Topic: Principles of Being the Firstborn
Exodus 13:1,2: And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the
children of Israel both of man and of beast: it is mine.
Exodus 13:12,13: That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all
that openeth the matrix and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou
hast; the males shall be the Lord’s. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt
redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his
neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
The first principle in being a firstborn is it owned by
God. Now as simple as this sounds, many
fail to grasp it. The firstborn of not
only man but beast belong to God. Let
me say this here and make it very clear:
You cannot dedicate what is not yours.
God says the firstling belongs or is owned by him. Now let’s take this to the next level:
We as sons of God when we come into the House of God as
newborn babes, no one can take ownership of us but the Lord. The word Lord means owner. He purchased us with His blood. If we are owned by God then we are not free
to do as we please because we do not belong to ourselves.
1 Corinthians 6:20: For ye are bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Now this may sound weird, but to the one that is truly
submitted and given their life to the Lord, this is the eternal lifestyle and
when Jesus says, the Son can do nothing of himself, only what he see the Father
do, that Scripture now is in its proper context because in the earthly ministry
of Jesus, He belonged to the Father and he ceased from doing his will to do the
will of the Father.
Numbers 3:13: Because all the firstborn are mine, for on the
day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all
the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the
Lord.
1 Peter 1:15,16: But as he which hath called you is holy, so
be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy;
for I am holy.
Hebrews 2:11: For both He that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren.
The second principle is the firstborn is holy. Yes, you are holy as a son of God but notice
it is not anything that you have done.
Per the three scriptures above, the Lord makes you holy. You cannot make yourself holy, you have no
ability to do that. Now the problem that
many have is that they use the phrase “only God is holy”. But according to the Scripture as firstborns
we are holy because He made us holy. The
problem is walking in the reality of this, not by our definition of holiness
but by His revelation and wisdom of our identity and character that He has
given us in Him. Holiness can be
defined by being the exact representative in image and character of the Father. Now that centers our attention to maturing as
sons and not doing works to be holy.
The firstborn is holy because He is holy.
The third principle we will address is the principle of
redemption. The word redemption comes
from the word redeemed and it means to buy back. When we look at Exodus 13:12,13 it says if
the animal is a ass you shall redeem it with a lamb but if you cannot you must
break its neck. Now I know we are
talking about animals but remember this is a picture trying to show us the
eternal. Many of us when we hear the
word redeemed we think about being redeemed from hell to go to heaven and this
mindset really minimizes the principle of redemption. The ass is an unclean animal and can only be
redeemed by a lamb. Sounds
familiar:
Psalm 51:5: Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did
my mother conceive me.
Do we remember as Jesus rode into Jerusalem He rode on a ass
and its colt into Jerusalem with is a picture of Jesus being carrying into the
city upon the principle of father and son.
But notice he is riding a unclean animal and He is the Lamb of God. We are the picture of the ass and if we are
not redeemed by the lamb then we are
dead. Now I want to take a couple of minutes
to show you the human side to redemption and bring it home for you.
As it pertained to Jesus Himself when He was born to Mary
and Joseph, per Jewish law: Mary had to
stay home with the baby for 7 days and on the 8th day Jesus was
circumcised. For 33 days the was
confined to the house and on the 40th day Mary and Joseph took baby
Jesus to the temple to give Him to the Lord.
He was given to the priest and the priest would look at the parents and
there was a option to either leave the child to serve the Lord like Hannah did
with Samuel or they can buy back or redeem the child back into their custody by
paying the redemption price which is 5 sheckles. Of course Mary and Joseph paid
the five sheckles and gave the sin and burnt offering and baby Jesus was given
back into the custody of Mary and Joseph.
Now why am I telling you all of this?
Because:
When we talk about being redeemed by the blood of Jesus it
means so much more. Mary and Joseph
redeemed baby Jesus with the five sheckles to buy back or redeem their
firstborn. Jesus used his very blood to
buy back the firstborn sons of God to their original state of being which is
Son. Do we see the power in
understanding redemption. As you read
the next set of Scriptures keep in mind this meaning of redemption and see how
this was all about redeeming the firstborns.
Let me share some Scriptures to further back this up:
Luke 1:68-69: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath
visited and redeemed his people.
Galatians 3:13:
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
1 Peter 1:18.19:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,
as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot:
Revelation 5:9: And they sung a new song, saying Thou art
worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation;
Revelation 14:4:
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are
virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were
redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Finally the third and
final principle is birthright. We know
in the natural the first to come out of the womb was the firstborn and was give
the birthright. Genesis 49:3,4 tells us
about the birthright of being a firstborn son.
It was said of Reuben that he is his fathers might, beginning of his
strength, excellency of dignity and excellency of power. This is our birthright as firstborn sons of
God. As firstborn sons of God the
Father’s power is manifested through the firstborn. The firstborn starts a new linage. The House of God is built
trans-generationally under the principle of father and son. For example:
I am the spiritual son to Leon Elijah.
Leon Elijah is the spiritual son to Sam Soleyn. Here are three generations of building the
House of God. This is why Paul could say
to the church at Corinth that I begat (gave birth or conceived) you through the
gospel. The firstborn son is superior
(excellency) in strength (ability), dignity (rank) and power (ability to
prevail).
This all available to us as firstborn sons when we embrace
our identity as firstborn sons but it begins with knowing that you are not your
own and you belong to God.
In the next message we will start to examine the concept of
the firstborn throughout the Scriptures.
Peace and Grace,
Calvin
Calhoun
