, is also our beginning.
Christ the Pattern
It may be further remarked that Christ, as so presented to us, is the Pattern and Model of all the redeemed. As before remarked, in Christ risen and glorified we behold God’s eternal thought for all His redeemed, and His servant Paul has taught us that God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, “that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren.” Nothing short of this would correspond with His purpose or satisfy His heart. Our Lord Himself speaks of the same thing when He says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:19). The truth of what He is as the glorified Man, although ever the Eternal Son, is the means, brought home to the soul in the power of the Holy Spirit, of bringing us into growing moral conformity to Him now and into His likeness actually when our bodies also partake of the efficacy of redemption. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:48-49). What a prospect is thus opened out before the eye of faith! And what an unfolding of the grace of our God, in that He has thus purposed to have us ever before Himself, in eternal association with His beloved Son and in perfect conformity to His image!
Christian Friend, 1896
The Firstborn
In the modern world, we do not pay much attention to birth order in families, but in the Word of God the firstborn is mentioned many times. The term occurs multiple times in the Old Testament, but in our KJV it is mentioned only seven times in the New Testament. In particular, the term is used a number of times to refer to the Lord Jesus in both Old and New Testaments.
While the term often refers to the one who was first in birth order, yet in other cases, and particularly with reference to the Lord Jesus, it refers to the place of prominence, preeminent rights, and rank. We find this meaning used in Jacob’s family in the Old Testament, for we read, “The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s)” (1 Chron. 5:1-2). Reuben was the firstborn in time, but he lost it because of his sin, and Joseph obtained the first place, or birthright.
The term “firstborn” was also used in the same way among the nations, for the Lord could say to Pharaoh through Moses, “Israel is my son, even my firstborn” (Ex. 4:22). This does not mean that Israel was the first in time to become a nation, but rather their precedence over other nations.
With the Lord Jesus, He did not need to displace anyone else in order to take the place of firstborn, but He was called the Firstborn because He was the Son of God. God the Father has appointed Him to the highest place in every way.
The Only Begotten Son
Other terms in the Word of God concerning the Lord Jesus have sometimes caused confusion, even in the minds of true believers, and sadly, these terms have sometimes been wrongly interpreted to lower the dignity of God’s beloved Son.
In particular, the Lord Jesus is called in Scripture “the only begotten Son.” The term “begotten” is used in the Old Testament prophetically concerning the Lord Jesus, for Jehovah could say, “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee” (Psa. 2:7). In the New Testament, the term is used only in John’s ministry, and it is mentioned five times. Almost all believers have memorized John 3:16, where we read that God “gave His only begotten Son.” This phrase is used in connection with the Lord Jesus’ coming into this world and becoming a Man. It is also used particularly in connection with the showing out of God’s love to this world. It is important to realize, however, that He was the only begotten Son before He was given. The term is used in connection with His coming into this world only to distinguish that fact; it has nothing to do with His eternal existence as the Son of God.
The First Begotten of the Dead
Likewise, we have the term (used in Revelation 1:5) “the first begotten of the dead.” Here it refers to the fact that God’s only begotten Son, having fully accomplished the work that the Father gave Him to do, has now risen from the dead. He was not the first one in time to be brought back from the dead, for this had happened a number of times before, where those who had been dead in this world were raised up and brought back to life down here.
However, here is One who, in the power of the Godhead, never saw corruption, but was raised from the dead as the preeminent One, above all others. He must have the first place: “That in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18).
The Firstborn of All Creation
There are three other expressions in the Word of God that refer to the Lord Jesus as the Firstborn, and all of them add to our understanding of the Person of that blessed One. The first one is found in Colossians 1:15, where the Lord Jesus is referred to as “the Firstborn of every creature.” However, the translation here is not as clear as it could be, for it could be inferred from this expression that the Lord Jesus was a creature Himself. But this He never was, nor could be, for the word “creature,” by virtue of its definition, implies something that is created. A better rendering is “firstborn of all creation” (JND trans.).
In being referred to as the “firstborn of all creation,” the Lord Jesus is given the place of dignity and headship over all creation. He existed before creation, for we read also that “all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). When He entered His own creation as man, He came in all the dignity of the One who had made it all.
