CHILDREN:THE CHRISTIAN MAN IN RELATION TO HIS
The Firstborn
You are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength. The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
- Genesis 49:3
The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.
- Exodus 22:29
among many brethren.For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
- Romans 8:29
Among the many neglected and misunderstood doctrines of the Bible is its teaching concerning the firstborn son. Bible-reading Christians have a vague awareness that there is something special about the firstborn, but they do not understand it. Humanists, of course, regard it as a lingering relic of primitive custom. Since they are statists or anarchists, they find it impossible to appreciate the value of a family-based society.
If my thesis is correct that human society is intended to be an image of the Divine society of Heaven, and that the family unit is to be patterned after the Triune Godhead, then the doctrine of the firstborn becomes of critical importance. In our last chapter, I tried to establish this thesis by validating what might be perceived as its weakest point of the argument - namely, that the work of the mother in the home is the human copy of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Looking at the evidence, the conclusion seems logical. In this chapter, we stand on solid ground, even in the eyes of critics. Here, it will be presented that Christ’s relationship to God the Father is the model for what should exist in the home: that Christ’s work is a blueprint for the firstborn.
A common and tragically erroneous concept of the father/son relationship is the one which views it as a rivalry. Father and son are each trying to dominate or displace the other. This perverse notion, in its modern form, is a legacy of that fraud in psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud. Using the Theory of Evolution as his premise
he saw the animal kingdom as the appropriate model to explain human society. The law of the jungle supposedly dictates how father and son treat each other.The lion, for instance, rules by sheer strength and viciousness, driving away all threats to his food and pride. But as he ages and his offspring gain strength and become more bold, he is overcome, and a new lion inherits the pride and first rights to the food. Freud developed this basic rivalry in nature into what is popularly known as the Oedipus Complex, which borrowed heavily from Greek mythology.
Popular journalism and cinema accept this interpretation as valid and necessary. A young man is expected to challenge his father, to oppose him, to be opposite of him, to argue with him, to best him. It is regarded as masculinity for father and son to clash. A man is not expected to "follow in his father’s footsteps", but to strike-out on his own, to be independent. It’s the "American way".
We can agree, of course, that when two selfish people come together, there inevitably will be conflict. But selfishness is sin and was never intended by the Creator. The obvious error in this Oedipus Complex is that it sees man as made in the image of the beasts of the earth and not in the image of God. Until now, the remnants of Christian sentiment have restrained the complete working-out of this perverse belief. Today, do we not find here at least a partial explanation for the rise in teenage rebellion, dropout mentality, incest and more? If you teach people that they are animals, in time they will begin to act like animals.
Truly, man is a son of God, not a beast. He was made in the image of God. Therefore, the model for the father/son relationship is not found in nature, but rather in the glorious communion between the First and Second Persons of the Holy Trinity: the Father and the Son.
Since the family symbolizes the Trinity on the temporal level, it follows that a man’s firstborn son should look to Christ as an example for the filial relationship. And since Christ is the chief cornerstone (the standard) in His Father’s house, then so should a man’s son be looked upon in the same way in the home.
In Christ we have the perfect example of a son: one who is completely obedient to his Father’s will. With Christ, we do not see a rival grasping for his father’s throne. We see complete submission and service to the Father’s purposes and desires. Christ makes no claim to self-goodness, but instead, glorifies the Father from whom all good things come (Matthew 19:17).
Thus, a normal father/son relationship will reveal a complete and willing obedience of the son to the father. In turn the son will receive all that his father can give him: his blessing, his authority and his estate.
Just as Christ was obedient, even unto the death of the Cross, and consequently received His Father’s kingdom (John 3:35;5:30; 8:29;15:10; Philippians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28), so also is that of son and father.
To review quickly some of the prominent aspects of the Bible’s teaching concerning the firstborn son: he has precedence over the other sons (Genesis 4:7); he receives a double-portion of his father’s estate (Deuteronomy 21:15-17); he is called to rulership (Psalms 89:27) and to the priestly service (Numbers 3:12); and he is entitled to a special blessing of Divine grace (Genesis 25:29-34), although it can be forfeited by moral failure (as in the case of Esau) or by the father’s sovereign choice (Genesis 48:15-20).
