It's good to see you this morning.
Let's turn our scriptures to Psalm 89. Psalm 89. We'll begin reading at the first
verse. As is the case with many of the Psalms, when you read
the name David here, read Christ and you will have the right understanding
of the Psalm. The Psalms prophetic of our Lord
Jesus Christ and his work is our savior. I will sing of the
mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, mercy shall
be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish
in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I've sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish
forever and build up thy throne to all generations. And the heaven
shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the
congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be
compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty
can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all
them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord likened to thee? are to thy faithfulness round
about thee. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and
high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day. and in thy righteousness shall
they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their
strength, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the
Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King.
Then thou spakest in a vision to thy holy one and saidst, I
have laid help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one
chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant,
with my holy oil have I anointed him. With whom my hand shall
be established, mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy
shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict
him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague
them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy
shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the
rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art
my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also, I will
make him, my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Now, I
want this morning to show you from the scriptures that our
Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah's firstborn. That's the title of
my message, my firstborn. In this 27th verse of Psalm 89,
the Lord God calls our savior, my firstborn. I will make him
my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth. Turn back
to Exodus chapter 13, if you will. Exodus chapter 13. Everything in the Old Testament
scripture is prophetic of our savior. Everything in the Old
Testament Scripture, all the types, all the promises, all
the prophecies speak of Him, only of Him, altogether of Him. But the types sometimes are overlooked
by most. And I don't know that I've read
very much at all, other than by Mr. Hawker, that suggests
that Christ is the type of the firstborn, or is the anti-type
of the firstborn. But here's the law of God concerning
the firstborn in Exodus 13, and it clearly speaks of our blessed
Savior, who has spoken of throughout the New Testament as Jehovah's
firstborn. Exodus 13, verse one. 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 is mine. Down in verse 12. 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 Lords, 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 purpose of God in giving
his law with regard to the firstborn is to show us his determination
that his son, our savior, have preeminence in all things as
the God-man, our mediator. Therefore, he declares him to
be my firstborn. In Romans 8, 28, 29, very familiar
passage of scripture, God the Holy Ghost tells us that the
Lord Jesus Christ is that one whom God's Father has purposed
shall be the firstborn among many brethren. In Colossians
1, we read that our Savior is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn from the dead. the head of the body, the church,
the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. So that the purpose of God is
that Christ have preeminence, and this is set forth as he being
called the firstborn. Then in Hebrews 12, 23, the church
of God is called the church of the firstborn. A better translation
might be the church of the firstborn ones, so that the apostle identifies
God's church as one with Christ, who is the firstborn. The Lord
God is determined that our Savior be exalted, have preeminence
and glory in everything. Therefore, he says, this is my
firstborn, and I'll make him higher than the kings of the
earth. I repeat, everything in the Old
Testament is recorded to give us a foreshadowing of our Savior,
a picture of Him. All the laws of Israel were designed
of God to point us to Christ and to bring us to Christ. There's
nothing in the book of God that doesn't speak of our all-glorious
Redeemer, nothing that doesn't show His supremacy as our mediator,
the God-man, and the Savior of our souls. So that his excellence,
his majesty, his glory is shown forth in that which he accomplished
for us as our Redeemer. The firstborn symbolized the
father's might and strength. He called the excellency of dignity
and the power in Genesis 49. So that in that night when the
Lord God passed through Egypt and destroyed the firstborn among
the Egyptians, he claimed the firstborn are both man and beast
as his own and required that they all be sanctified unto him
who were among the children of Israel. He said, sanctify to
me the firstborn. The firstborn is mine. Now, identifying
Israel with himself. Back in Exodus chapter four,
if you want to look at it, The Lord God calls Israel, my son,
even my first born in verse 23, so that God again identifies
his church with his son, his elect with his son, because you
and I who are in Christ are one with Christ, so that we are described
as God's firstborn. And there's a tremendous, tremendous
bit of instruction in this regard. We're expressly taught by the
Spirit of God that everything on the Passover night was typical
of our Savior, our Passover, who was sacrificed for us. The
sprinkling of the blood of the lamb on the house of the children
of Israel, a lamb without spot or blemish, of the firstlings
of the flocks, was that which separated the difference between
the firstborn of Israel and the firstborn of Egypt, so that God
and God alone makes the distinction. In Exodus chapter 11, Exodus
11 and verse 7, against any of the children of Israel shall
not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that ye may know
how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. as it was on that great night
of judgment and mercy. So in the year of Christ redeemed,
it is both a day of vengeance and a day of mercy, a day of
vengeance and a day of salvation. Isaiah describes that for us
in Isaiah 63, tells us that the year of the Lord's redeemed is
the day of the vengeance of our God. And when the Lord Jesus
died as our substitute upon the cursed tree, he both satisfied
the wrath and justice of God for us and redeemed us by the
sacrifice of himself. Our Lord Jesus, our firstborn,
is that one who is our Passover, who will sacrifice for us, and
God's justice and wrath were fully satisfied. His mercy and
grace completely extended in the accomplishment of salvation.