Christ’s Preeminence
His preeminence in all creation is further brought out by two phrases in the next verse (Col. 1:16), for there we read twice that “by Him were all things created,” and “all things were created by Him, and for Him.” This is not merely repetition, for the two words translated “by” are not the same in the original language. The first word “by” has the thought of “in virtue of Him,” showing us that the Lord Jesus created all things in His own inherent right as God. However, He did not act independently of His place in the Godhead, so the second word “by” has the thought of “by means of Him.” God the Son is always the One who carries out the Father’s purposes and counsels, and thus the Lord Jesus is the Creator of all things. The act of creation was that of the full Godhead, but the Lord Jesus was the One by means of which it was all carried out. All things were created through Him, but all things were also created for His glory. What an object for our wonder and praise is that blessed One!
Firstborn From the Dead
The second expression “firstborn” as applied to the Lord Jesus is found in Colossians 1:18: “firstborn from the dead,” or perhaps more accurately, “firstborn from among the dead.” Once again, this refers to the Lord Jesus in His preeminence, as having been raised from among the dead. The truth of resurrection was well-known in the Old Testament, but a resurrection from among the dead, while others were left in their graves, was not known.
More than this, the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead with a glorified body, never to die again. There were those in the Old Testament who were raised from the dead, such as the boy who was brought back to life by Elijah, or the man who revived when his body was put into the grave of Elisha. In the New Testament our Lord Jesus Himself raised some from the dead, such as the widow of Nain’s son and Lazarus. However, all of these were raised up to life in this world, and eventually they had to die again. But our Lord Jesus was raised with a body of glory — a body suited to a celestial sphere, not an earthly one. As such, He is the Firstborn from among the dead, and the pattern that will be followed by all of the heavenly saints. At the Lord’s coming for His saints, believers from both Old and New Testaments will be raised with bodies of glory, “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the Firstborn from among the dead, and the One who has already entered heaven with a body of glory.
Firstborn Among Many Brethren
Finally, we have that beautiful expression, “Firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). In the counsels of God, He has predestinated us to be “conformed to the image of His Son,” so that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Our blessed Lord Jesus has become a man, and He will remain a man for all eternity, in order to enjoy your company and mine. But God has purposed to have a family in heaven where each one is perfectly like His beloved Son. In that sense, when the Lord Jesus became a man and then, as we have seen, rose from the dead as a man, He became the Firstborn among many brethren. That means that all who belong to Christ will be perfectly like that One who is the Firstborn — the foremost and distinguished One who has gone before, and the One whom we will perfectly resemble in a coming day. He is not ashamed to call us brethren (Heb. 2:11), for He has brought us into that close relationship with Himself.
W. J. Prost
The Firstborn of the Clean and Unclean
The righteousness of God was witnessed by the law and the prophets, although only manifested by the cross, resurrection and glorification of our Lord. The witnessing was to the manifestation what the shadow is to the substance — a resemblance and a contrast. The outline may be simpler, but the fullness is wanting. Now the shadows are doubtless left by the Lord to help us to understand better the reality. One of the most interesting of these shadows is found in the relative position and fate of the firstborn of the clean and unclean animals. In them we have a wonderful picture of the Savior, the sinner and the atonement.
The Clean and Unclean
If I think of the relative status in nature and under the law of the clean and unclean beasts, clearly the clean have the advantage. Noah shows us this when he takes seven into the ark. When I remember this, I am struck with the fact that the firstling of the unclean creature has greatly the advantage over that of the clean, for it may freely enjoy life, though only on the ground of redemption. But the other is absolutely doomed to death. Thus we read, “The firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem” (Num. 18:15). But the firstling of a cow, a sheep, a goat, that is, of clean animals, “thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar” (vs. 17).
These two classes of animals represent two men — the unclean or sinful man, and the holy man. Man looked at as the race, including, of course, every individual but One, stands side by side with the unclean animal, and this not from any act of our own which made us guilty, but from our birth, from which, through the first man’s sin, we were constituted sinners and, by nature, children of wrath. So we find coupled with the redemption of the unclean firstling. “The firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem.” This teaches the unholy nature of man. In a similar way we find man, associated with the ass in Exodus 13, reminding us of Zophar’s word, “Though man be born like a wild ass’s colt” (Job 11:12), giving man the thought of the naturally insubordinate character of our hearts. He is “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” So we see man away from God, under condemnation, and needing a Savior from his birth. This corresponds with the end of Romans 5: “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” But also, we see redemption as large as the ruin: “The firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.” There stands the open door of salvation for all. “By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:18).