The firstborn son is called to be a priest and prince to his father and his father’s house. He is his father’s right-hand man. His many duties can be summarized under three major titles described in the Bible, of which Christ is the preeminent illustration. They are the following: Kinsman-Redeemer; Executor of the Estate; and Avenger of Blood.
First is the Kinsman-Redeemer (Leviticus 25:25; 25:47-49; Numbers 5:18; Ruth 2:1; 4:1-16). The Torah provided that if a man became poor and lost his inheritance or his freedom as a consequence of that poverty, it was in the power of the nearest of kin to redeem it ("buy back"). Normally, the nearest of kin turned out to be the eldest brother, since it was he who received a double portion of his father’s estate, and thus was in a position financially to redeem his stricken brother. Here, we see a type for the work of Christ. Jesus is our redeemer. We sold ourselves into sin and came under the curse of the Law. Jesus came to make restitution on our behalf and to restore us into the Father’s household.
Second is the Executor of the Estate, which is described in the Bible as a mediator-judge (Ephesians 2:14-19; Acts 10:42). Solomon’s succession to his father’s throne is perhaps the most illustrative account of this function. David left to him his unfinished business. Upon the death of a father, it fell to the firstborn to determine the true heirs and execute his father’s last will and testament. This is what attorneys do today. Being the family-centered society, the firstborn of Israel handled the family’s legal matters. They also mediated disputes between brethren.
We see Christ fulfilling this judge-mediator function. He mediates the work of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) and distributes the Father’s gifts to his adopted children (Ephesians 4:6-8; Isaiah 53:12; Romans 8:32).
Finally, there is the Avenger of Blood (Genesis 9:5,6; Numbers 35:19-24; Romans 13:4). The firstborn was expected to defend the rights of the family. The family was under his protectorate. The duty fell upon him first to apprehend criminals who may have injured his father’s household. He was to hold them for trial and execute the verdict. He was in charge of the family "police force". This practice
may sound strange to our ears, but really, it is well within the customs of our common law heritage from ancient Britain.The ministry of the firstborn is one which was never fully developed in world history. In the Old Testament, it was eclipsed by the provisional ministries of the Levites, and in the New Testament, by the five-fold ministry (Ephesians 4:13, 14). But God said He would bring the firstborn back into the world (Hebrews 1:6). And He did in Christ.
Thus, to construct a model for the firstborn in a future, Biblical society, we must combine the religious and governmental functions of the Levites and the spiritual functions of the New Testament ministry with the revelation of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Christ is the true blueprint for this ministry.
My purpose here has been to awaken you to the importance of this doctrine and to encourage you to strengthen the role of your firstborn. A discussion in greater detail can be found in my study, The Ministry of the Firstborn. The firstborn is the mechanism necessary to implement a Biblical society.
Although history teaches us the superior value of a family-based society, it has never been realized. It is still yet to come. It could not have come until the revelation of the Trinity in Christ as the Father’s only begotten Son. When the ministry of the firstborn is established after the pattern laid out by Christ, then we will be ready for a self-perpetuating, family-based society.
There have been many single-generation, family-based societies. But rarely have they been perpetuated as such because they have relied upon institutional and bureaucratic instruments for succession. For this reason, once vibrant societies have devolved into the stagnation of impersonal organization or perpetual anarchy and destruction. When firstborn sons begin to assume their priestly and princely duties, when families begin to look to them for leadership, and when fathers give them estates to work with, then a truly self-perpetuating, family-based society will emerge. The ministry of the firstborn is the mechanism for the family to cross the generations safely - to preserve its estate, heritage, faith, and calling.
One final note: Children have a tendency to follow older brothers and sisters, even when they try to avoid it. Attitudes and behavioral patterns are picked-up by children from their older peers, often unconsciously. There is such a thing as a "children~ s culture" that is passed-on by them over the generations. For the Christian, it is critical that it is home-based. It can start with the firstborn. "Play with your little sister, Johnny!", is more than a desperate attempt to get a babysitter. One of the best steps a mother can take to establish a home-based, child culture is to create a bond between siblings. Better to deal with their rivalries when young, than to wait until they are grown when it is too late.