CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN

18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”  21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”  22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23TO THE CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the SPIRITS OF THE RIGHTEOUS MADE PERFECT, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Heb12:18-24)

The writer to the Hebrews is contrasting Mt Sinai with Mt Zion the heavenly Jerusalem. Sinai was where the children of Israel rested having been divinely delivered from slavery in Egypt. The mount before which they encamped is described in the opening verse as burning with fire, darkness, gloom and storm. It was a scary prospect for sure since God would manifest Himself upon it and deliver His Ten Commandments, but as the account in Ex19 sets out it was not all bad news. For God had commanded Moses to tell the people:

“Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be MY OWN POSSESSION among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;  and YOU SHALL BE TO ME A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND A HOLY NATION.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the SONS OF ISRAEL.” (Ex19:5-6)

The context and role of “God’s people”

Note, all the earth is God’s, but the people of Israel were to be His own special people – a holy nation that would be a beacon for the world and act as His Kingdom of priests. That was the context of Israel within God’s providential care of the world – and that is the role the Church has today. In Peter’s words:  “You are a CHOSEN people, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, a holy nation, God’s SPECIAL POSSESSION, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1Pet2:9).

My thesis in context

The primary theme of this section of Hebrews undoubtedly focusses on the superiority of the New Covenant over its predecessor, both in terms of approachability and efficacy. But as is often the case within this process, subsidiary or seemingly incidental statements within the text are drawn to my attention, and as above I highlight them in capitals. For I am here to establish and demonstrate that God’s chosen people of both the Old and New Covenants are not the totality of those He loves and for whom He has wondrous plans. Rather, Israel succeeded by the Church are, as quoted from Exodus and 1Pet, chosen, priestly and royal: God’s own special people. And as our passage from Hebrews affirms, in terms of how the elect of God  relate to the rest of humanity, they are its FIRSTBORN (v23). The firstborn as Scripture uses the term have a superior, overseeing and representative role, but it is amongst people who are familial and shall ultimately come to share their destiny. James also refers to this concept when he writes: “Of His own will (God) brought us (Christians) forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of those He has created” (1:18).

“First” in every sense

“FIRSTborn” / “FIRSTfruits” – first in rank but also first in time and first in sequence, i.e. many more shall follow. But how to prove this? In terms of rank/superiority, God declared of His servant David, “I will appoint him as my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth” (Ps89:27). In terms of time and sequence, we have seen earlier in Heb12 (v2) that Jesus is the pioneer/leader of His disciples, yet He is also described as the firstfruit of them that sleep (1Cor15:20) and the “firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy (Col1:18).

So crucially, and with wondrous providential implications, the Church is described here in Heb12 as the assembly of the firstborn (plural). But equally so, I believe, where Paul wrote “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but everyone in his own rank (Greek: hekastos de en to idio tagmati): Christ the first fruits; afterwards those who are Christ’s at His coming (1Cor15:22-23). Paul also describes the Church as the body of Christ or simply “Christ” (1Cor12:12). The first fruits cannot be referring to Jesus – He cannot be made alive in the future. For note also from our text, indeed the same verse (23), the writer when contrasting Sinai with Zion, speaks of the latter comprising God, Jesus, the firstborn (elect), the angels and the spirits of the righteous having been made perfect. Most Christians assume the latter is referring to the elect but they have already been mentioned (as the firstborn). Even God and Jesus are only referred to once! This is no tautology but (to those who can receive it), the many to whom I have been referring who are not the elect of God (cf. Rom8:29) but those like the Mt25 sheep, whom I have shown in a previous post were justified by “faith” evinced by love, being an aspect of natural lawNote#1, as defined in the post before last (re Heb11).

For the many who in view of their mistaken understanding of what Christian salvation is fromNote#2 and what it is forNote#3, will not accept such broader benign providence, they need to be able to explain why the Church is described as the assembly of the firstborn and the first fruits of creation, given how those terms are used elsewhere in Scripture, i.e. pre-eminent but familial and with more to follow. As for my thesis, it cannot be proven in this or any other brief post on a particular passage, but has I believe with God’s help been systematically proven from Scripture as a whole in The Little Book of Providence.

NOTE#1 – “NATURAL law” – something of a misnomer given that its author, enlightener and beneficiary is respectively Christ (Col1:16), Christ (Jn1:9KJV) and “Christ”(Mt25:40).

NOTE#2 What salvation is from – Not to nullify ancestral sin and a depraved soul but to rectify what Paul describes as “the body of this death”, being the procreated intellectual vessel inherited from our first parents (cf. Rom7:24,25 & 1Thes4:4)

NOTE#3 – What salvation is for: Not “so that we might go to heaven when we die” but so as to receive an inheritance with those who are being sanctified, corporate marriage to Jesus Christ and a share in His domain (cf.  Acts20:32; Rev19:7; Rev3:21😲)

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