The Firstborn of the Clean
Now in the midst of mercy in redemption, there was One for whom there was none. For the firstling of the clean beast there was no escape from death. Strange may seem the reason: It was holy. The unclean might find an escape; the holy, never. What a riddle this presents to the natural mind! It seems subversive of all justice and contrary to all human and legal righteousness. But what a vivid picture it is of God’s righteousness in saving the sinner! Here was the will of God, our sanctification. This must be by sacrifice—namely, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once (Hebrews 10:10). Our Lord comes to do that will. He takes the place in infinite grace of the clean animal, being Himself the Firstborn of every creature and “that holy thing,” as Luke declares. Now the absolute doom of the firstborn of the clean animal pictures His awful position to which he was destined, shut up without escape from being sacrificed. True, He looked beyond it to that right-hand place where there are pleasures forevermore, and He could say, “Thou wilt show Me the path of life,” and, “The lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places” (Psa. 16). But it was nevertheless true that the weight of that judgment under which He had to go was on His spirit. His enemies, ignorant of the truth, correctly expressed it in the bitter and cruel taunt, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” As the end draws near, we find Him fully alive to the situation, but absolutely undeterred by it. So we read, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?” Indeed, in the garden, the terror of it was upon His holy spirit: “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” There was no possible escape from it: “Thou shalt not redeem.” This we see in the type: “Thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar.” So too the unanswered prayers for deliverance in Psalm 22: “I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not”; now in all this depth of suffering, shut in to judgment, “deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts,” we see the wonderful perfection of the Lord. He justifies God in the midst of all: “Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” The depth of His trial proved how truly He was holy. There was no evil answer to be wrung from His heart. There was a Man in whom only good was, and only good could come forth; thus, He was a sweet savor to God. All men who were much tested had utterly failed — Job and others — and must range themselves, as we must, side by side with the unclean beast. In Christ we find the only answer to the type of the clean animal, and He was the only One for whom there was no escape, so that through the grace of God there might be an escape for the sinner who believes in Him.
Sanctify All the Firstborn
If we carry on further the history of the firstborn, it is full of interest and instruction. The firstborn of Israel was saved by the blood at the Passover, but those so redeemed were specially and peculiarly God’s. “Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb is Mine” (Ex. 13:2). Thus the firstborn was not merely redeemed from death; it was bought for God: “Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20).
Now the history of the firstborn was this: God had His tabernacle, with its varied and multiplied services, and to perform these services required an immense number of men. Now this service belonged to the firstborn, but their places were taken by the tribe of Levi. Each Levite represented a firstborn man in Israel. The number of eldest children that exceeded the number of that tribe were redeemed by five shekels of silver each (Num. 3:46-48). Thus the Levites were in a special way a redeemed company. Clearly, they are thus typical of Christians, both in our redemption and in the claim God has upon us for service as redeemed. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
The Double Privilege and Responsibility
The firstborn thus viewed has, so to speak, a double history from his redemption, and so have we. First, he dies in his substitute, then he lives as a servant in the Levite. And this finds its answer to the type in the believer now. We are dead with Christ (Rom. 6:8). That is the end of our history as responsible children of Adam: “I am crucified with Christ.” So the Israelitish father might say, “My son has died in that lamb.” Then that history ends. But “nevertheless I live.” Now we have a new life — “Christ liveth in me.” At this point we have the Levite before us, saved from death, but devoted to God. The individuality remains the same, of course. I am dead as a child of Adam; I live as a child of God — redeemed and born of Him. Thus we get our double privilege and responsibility, both to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ is not only the Firstborn who dies, but also the Firstborn who lives. He is the first from among the dead. Thus, it is blessed to think of Him in triumph over all His enemies, and in grace associating us with Himself. “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one” (Heb. 2:11). We are through grace the church of the firstborn ones whose names are written in heaven; also “a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” When we see our association with Christ, we would thankfully own that all our blessings flow from grace through His being shut up without escape to death. Thus only could the purposes of God towards us be accomplished. Now if we are firstborn with Christ, so to speak, still God’s counsel always secures for Him the preeminence: “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
C. D. Maynard (adapted)
Church of the Firstborn
Hebrews 12:23 is the only place where the term “church of the firstborn” is found. While it undoubtedly springs from the association of the church with Him who is the Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5), yet it is interesting to notice that God in His grace has always had the firstborn before His mind. No sooner had He sheltered His people from judgment in the land of Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb than He claimed all their firstborn as well as the firstborn of their cattle (Ex. 13). “All the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself” (Num. 8:17; also ch. 3:12-13). The Levites were afterward taken instead of the firstborn and given to Aaron and to his sons to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation. Representing thus the firstborn of Israel, they were associated with Aaron, who himself was a firstborn, and they thereby became a shadow, if not a type, of the church of the firstborn. This will be more apparent if it is remembered that even Aaron’s sons as well as the Levites derived all their privileges from being adjoined to Aaron. For example, Aaron, as a type of Christ, was clothed and anointed (without the sprinkling of blood, because a type of Christ) in the first place alone, and afterward with his sons, when it is through association with Aaron they become a figure of the church as the priestly family.
