Tag Archives: firstborn

REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD

December 26, 2020Bible Studyfirstborn, precious blood, redeemLuella Campbell

REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him and so your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1: 18-21).

Was Peter specifically addressing Jewish believers when he made this statement?

Every firstborn son and every firstborn of the flocks and herds belonged to God. In the old order, all firstborn sons were to be redeemed by the payment of five shekels of silver to the high priest. Firstborn of the flocks and herds were to be sacrificed to the Lord.

God chose the tribe of Levi to take the place of the firstborn when the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt.

The Lord also said to Moses, ‘I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine (Numbers 3:12)

God instructed Moses to count the Levites a month old or more and to take them in the place of the firstborn of all the tribes and the firstborn of their stock in place of the firstbor n of the Israelites’ stock.

The Lord also said to Moses, ‘Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their stock. The Levites are mine. I am the Lord (Numbers 3: 44-45).

When the Levites and the firstborn of Israel were counted, there were 273 more firstborn that Levites. To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs 20 gerahs. Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons (Numbers 3: 46-48).

In Adam we are all firstborn sons of God. As His firstborn, we belong to Him. To save us from being sacrificed as was the fate of the livestock, Jesus paid the price for our redemption by taking our place as the sacrifice.

Every firstborn son had privileges and responsibilities in the family. He represented his father in the family . He was heir to a double portion of his father’s estate but he was also responsible to be the mediator in family disputes, take care of any deceased brother’s widow and family, and to take the rap for a brother’s sins. He got the judgment while the second-born got mercy.

Peter used this aspect of God’s Law to show his readers that, as the firstborn of the human race in Adam, they all needed redemption, but not the redemption prescribed in the Torah. Torah’s sacrificial system was a picture of the redemption which Messiah would bring, not only the redemption from being sacrificed by the payment of a sum of money, but redemption from the problem of sin itself that was the cause of death.

Jesus’s death on the cross paid the price for sin, once and for all, and did away with the necessity for believers in Him to die. By dying, he conquered sin and death. He took away the penalty of death and bought us for God for all time and eternity.

Jesus said to her (Martha), ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ (John 11: 25-26).

Now we have every right to have the hope of being raised again from the dead, even though we will die, because Jesus is the firstborn from the dead and we are alive in Him.

Superior To Angels

February 13, 2015Bible Studyangels, firstborn, ministering spirits, son, worshipLuella Campbell

SUPERIOR TO ANGELS

For to which angels did God ever say: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be His Father, and He will be my Son’? And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship Him.’ In speaking of angels He says, ‘He makes His angels spirits and His servants flames of fire.’ But about the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Heb. 1: 5-9)

What is this writer saying? All these quotations from the Psalms, which his Hebrew readers would know very well because they would recite and sing the Psalms regularly as part of their worship, we pointing to one person – Jesus, the Messiah. Why was he so bent on proving the Son’s superiority to angels?

Although there is no evidence that the Jews ever worshipped angels, during the intertestamental period, i.e. the 400 years between the last book of the Old Testament and Matthew, it seems that they did invoke angels,

Who were the angels and what part did they play in God’s scheme of things?

Although the angels are mentioned throughout Scripture, ‘every reference is incidental to some other topic. They are not treated in themselves. God’s revelation never aims at informing us regarding the nature of angels. When they are mentioned, it is always in order to inform us further about God, what He does and how He does it. Since details about angels are not significant for that purpose, they tend to be omitted.’ (https://bible.org/article-god%E2%80%99s-ministering-spirits)

What we do learn, however, is that angels are created beings, they are spirit beings, and they are mere creatures. There are holy angels who do God’s bidding and there are fallen angels who are allied to the devil, the chief of the fallen angels and who will perish with him when Jesus comes as Judge.

Why did this writer then, take pains to explain to his readers that Jesus is superior to angels?

The purpose of the author, in stringing seven quotes from the Old Testament together was to overwhelm his readers with the evidence that Jesus is superior to the angels by virtue of His relationship to the Father. He is the Son of God as opposed to angels who are only servants, ministering spirits who do His bidding.