Now this is something that we so much need to understand. Everything
God does, he does in strict justice. Everything. His vengeance upon
the Egyptians was because of their denial of him, their rebellion
against him, their rejection of Christ and his message. And
his mercy upon the children of Israel was because of his grace
through the sacrifice of the innocent Passover lamb who was
slain in the stead of the firstborn in Egypt. So it is with us. The
Lord God Almighty poured out His vengeance and His wrath on
His Son until vengeance and wrath and justice were fully satisfied. And by that just sacrifice, God
justly saves us by His grace. God always acts in justice in
everything He does. so that everything he does is
right. The rectitude of his character
is displayed in everything he does. He saves his people from
their sins by the sacrifice of his son so that he is, in Christ,
a just God and a savior. Now, the scriptures tell us several
things about the firstborn. I wanna show you a comparison
and show you how that Christ must be recognized as the one
typified in the firstborn. First, you don't need to turn
to all these scriptures, you can jot them down if you want
to, because I'm going to move hurriedly. The birthright belonged to the
firstborn among the children of Israel. And that gave the
firstborn preeminence in the family, so that the firstborn
had the right of priesthood in the family. Listen to this in
Numbers chapter 3. Behold, I have taken the Levites
from among the children of Israel, instead of all the firstborn
that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel. Therefore,
the Levites shall be mine, because all the firstborn are mine. For
the day that I smote the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed
unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast, mine
shall they be. In chapter three, in verse 40
of Numbers, The Lord said to Moses, number all the firstborn
of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and
upward and take the number of their names and thou shall take
the Levites for me. I am the Lord instead of the
firstborn among the children of Israel. The firstborn then
taken to be God's priest, especially consecrated to God. And in Numbers
chapter 8, after that, shall the Levites go in to do the service
of the tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt cleanse them and
offer them, the Levites, for an offering. For they are wholly
given unto me from among the children of Israel. Instead of
such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all
the children of Israel, I take them. So the Lord says, I'll,
I'll take the tribe of Levi. These are my priests. And I take
the tribe of Levi as my firstborn. And yet every firstborn in Israel
was consecrated to God and redeemed with blood. The firstborn was
given a double portion among the family. You've often probably
heard men speak with regard to Elisha, when Elisha spoke to
Elijah and said, this is the one thing I want. I want a double
portion of your spirit. And folks have the idea Elijah
was asking that God would give him twice as much power and twice
as much influence as Elijah had. That wasn't the case at all.
Elijah was saying, let me be, or Elisha was saying, let me
be your firstborn. To the firstborn is given a double
portion according to the law of God in Deuteronomy chapter
21. And to the firstborn, it was promised, thou art he whom
thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Back in Genesis chapter 49, in
Judah's promised blessings, or Israel's, Isaac's promised blessings
to his sons. He says, you, the firstborn,
to you, all your brethren shall bow down. Christ Jesus is indeed
the firstborn among many brethren before whom all the family of
God bows to worship and his foot stands upon the neck of all his
enemies. All the offerings required of
God for every male that opened the womb pointed to our savior. He said, sanctify to me the firstborn. He said, if it's a firstborn,
even if it's an ass, either redeem it or kill it. The firstborn
of man and beast is mine. And then Leviticus 12, we're
told that, uh, woman having a son after the days of her purifying
was to bring a lamb of the firstborn for a burnt offering, a young
pigeon or turtle dove for a sin offering to the door of the tabernacle.
Now I want you to turn to this one. Turn to Luke chapter one,
or Luke chapter two rather. Luke chapter two. This has been on my mind the
last few days. The, uh, Fact of our Lord's incarnation,
of course, his coming is the focus of most people's minds
who have any religious profession at all during this season of
the year. And this law of the firstborn
spoke specifically of our Savior's virgin birth. Look at Luke chapter
two and verse 21, and you'll see the law in Leviticus 12 fulfilled. When eight days were accomplished
for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which
was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
And when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses,
were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him
to the Lord. As it is written in the law of
the Lord, every male that openeth a womb shall be called holy to
the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said
in the law of the Lord A pair of turtle doves are two young
pigeons. The firstborn particularly is
identified as a portrait of our Redeemer because the firstborn
is described as the male who opens the womb in birth. Of course,
the womb is not opened in birth. The womb is opened in conception,
except in one case. Our Lord Jesus Christ entered
into his mother's womb by the overshadowing power of God the
Holy Ghost, and he is the only man, the only one ever born in
this earth, who opened his mother's womb when he was born. when he
came forth from the womb saying, lo, I come to do thy will, O
my God. He opened Mary's virgin womb
when he came forth to accomplish our redemption. So throughout
the Levitical dispensation, the firstborn of man and beast directed
the eye of faith to him who is the triune Jehovah, appointed
to have everlasting preeminence as Jehovah's firstborn. As it
was, it forever shall be the will of God, the triune Jehovah,
that the God-man, our mediator, have preeminence in all things. The Lord God Almighty appointed
it so, and so it must be. And yet the law of God required
the redemption of the firstborn among the children of Israel.