Now inasmuch as through all these types and figures God always had Christ in view, it is in Christ all these things find their fulfillment. When Christ therefore, the Firstborn from the dead, took His place at the right hand of God, the Holy Spirit was sent down to gather out those who should be heirs of God and Christ’s coheirs. All of these, in virtue of their association with Him, are firstborn, inasmuch as He deigns in His grace and love to share with them all that He Himself inherits by virtue of redemption. We, according to the purpose of God, are the brethren of Christ, and He will ever have the preeminence as the Firstborn among the redeemed. At the same time they, together in their association with Him before God, will form the church of the firstborn. What can we say in the presence of such unfoldings of the heart of our God but, “Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:21)?
E. Dennett
Jacob in Egypt
In the conflicts of the saints, not only is Satan defeated, but the tried saint learns fresh secrets about his own feebleness and the resources and grace of God. So, I may add, in the wanderings of the heart, in departure from the power of faith and hope, not only is the soul chastened and exercised, but it learns, to God’s glory, that it must come back to that posture in which the Lord first set it. These thoughts may introduce us to the closing period of Jacob’s history.
At the beginning Jacob had a title to the inheritance in the grace and sovereignty of God. “The elder shall serve the younger” was the decree that God had pronounced in his favor. The rights of nature in the person of Esau were not allowed to stand in his way. The purpose of the grace of God secured everything to him; this is his only but all-sufficient title, as it is ours. From simple confidence in this he departed. He sought to get his brother’s seal to this title (Gen. 25:31), and then, in guile, to get his father’s also (Gen. 27). This was a fraud, and twenty years’ exile, endured in the midst of wrongs and oppressions, was the divine discipline.
Confidence in God
But this was also “confidence in the flesh.” It was Galatianism — a seeking to get our title to blessing, or to birthright, or to inheritance from God, sealed by some other hand than His.
In the end, however, his soul is found in the exercise of the simplest confidence. He is about to die, and the sons of Joseph, which he had by the Egyptian, are brought before him. He at once adopts them. They had no title — at least none to the rights of the firstborn, but Jacob adopts them and puts them in the place of the firstborn, giving them a double portion and treating them as though they had been Reuben and Simeon.
In all this there was the stern refusal to confer with flesh and blood. His own bowels might have pleaded for his own firstborn. But no, Reuben must give place to Joseph, who, in his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, shall have one portion above his brethren. Grace shall prevail. Faith shall read its title to birthright, blessing, divine inheritance, and all things, to the full gainsaying of the claims of flesh and blood, or rights of nature.
The Purpose of God in Grace
But further, Manasseh the elder shall yield to Ephraim the younger, as Reuben the firstborn has been made to yield to Joseph the eleventh, and this, too, in despite of the most affecting pleadings and struggles of nature. In the bowels of a father, Joseph contends for the rights of Manasseh, and Jacob feels for him in those yearnings. In answer to them he says, “I know it, my son, I know it.” But he must pass on till he gets beyond the hearing of the cry of nature and publishes the purpose of God and the title of grace, setting Ephraim above Manasseh (Gen. 48).
Thus is he brought to occupy the very ground where the hand of God had set him at the beginning, and from which, through confidence in the flesh, he departed. He now learns that those whom God blesses shall be blest, that His grace needs not the help of flesh, nor His promise the seal of man. Nay, but that rather, in spite of flesh and in independence of man, God will make it good. Had it been needful for Jacob, to the securing of the divine inheritance to him, to procure his dying father Isaac’s blessing, Jacob now sees in his setting Ephraim above Manasseh, in spite of Joseph, that God could and would have brought it about. He had desired Isaac’s own seal to his title under God, but now he learns that God can vindicate the title He confers and make good the undertakings and promises of His grace, in spite, as it were, of even earth and hell, the reluctance of nature, or all the struggles of flesh and blood.