Jesus is God’s chosen Son, in the Davidic line, with authority to rule in righteousness over the kingdom of God. He is also the object of angelic worship which makes Him superior to angels. His reign is eternal over this world and the entire universe.

His readers must take heed, therefore, that they recognise Jesus for who He is. From the prophetic utterances of God through the prophets and the confirmation of prophecy through the revelation of Jesus in history, there can be no doubt that He is the Son of God and therefore has a supreme position in God’s scheme of things.

What are the implications for us?

1. Since Jesus occupies the place of supremacy over all creation, He must, of necessity occupy a supreme place in our lives as well. He takes precedence over every person and every circumstance that touches our lives.

2. Jesus has all authority and holds all power in the universe. We must submit, therefore, to His authority in all things and trust Him to order our circumstances to fulfil His will in our lives, both good and bad.

3. He alone is to be worshipped, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the triune God. He has been given the name above all names and the place of highest authority by the Father. We are to honour and live for Him and through Him alone.

Supreme In Everything!

December 16, 2014Bible StudyChurch, dead, firstborn, head, supremacyLuella Campbell

SUPREME IN EVERYTHING!

And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in haven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. (Col. 1: 18-20)

What does ‘supreme’ mean? The dictionary says, ‘Highest in rank or authority’ or ‘greatest of the great’. How does Jesus fit the criteria?

He, not some lower-ranking god who is far removed from God, is the Creator of the universe. The consistent witness of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments is that Jesus is the Creator of all things. It was Jesus who, in the Old Testament, was called ‘the angel of the Lord’, and who, as Jesus Himself said, appeared to Moses at the burning bush (John 8: 58); and to Isaiah in the temple. (Isa. 12: 39-41)

It was Jesus, whom the Bible called ‘the Word’ (John 1: 1), through whom God created the universe and everything in it, both seen and unseen, and to whom God gave the authority to rule (Eph. 1: 22) for the sake of the church. Jesus is the beginning or initiator of Creation and the sustainer of all things. He holds everything together by His powerful word. (Heb 1: 3)

Just as Jesus is the initiator of Creation, so also He is the initiator of the New Creation, the church. The church came into being through Him. He shed His blood to reconcile God’s alienated children to Himself and to bring them back into His household to be His beloved family once again. The church is the visible representation of His kingdom on earth. He is the supreme Head of the church. (Col. 1:18)

He is also the firstborn from among the dead. He raised dead people to life again during His sojourn on earth but they were doomed to die again because of sin. Jesus’s resurrection from the dead signified that He had beaten sin. Sin killed Him but sin could not hold Him in the grave. Without the resurrection, His death would have been no different from the death of any other human. His death would have been proof that the devil still has the power of death.

But death could not hold Him in the grave. He busted out of death into a resurrection life that can never die again. He became the prototype of all those who believe in Him, the firstborn from among the dead. He fulfilled the requirements of the firstfuits, which guaranteed God’s blessing on the rest of the harvest.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfuits of those who have fallen asleep. For, since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. (1 Cor. 15:20-21)

The resurrection is the final proof that all Jesus ever said, did or promised is authentic. Because He lives, we shall live also. (John 14: 19) Paul was writing to counter the nonsense people were teaching for which they had no authority except the fanciful imagination of human minds. He not only had the backing of the ancient Scriptures but also the historical truth of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection to write what he wrote and teach what he taught without fear of contradiction.

What other religious teacher could claim what Jesus claimed and then pull it off to prove that He spoke the truth? Did Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith or any other person who made great claims, ever do that? Did any of them say they would be killed and raise again? To try to disprove the words and works of Jesus, some even declare that the Bible has been corrupted and is no longer the truth. On what grounds? No amount of maligning the record can disprove the resurrection.

Millions of people throughout the centuries after Christ have trusted Jesus’s word and committed their lives into His hands. The early Christians and many since have paid for their faith with their lives. Even today, thousands die brutal deaths rather than deny their faith. Why? Are they sacrificing themselves for a lie? No. They are convinced that Jesus spoke the truth and they have staked their destiny on it.

