CHURCH OF THE FIRST-BORN

THE CHURCH OF THE FIRST BORN

                “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever. Amen” Ephesians 3: 14-21

                An entire book could be written on this above text alone and its implications could never be exhausted. We can only skim the surface here, but I want to bring up some points.

                First of all in verses 14 and 15 he tells us that the whole family in heaven and on earth is named after the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This family that is in heaven and on earth is the family of Jesus because both Jesus and we, the true church have the same Father. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and we, the church were conceived by the Holy Spirit. We who are born again are from the same Seed. And just as the Seed of the Father produced a Son, just so that same Seed that was planted in Mary is planted in the Body of Christ in order to bring many sons to glory. Hebrews 2:10-11.

                See if this is not what I just said:  “For it was fitting for Him for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

                Okay then, it is important for us to understand that when Paul is talking about the family that is in heaven and the family that is on earth He is not talking about angels. He is talking about those specifically who have been conceived by the Holy Spirit from the Father just as Jesus was conceived. That Seed planted in us is the same Seed that was planted in Mary and for that very reason; we are literally brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ if we are born again. We share the same Spirit and we share the same Father.

                Again to clarify this, the family that is in heaven is not talking about the angels for in Hebrews 1:5 he says: “For to which of the angels did He ever say, “THOU ART MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN THEE”? And again, “I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME”?

                I hope you are getting what I am saying here because it is important. There is a family both in heaven and on earth in which angels are not included. This family has all been conceived from one Father and Jesus Christ is the first- born of this family… and yet we are not second born. We are also first born because we too have been conceived by the same Father.

                So where do we hear about the family of the first born that is in heaven? Hebrews 12:22-24 introduces us to them saying:

                “But you have come to Mt. Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and CHURCH OF THE FIRST-BORN who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the SPIRITS OF RIGHTEOUS MEN MADE PERFECT and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

                Of this family that is in heaven the author of Hebrews (whom I believe to have been Paul,) tells us that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses and therefore we must lay aside every encumbrance and run the race that is set before us.

                Picture if you will a relay race in which the faithful, (mentioned in Hebrews 11) have carried the baton in their time. They have finished their part of the race and now they are a part of the great cloud of witnesses, the family of the first born in heaven that is cheering us on to the finish line. The baton has been handed to us, the final generation and we are destined, even predestined to finish the race.

                This gives us better insight as to what Hebrews 11:39, 40 is saying.  It says:

                “And these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”

                But why did they not receive what was promised? It is because the baton has not yet been carried to the victory line, the finish line. Only those who have been conceived by the same Holy Spirit by which Jesus Christ was conceived can take the baton home… but get this. As we carry the baton home, they who came before us will share in the victory, because we are the first fruits and as we learned from the first fruits that the High Priest waved before the Lord, Jesus also presented Himself to the Father as the first fruits of the resurrection. And if the first fruits be holy, so then is the whole field holy.

                But in order to finish this race, Jesus wants to bring many sons to glory. That is to say that this final harvest here in the last days is going to receive a special harvest time anointing, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will bring the harvesters to full maturity.

                There is a profound reason why we must seek to live holy lives. We are that generation that must bring the baton to the finish line and it is said of us:

                “For whom He foreknew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called,. These He also justified and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Rom. 8:29-30.

                But many are being taught today that all we have to do is to sit on the glory train and wait for the rapture because Jesus did it all and so there is no need for us to overcome even as He overcame, but that is a lie of the devil, designed to derail us from God’s plan and to abort the harvest. Jesus did what He did in order to bring many sons to glory and to do this we must be conformed to His image. We must overcome even as He overcame… and we can do it by His grace for we have been born again of the same incorruptible Seed.

                To every one of the 7 churches Jesus made promises to those who overcome. Well, what are we to overcome? The world, the flesh and the devil for starters… and we do it by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. We do it by living by the same Spirit in us that was also conceived in Mary to produce the first-born Son Jesus. We live by the power of the same Holy Spirit that Jesus lived by.

                He will forever be the Source and we the recipients, but Jesus has paved a way to victory for us to follow. He is calling us to overcome even as He overcame. 1 John 2:20-29. 1 John 4:4-6, Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 25 and 3:5, 12, 21, Rev. 21:7, Rev. 12:11, Rev. 15:2, 3, Rev. 19:7, 8, 14, Rev. 22:7, 1 John 5:4. There are hundreds more of these texts having to do with being conformed to the image of Christ and overcoming the world even as He overcame… in fact this could be seen as the main theme of the Gospel and the purpose for which Jesus Christ came into the world. HE came to restore what Adam lost in the fall, and when we have received that which Adam lost, then we can once again become sons of God and joint heirs with Jesus.

                Do we think for a moment that heaven and earth are ambivalent about this? Think again, for as it says in one of my favorite texts, Romans 8: 19-23:

                “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

                Well, some may say the Jesus did all of this FOR us and that is absolutely true. He did win the victory FOR us, but He did so with the intention of bringing many sons to glory. This is the thought of God that goes beyond human comprehension. God is our Father and He, through His Son Jesus Christ , wants to make us family… not just redeemed slaves, but sons and daughters, joint heirs of eternity with Jesus. Salvation is not our main purpose. Salvation only brings us back to God’s original purpose in creating us. Now He wants to continue on to make us His royal family… a kingdom and priests unto our God… ambassadors of His kingdom… living examples of His grace and power to save to the uttermost. It is we who will make sure that sin never rises again. We are the first fruits of His infinite love.

                Whatever God’s future creation plans are, we will serve as His witnesses to the love that reached into our darkness and redeemed us and made us His sons and daughters.

                “Somehow, through the power of Christ that has been vested in us, we need to shuck off the powers of darkness that have enslaved all of creation and come into the light and glory of Christ. And when we do this, all of creation will be set free from the death sentence that has been imposed upon it by sin.

                The children of Satan today are trying to pronounce a death sentence upon humanity for our part in global warming and the ever increasing disasters of nature that are coming upon us. But what they don’t understand is that the only solution to this problem is for the sons of God to be manifested in this earth so that all of creation can be set free from the sentence of sin and death that was placed upon it.

                So even as the glory of God arises and shines upon us, they will seek to put us to death and they will cry out instead for a human solution, a demonic solution… an antichrist… anti- Christian solution in the form of a global government under Satan.

                And it is against this backdrop that the sons of God will be revealed … and the only way for us to be a part of those sons of God is to learn how to live fully by the Seed… the Holy Spirit Seed of Christ that has been planted in every one of us that has been born again. WE have been born of that incorruptible Seed.

                “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently loved one another from the heart, for you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is through the living and abiding word of God. 1 Peter 1:22-23

                It is time to preach the full Gospel to the world my friends, for it is that Seed that will bring many sons to glory… and it is not a Seed of words only, but the Seed of the Holy Spirit that has birthed us and is shaping us and  conforming us to the image of Christ.

                We are the church of the first- born. Part of us is in heaven and part of us is on the earth, but we are one family and we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses that is cheering us on to the finish line. Let us not fumble the baton now… but let us finish the race in the grace and power of our Lord Jesus Christ.