J. G. Bellett
The Birthright
Reuben was the firstborn of Israel (1 Chron. 5:1). As such he had a prominent place, for the firstborn takes precedence of the whole family, and through him the principal ancestral line is ordinarily traced. But Reuben is set aside, and the natural prominence of the birthright only sank him lower when he lost it. The order of nature is not God’s order, and nothing can meet the aberrance of nature but the sovereign mercy of God. So, it ever was since man fell. This mercy is seen in God’s governmental ways, but how much more in His ways of grace! Under grace, as a fundamental principle, it is first “that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:46). God gave the birthright to Joseph. Yet even here, showing the sovereignty of grace, the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
The Genealogy
The genealogy is that of the Chief Ruler. In the wisdom of God the birthright and the chief rule are for a brief space separated. The birthright was Christ’s when He came into the world, but if He had assumed the chief rule then, which could only have been in judgment, where would be the cross, redemption, and the glory of His grace? He came at the first to be cut off and have nothing, for there was a deeper question before He could appear as Chief Ruler according to the counsels of God. It required a distinct type, such as Joseph is, to set forth the truth that the Chief Ruler, whose was the birthright, should appear as One whose birthright was denied. He the Firstborn, possessing every right in heaven and on earth, was cast out and rejected by His own people, as Joseph by his brethren.
These are the purposes of God’s love and are shadowed forth from the beginning. Since sin came in, God in all His dealings and ways of old declares how great is His love and how it could be righteously manifested to sinners. Sacrifice and blood-shedding from the earliest time and all that was commanded under the law point to the cross, without which nothing was possible for man but everlasting perdition.
The Cross Is Before the Crown
Joseph as the ruler of Egypt is typical of the future rule and reign of Christ. The power and might of the Chief Ruler and Conqueror was foretold in the same word that announced His sufferings, for in Eden the Lord God said to the serpent, “He shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush His heel” (Gen. 3:15 JND). The triumph at the Red Sea, the victories of Joshua, of David, and the glory of Solomon present a vivid picture of the future reign of the Chief Ruler and how the serpent’s head will be crushed. But the final victory must come after the suffering. The crushing of the heel of the Seed comes before the crushing of the serpent’s head. The cross is before the crown; the throne is set up in the shadow of the cross, and the glories of each shine out all the more.
The Birthright
The first mention of birthright is in connection with one (Esau) that despised it, and Hebrews 12:15-16 alludes to it as a warning to believers. All in the church of God are firstborn ones, but we may, if worldly minded here, lose the joy and even the knowledge of them. Esau selling his birthright for a mess of pottage is called profane; for us it is as if a Christian would barter his heavenly position and character for some fancied earthly good, for present ease in this world or to escape the reproach of Christ.
“Birthright” was one of God’s landmarks for the support and maintenance of due authority and order among men. Esau despised and sold it. Reuben lost it. Jacob obtained it by taking advantage of Esau’s necessities, but that purchase was an empty form and of no value. Isaac was the depository of the birthright, not to do with it as he pleased, but according to God’s will. Isaac was not deceived as to God’s word; he knew that the elder was to serve the younger, but his own will blinded him to God’s will and to the personality of Jacob. This is the most striking instance of the overruling hand of God: man’s will seemingly successful, but God accomplishing His.
To Joseph the birthright is a gift immediate from God, with no unrighteous attempt to obtain it. But his brethren resented the idea of Joseph being their chief, so they sold him as a slave into Egypt. It was there that the privileges and authority of the birthright were seen in him. The means they took to prevent were God’s means to accomplish.
So, it will be in the coming day. Joseph takes rank in the family as firstborn, though not naturally so. And our Joseph is not the first man but the Second, not the first Adam but the Last. Yet is He the Firstborn, and when He appears, Israel as the sheaves of corn, the firstfruits of the earth, will make obeisance to Him.