I do want you to turn back to Numbers 18, and look at this,
Numbers 18. Verse 15. Numbers 18, 15. Everything that openeth the matrix
in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be
of men or beast, shall be thine. Nevertheless, the firstborn of
man shalt thou surely redeem. and the firstling of unclean
beasts shalt thou redeem. And those that are to be redeemed
from a month old shalt thou redeem according to thine estimation
for the money of five shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary,
which is 20 givers. The firstborn was brought to
the priest and the priest received the firstborn with the five shekels
according to the sanctuary as his own. Then the priest gave
the firstborn back to his parents to raise the child as they would
any other child. But the firstborn was God's.
That was represented in the priest himself, so that the firstborn
is consecrated to God, consecrated to God forever, to be his forever. He belongs to God, though he's
raised in society, he's raised in ordinary life. That child,
all the days of his life, is God's priest. represented in
the Levitical priesthood. What a picture of our Redeemer
and of our souls. The firstborn of the Levites
was not redeemed, portraying our Savior, and yet the Levites
were themselves men. And you and I, being God's royal
priesthood, are one with Jesus Christ. He didn't have to be
redeemed, but he redeemed us who is the firstborn. I have
taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead
of the firstborn. The Lord Jesus taken in our stead. and he being sacrificed in our
stead as Jehovah's firstborn has consecrated us to God. That's
the reason the exemption was made for the Levites. Now, let
me show you these five things, just five statements. I'll wrap
this up with regard to Christ the firstborn. The firstborn
was considered the beginning of his father's strength. And
the Lord God Almighty has put all power and all authority in
the hands of Christ who is throughout the scriptures spoken of as our
strength. He is that one particularly dear
to the Father to whom he's given everything. The firstborn second
was consecrated to the service of God so that he who is God's
firstborn says, I must be about my father's business. Lo, I come
to do thy will. Oh my God. And we being one with
him are consecrated to God. Yes, we live our lives. I'm a
pastor. You're not. But we are God's
firstborn ones. We are the church of God's firstborn
ones. You live and go about your business,
you do your job, you raise your families, you take care of your
house, you take care of the affairs of the state. But all the while,
let it never be forgotten, you're God's firstborn. utterly consecrated
to him. Our Lord Jesus commands that
a man comes after me is to take up his cross and follow me and
hate his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, yea,
in his own life also. The reason that the firstborn
must be redeemed, he says, all the sons of thy firstborn sons
shall be redeemed and none shall appear before me empty. That is, we come to God accepted
of God was something in our hands, a sacrifice, atonement, satisfaction. And that something that's in
our hands, which we bring to God is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Third, the firstborn received a double portion of his father's
estate. When the father died, the firstborn
got twice as much as everybody else in the family. The Lord
Jesus Christ, Jehovah's firstborn, is possessor of all things. But
there is in that commandment, in that regard of the law, a
specific reference to you and me. God gives day-by-day blessings
to all men. Men enjoy God's creation, the
sunshine, the rain, bread, and water, all the benefits of life. but you who are gods have received
a double portion. He's given us all things in Christ,
all things spiritual and eternal, all things with regard to this
life and with regard to life to come so that we are heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ. And then in Deuteronomy 21, we
learn a fourth thing about the firstborn. The firstborn could
never be deprived of his birthright. The law reads this way. If a
man has two wives and the one is loved and the other despised
or hated, then the woman who has the son who is hated has
the firstborn. When the man dies, he could not
leave his estate, the double portion of his estate, in the
hands of the firstborn of his loved wife, but rather must be
in the hands of the firstborn of the hated wife because she
had the first son. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
possesses all things forever. And we who are gods shall never
be deprived of our inheritance, not by anything. not by anything
in us or done by us or anything done to us. We are God's firstborn
in Jesus Christ, the Lord. One more thing. The firstborn
succeeded his father as the head of the family. The firstborn
is made head of everything, head of all principality and power,
head over all creation, head over every man, head over all
things and head of his church. Christ the firstborn then is
the end of the law for righteousness in whom are all things. And the only means by which you
and I obtain anything from God by way of mercy and grace is
through Christ the firstborn. Honor the son as the father honors
the son. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him who is our Redeemer.
And God will honor you as He has honored His Son. Dishonor
the Son by not believing Him. And God will dishonor you forever. Amen.