The Assembly of the Firstborn

Further, the Christian Hebrews are said to have come “to [the] assembly of firstborns, enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:2323To 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, (Hebrews 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. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 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