Jesus said to her (Martha), ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ (John 11: 25, 26)

The Song Of Creation

December 15, 2014Bible Studycreation, firstborn, image, invisible God, sonLuella Campbell

THE SONG OF CREATION

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities: all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Col. 1: 15-17)

Paul was up against a group of people who were already corrupting the gospel and down-playing Jesus by false ideas they were propagating across the empire. Their teaching was what was the beginning of Gnosticism, a philosophy which was a mixture of existing religions and which taught that to be “saved” one needed to have secret “knowledge” – (gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge) into which only a few select people were initiated.

They taught that matter is evil and spirit good implying, on the one hand, that Jesus could not have been fully man, and on the other hand, that Creation was the work of a lesser god, called a demiurge, not the Supreme Being who could have nothing to do with matter; that between God and the created world there existed a series of lesser beings, the last being the creator of the universe.

Paul jumped right in by stating two facts clearly: that Jesus is the ‘firstborn’ over all creation – not, as some have interpreted, the first of God’s creatures, which would contradict Paul’s statement that Jesus is the image (copy or likeness) of God, but the prototokos or prototype of creation. ‘Firstborn’ refers not so much to the first one born to parents, but the one who had the authority and responsibility in the family.

Jesus is both firstborn over and agent in creation. Everything was through Him and for Him and He holds it all together by His powerful word.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Heb. 1: 3)

Gnosticism as a philosophy is not as rife today as the teachings of evolutionists. Who is right? The evolutionist who states categorically that everything in the universe came into being by chance, or the Bible and those who believe it, that Creation is God’s handiwork and that Jesus Christ is the Word through whom everything was created?

Paul had no problem in believing that God created the universe and neither did David. There were no scientists in their day trying to make them believe otherwise.

David spent time watching sheep in his youth. In the summer time he must have often sat out under the stars. There were no city lights to dim his view of the heavens. He was captivated by the splendour of the dome above him and, because of his knowledge of the writings of Moses, he had no need to ask, “Who made all this?” There could only be one answer; not chance but God – the God of his forefathers whom he worshipped.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world. (Psa. 19: 1-4a)

Nowadays we know that the stars are not silent. With the invention of the radio telescope, astronomers are able to listen in to their music. The Velar Pulsar drums out a perpetual rhythm to God who made it. David got it right, after all. The stars are proclaiming the glory of their Creator.

The creatures on earth are not silent either. They have ways of communicating that fascinates scientists. Who knows what whales and dolphins are singing about, or the songbirds which lift their voices to the heavens? They may be saying something to their own kind, but sometimes they warble just for the joy of being alive. Have you ever heard the song of crickets played at ultra-slow speed? It sounds like the song of angels!

Unlike us humans, who make every excuse not to acknowledge and worship our Creator, the inanimate and animal world have never questioned their origin, or thought up a lame reason why they are here. They do what they were created to do, to honour their Creator, and to do what they were created to do – to show God off by being themselves.

When we acknowledge Jesus and put Him in His rightful place, the entire universe is right-side-up, a glorious creation of God and awaiting its restoration to perfection just as we, God’s children are doing.

Glimpses Of The Great God: Day Twenty Three

December 5, 2013Devotionfirstborn, image, Jesus, supremacyLuella Campbell

DAY TWENTY THREE

“He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn over all creation.

For by Him all things were created:

things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;

all things were created by Him and for Him.

He is before all things,

and in Him all things hold together.

And He is the head of the body, the church;

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead

so that in everything His might have the supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,

and through Him to reconcile all things,

whether things on earth or things in heaven,

making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”

Colossians 1:15-20

It’s almost as though the apostle Paul cannot find the right words to describe how amazing Jesus is and great His role is in the whole of creation. He made everything, He owns everything, He controls everything and He is everything and God holds Him up for us to admire, to honour and to worship! Through the pen of the apostle, God is showing off His Son to all creation, human and spirit beings, to be admired, adored and honoured, and boasting about Him because of what He did. That should give us great encouragement.

Ebenezer Family Church

HE IS RISEN!