Fight Between the First-born and the Second-born
The Bible clearly says that there is a general assembly of the firstborn. When we look at the structure of our church, the church has a Session, and when the Session gathers, it becomes a Presbytery, when the Presbyteries gather, it becomes a Synod, and when the Synod gathers, it becomes the General Assembly. Basically, a General Meeting is not a gathering of few people. The general assembly of firstborns can exist because there are at least tens of thousands of firstborns.
In the Book of Revelation, this general assembly of the firstborn is expressed as 144,000. The expression “first fruit” means “first-born” (Revelation 14:1-4). Additionally, Revelation Chapter 7 expresses that the 144,000 are the 12,000 representatives of each tribe. 2 Chronicles 11:22 says that the first born is the head and leader. Therefore, the 12,000 representatives of each tribe represent the leaders, heads and first born (2 Chronicles 11:22).
Dear all, can someone who is not the first born receive salvation? The second born also receives salvation. In the Book of Revelation, this gathering of the second born is expressed as ‘a great multitude’ (Revelation 7:9-10; Revelation 19:6-8).
However, through the recent special Bible Study and retreat, you may have felt that there is a physical interpretation of the Bible and a spiritual interpretation of the Bible. Both need to be understood.
The physical interpretation is to view the first born and second born as different people. If we divide each person into the first born and the second born, the first born as well as the second born will be saved. Everyone who believes in the name of Jesus Christ will be saved.
However, the spiritual interpretation is the view to understand that both the first and second born are within me. In this case, the interpretation is a little bit different. The first born is the head, and the second born is the body. When a baby is born, if the baby’s head comes out first, it is called an easy labor, and both the baby and the mother can survive. However, there are cases where the body comes first, or the hands or feet comes out first. This is called a difficult labor (Obstructed labor). Without modern medical help, most cases result in the death of the child and the mother.
So, from a spiritual perspective, God’s redemptive history can be said to be a fight to find the firstborn or a process of restoring the firstborn. Spiritually speaking, you cannot live without being the firstborn. We all must become firstborn sons.
How can one become a firstborn son?
- You must believe in Jesus
Romans 8:29 records that Jesus is the firstborn. Therefore, if we believe in Jesus, we will become the firstborn, and if we believe outside of Jesus, we will become the second born.
Here, if we see that those who are in Jesus are believers, and those who are outside of Jesus are non-believers, this is a physical way of distinguishing. The way to distinguish spiritually is that both are within me. So, there is faith in Jesus and faith outside of Jesus, and I am telling you that it is important what kind of faith you have in Jesus.
Jesus is the Word itself. Therefore, believing in Jesus means believing according to the Bible and according to the Word. Sometimes we believe what we want to believe. There are times when we create an image of the God we want and believe that it is God. This is not believing according to the Bible, according to the Word, or believing in Jesus.
What makes Christianity different from other religions? Christianity is a religion of downward revelation, while other religions are religions of upward revelation. The starting point of upward revelation religion is humans. It is a religion that began when humans felt the need for a divine being. Therefore, we create the image of God as we wanted. Christianity began because God wants to teach us who He is. That’s why we shouldn’t make God into what we want Him to be. We must accept and believe who he is as it is explained and written.
- Jesus must be our head (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23)
Especially in Ephesians 1:22-23, He is said to be the head of the church and head of all things. In other words, the head of all creation is Jesus Christ. Likewise, our head must also be Jesus Christ. Because we receive provision from the Head and grow in unity (Colossians 2:18-19).
Just as a grafted tree grows by getting all the nutrients from its strong roots, when Jesus becomes our head, we also get nutrients from the head and grow as the firstborn. Saying that Jesus is the head means that He is our leader, king and father. All decisions in our lives must be made by Jesus, and we must become body who follows His decisions. We as a body must never get ahead of Jesus, our head.
If we look at a metaphor in the Bible, as easy labor is the tree of life, and a difficult labor is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When Jesus is always first in our lives, there is life and abundance. However, if the body comes first, if the desires of the flesh come first, there is nothing but death and destruction. But would Satan, who knows this, remain silent? It continues to tempt us to become the body first.
The fight between the first born and the second born in the Bible
- Cain and Abel (Gen 4:5-8)
Cain was the first born but he killed Abel. Why did he kill Abel? Physically, it is said that it is because God only accepted Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s but spiritually, Abel was killed because otherwise Cain’s birthright would be taken away.
Cain was the son of lies, not the son of truth, and the son of darkness, not the son of light. In comparison, Abel was the son of truth and the son of light. By not accepting Cain’s sacrifice, God showed that he could not be the firstborn. In our view, who should be the head between Cain and Abel? It’s Abel. So, Cain killed Abel. After Cain killed Abel, who reported Abel’s death/Cain’s crime to God? The ground did it (Gen 4:10).
Conclusion: We must become the first born
To do that, we must not kill Abel, the righteous voice within us. When we take Jesus Christ (symbolized by Abel) and His Word as our head, and when we voluntarily wish and decide to live as His body, we can become the firstborn and be restored as the firstborn.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 