Jacob’s view of Joseph’s prophetic dream seems limited to his own family, but the dream goes far beyond Jacob’s family or the nation of Israel. In that bright day, Israel as the first of the nations on the earth will be as the sun, moon and stars, the sources of power and authority to the subject Gentiles. Christ will rule from Zion, and Israel the chosen nation shall be princes in the earth, the channels of its millennial blessings.
The Royalty to Judah
What wondrous truths are wrapped up in Joseph’s dreams! It was the will of God then to give the birthright to Joseph and the royalty to Judah. Therefore we read, “Judah prevailed above his brethren and of him came the chief ruler” (1 Chron. 5:2). For a brief space both are seen in Joseph, but then we read, “Judah prevailed.” What a gracious way of declaring God’s predetermined purpose! Judah’s prevailing is simply the will of God. Hence he prevailed, but not by his goodness. Reuben was an immoral man, but he was not violent. Simeon and Levi were violent, but they were not immoral. But Judah was both, for it was he that suggested selling Joseph into Egypt, and the sordid details of his family life are recorded in God’s Word. Yet it seems that there was full repentance, and the grace of God gave him the honored place.
Between Joseph’s dreams and their fulfillment there was a period of suffering; he was cast out, hated by his brethren, sold as a slave to Gentiles, yet ended up ruling over them before his brethren bow to him. There passes before our hearts One greater than Joseph, who endured greater hatred from His own and was, by them, delivered to Gentiles to be crucified. He is now bowed to and worshipped by the called-out Gentile (Acts 15:14), while the Jew is yet in the land of famine.
R. Beacon (adapted)
The Blessing and The Inheritance
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them.” Then follows the inheritance, His gift to them. “And God said to them ... replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion” (Gen. 1:27-29). But the course of earth’s bright inauguration-day had not run long before man and his inheritance were ruined! That sun had risen upon a bright onlook of never-ending blessedness; then it set with man’s career cut short with a precarious and miserable existence closed in dust, and his inheritance being lorded over by corruption.
This was the natural man’s endowment with his possessions in responsibility. It was “an inheritance ... gotten hastily at the beginning;” but the end thereof was not blessed (Prov. 20:21). Here we have the figure of the natural man, but there is the contrast too, of the second Man, the Lord from heaven. He emptied Himself, taking a bondman’s form — in the likeness of sinful flesh, and being found as such, humbled Himself unto death. He was cut off and had nothing. Jesus came of a woman, came under law that He might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship. He seemed to labor in vain, and to spend His strength for nought. He lays aside every prerogative of deity, while ever remaining God, in order to be in perfect, absolute obedience as Man. Then He surrendered every right in death to do His Father’s will. He acquires a title to the inheritance in the dust of death, according to the glory and righteousness of God. Moreover, the co-heirs are not after the flesh, but after the Spirit — the children of promise, not of law, brought in by the same redemption work οf grace through faith.
Heirs According to Promise
All this is done, not on the principle of law, but promise, for God gave it in grace to Abraham by promise. Thus Paul tells us, “If ye are of Christ, then ye are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29 JND). All things are His, the gift of the Father’s love to Him; all power too is given to Him in heaven and earth. But still He waits. While He was yet here on earth, the Father had given all things into His hands. But He waited, took up the cross, and accomplished His Father’s will in the blood and fire of His sacrifice. He is risen now, and glorified, yet still He waits in patience while the co-heirs are gathered, for the long-suffering of our Lord is for salvation. But “the Lord does not delay His promise, as some account of delay” (2 Pet. 3:9 JND), and soon He will sit on the throne of judgment. Then shall the blessed One, and those already blessed in Him, be introduced by power into the inheritance. Then it will be fulfilled, “Blessed and holy [is] he who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6 JND).
The Bride – The Lamb’s Wife
How sweet it is to notice that when the assembly alone is before the Spirit’s eye, she is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband!” No public state or outward glory here, but simply “for her husband.” In simple terms this is “the blessing,” life and its fruits in righteousness (Rev. 19:7-8, 21:2). It is “the blessing” in its proper sphere, and the curse and the cursed are excluded for eternity. The affections will want nothing for eternity but Christ, the Object that engages them. We are Christ’s, and His desire is toward us. But are we then to despise the inheritance — the birthright? Not so. The Spirit dwells with delight upon that scene radiant with heavenly light. In that scene she is the Lamb’s wife, not only the bride now, and she displays earthward the glory of the once-rejected One in His possessed inheritance. This is the portrayal of Jesus Himself. This is now her portion, associated with Him in His heavenly realm of power.
