When God is speaking and
using the term “firstborn” He is speaking concerning the spiritual “firstborns”
not the natural “firstborns”. The spiritual “firstborns” are Christ and all
those (the elect) that are predestinated in Him before the foundation of the
world:
Ro 8:29 For 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.
Heb 12:23 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,
These spiritual firstborns
are the only ones that will be given the birthright blessings of eternal
salvation. They are portrayed by the son that is physically the first child of
the flesh. However, to not let us miss the spiritual reality attached to being
the “firstborn”, God gives us the examples of Ishmael and Isaac, Reuben and
Joseph, and the outstanding case of Samuel, who was the firstborn of Hannah but
Peninnah had already borne sons to Elkanah:
1Sam 1:4 And when the time
was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters,
portions:
5
But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah:
but the LORD had shut up her womb.
Though Isaac, Joseph, and
Samuel were not the firstborn of their fathers after the flesh, they were the
firstborn of their mothers after the flesh and their mothers were the wives
that were loved by their husbands. These wives were spiritual portraits of the
heavenly
Gal 4:24 Which things are
an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is
mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth {i.e., equivalent} to
26 But
For further credence to this
discussion, consider the following verses where God shows us how He causes the
spiritual birthright blessings to go to the elect son who is the spiritual
firstborn and not the natural firstborn:
Gen 48: 14 And Israel stretched out his right
hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and
his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn……
17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his
father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. {displeased…: was evil in his eyes}
18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my
father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it,
my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be
great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed
shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee
shall
Ephraim (a portrait of
Christ) was God’s firstborn:
Jer 31:9 They shall come with weeping, and with
supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of
waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to
Other passages to support
this discussion:
1Ch 5:2 For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came
the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph‘s:)
{chief…: or, prince}
1Ch 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of
Notice, the ending phrase—the
natural genealogy does not determine the spiritual birthright which has been
predetermined by God in His work of predestination.
The end.
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