We have seen the contrast with the first man, who in disobedience exalted himself to be as God. Jesus, being in the form of God, empties Himself to be obedient, and takes upon Himself the form of man. He surrenders His possessions. Nor does He take His place of exaltation and power until He has accomplished obedience in death; then it is (though true in title before) that the Father gives all things into His hands (Gen. 24:36, 25:5; John 13:3; Phil. 2:10). It is after being offered upon the altar that the true Isaac takes in resurrection power His bride and His inheritance.
The Blessing and the Inheritance
But meanwhile the blessing and the inheritance are for the time being severed; that is to say, the full divine accomplishment of the blessing has come in Christ, but the inheritance waits. We may even say this characterizes the very calling of the Christian; we wait for Him to take the inheritance. To seek something here that is of the world is the Christian’s snare. This would be to despise our heavenly birthright for worldly life. We are to look diligently, lest there be any profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright (Heb. 12:16).
Our blessed Lord surrenders His prospects, His glory, His kingdom, as Son of man; He gives Himself up that He may die (John 12:23-28). He did not despise His birthright, nor say, “What profit shall this birthright do to Me?” However, He could not take it defiled with sin, nor would He possess it alone, but would have the co-heirs associated with Himself for His Father’s glory, and the accomplishment of His purposes of love. But for this He must die; He must be rejected by the world, by man, and abandoned by God. Thus He was lifted up, so that all men might draw near to God. And now by the cross we are fully brought into the blessing, so that we are already blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. But if so, we must wait for glory with Him in whom we have obtained our inheritance. He waits; He is not yet in the inheritance Himself.
We must not seek it here. This is what Jacob did. The blessing was his. Marked out by God Himself as the elect seed of promise, what had he to do with buying his brother’s birthright? It was not for him any more than His blessing was for Esau, who thought to inherit it (Heb. 12:17). By craft and greed, he tried to unite both the blessing and inheritance by his own means. But was it for blessing? His history declares tells the story. But Jesus not only emptied Himself of His possessions when subsisting in the form of God, but becoming man, He surrenders all His prospects in order to die. A solemn but blessed lesson for us to learn. “He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me” (John 12:25-26).
Jacob’s Blessing His Sons
“Few and evil” had been the days of the years of Jacob’s life, but he learned his lesson, and with his parting breath and blessing of his sons he distinguishes the blessing from the inheritance, uniting them alone in Shiloh — Him who was the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel (Gen. 49:24). The elect seed of promise and the power of rule he puts in Judah’s line (Gen. 49:10). He was to be the depository of the blessing, but to Joseph was given the birthright — the portion of the firstborn. Thus we read in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2: the “birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s.”
It remains for us to hold in divine power in our souls this principle of God that, while Christ waits, the lineage and the birthright do not go together. Are we in the line of the elect seed? Then the blessing in all its divine fulness and extent is ours — life eternal, Christ’s place and relationship with His Father and His God, all things that pertain to life and godliness. But the birthright, the portion here of the firstborn, is not ours yet. That is still in the hand of the first man, however much he has despised it as given of God. It is not for us to seek it. We are not of the world, even as Christ is not of it, and He has not yet demanded to have the world (John 17:9). When “the kingdoms of this world” are become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ” (Rev. 11:15), then shall we enter into possession with Him, not only the things of the earth, but the heavens too. For God has purposed “to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in Him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance” (Eph. 1:10-11 JnD). Till then He waits, and we also wait. He has right and title to all; He acquired that which was the purpose of His Father’s love before the world was — those whom He hath given Him, His body and His bride. They will share with Him in everything —His life, His relationships with His Father and His God, His love, His peace, His joy, His glory. We may well wait with Him then, till the glory comes. Let us therefore remain apart from the world and the false church which calls itself Christ’s spouse, but takes its glory here without Him.
W. T. W. (adapted)
Firstborn of All Creation
Here, in the expression “Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15), as elsewhere (Psa. 89:27), the title of firstborn is taken in the sense of dignity rather than of mere priority of time. Adam was the first man, but he was not nor could be the firstborn. How could Christ, so late in His birth here below, be said to be the firstborn? The truth is that if Christ became a man and entered the ranks of creation, He could not be anything else. He is the Son and Heir. Just so we are now by grace said to be the church “of the firstborn,” although there were saints before the church. It is a question of rank, not of date. Christ is truly firstborn of all creation.
W. Kelly
The Assembly of the Firstborn
Further, the Christian Hebrews are said to have come “to [the] assembly of firstborns, enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:23 WK). There need be no hesitation in identifying this heavenly company. It is the church of God, of which we hear so much and of the deepest interest in the Acts of the Apostles and the other Epistles, as the Lord when here below spoke of it as about to be founded (Matt. 16:18), so that Hades’ gates should not prevail against it. The day of Pentecost (that followed His death, resurrection and ascension) first saw the new sight. It is described here according to the divine design of the epistle. This accounts for putting forward the aggregate of those who compose it, firstborn ones, rather than the elsewhere familiar figures of the body of Christ, and of the temple of God — His habitation by the Spirit. And those who compose it are here characterized: (1) in relation to Him Who was carefully shown us in Hebrews 1 to be the Firstborn, the established Heir of all things; (2) in relation by grace to our proper and destined sphere of glory, heaven, and not earth, where Israel as such rightly look for their blessedness and triumph under Messiah’s reign. Those who are holy, brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, being children, are heirs also, heirs of God and Christ’s joint-heirs. He is Firstborn, alone in personal right and result of His work, but they are also firstborn truly, though of divine grace. And further, they are enrolled in heaven by divine counsel and the same grace, citizens of heaven which justly pales and lifts above every other citizenship.
W. Kelly
The Firstborn From the Dead
He is not here. Where is He? He is risen, the Firstborn from the dead. Peter’s witness in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, to the Jews, was twofold. He pressed upon them again and again, “He went about doing good, but ye crucified Him.” That is your guilt. But “God has raised Him from the dead.” That is God’s seal upon His faithful life of witnessing. In that same wonderful Isaiah 50, it says, “He is near that justifieth Me.” Who has justified Him? God.
The chief Priests and the Scribes and the Pharisees thought they could keep Him in the sepulcher. They remembered that He had spoken of rising again from the dead. It was very remarkable they should have remembered it when the disciples had forgotten it. So they went to Pilate and asked his help. Pilate said, “Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.” It seems to me there was a certain irony in that. So they sent a guard and sealed the stone, and I suppose the soldiers would be instructed as to how to deal with the rabble of Galilean fishermen if they came to rob the sepulcher. They were not told how to deal with an earthquake or an angel from heaven! The fishermen did not come, but the angel did, and the earthquake, and those Roman veterans for very fear fell down as dead men. What had happened? God had intervened; God had justified His Faithful Witness. God was FIRST at the sepulcher, and the stone was rolled away from the tomb, not to let Christ out but to let us look in.
He is the Firstborn from the dead; that means that others are to share His triumph. All they that sleep in Jesus will come out of their sepulchers according to the same blessed pattern, and we who are alive and remain at His coming shall be changed. We are looking for our Savior, “who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory, according to the working of the power which He has even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:21 JnD). He is the victorious One; He has come out of the grave. God has triumphed over all the power of death and the devil in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His resurrection is God’s answer to His faithfulness here upon the earth, and it is also God’s great victory over death. He is the Firstborn from the dead, and when He comes to take up things for God in this world, He will take them up in the power of resurrection, and in such a way that no voice in the universe will challenge His right to do it. The voice of death is silent; death challenges the work of every other man, but He has overthrown the power of death. He is the Victor, and He has taken us up in resurrection power to share His victory with us. Never doubt the ability of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep you. You may be a very weak Christian; the more you feel it the better, for then you will rely upon His strength the more, and He is able to keep all whom He saves.
J. T. Mawson
"That in all things He might have the preeminence" (Col. 1:17)
“That in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:17).
O LORD, Thy glory we behold,
Though not with mortal eyes;
That glory, on the Father’s throne,
No human sight descries.
‘Tis thence — now Christ is gone on high,
Redemption’s work complete —
The Spirit brings His glory nigh,
To those who for Him wait.
And we our great Forerunner see,
In His own glory there;
Yet not ashamed, with such as we,
As Firstborn, all to share.
The Father’s love, the source of all,
Sweeter than all it gives,
Shines on us now without recall,
And lasts while Jesus lives.
The new creation’s stainless joy
Gleams through the present gloom;
That world of bliss without alloy,
The saints’ eternal home.
J. N. Darby