Topic: Concepts of the Firstborn in Scripture: Battle of the
Seeds
Throughout Scripture especially in the Old Testament after
God prophesied that the seed of the woman would crush the authority of Satan,
Satan has sought to contaminate the bloodline so that this would not be
possible. Now keep in mind as we show
these examples you will see the importance of the firstborn.
Adam (Genesis 4:1-5)
Adam and Eve had three sons that we will talk about in particular. The first two in order was Cain and then
Abel. Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel was a keeper of sheep. Now understand Cain is the firstborn of Adam
and Eve so he has the birthright. When
it came to offering to the Lord Cain and Abel were very different. The Scripture says Cain offered fruits from
the ground but Abel offered the firstlings of the flock. The Scripture said the Lord respected Abel
because he gave the firsts of his flock but Cain gave what he thought he wanted
the Lord to have and the Lord had no respect for him. Because of this Cain killed Abel and because
of his carnality and sin, he lost the firstborn birthright. Adam and Eve conceived another son and named
him Seth and this what was said about Seth:
Genesis 4:25,26: And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare
a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another
seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew. And
to Seth, to hi also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord.
Cain did not value his birthright by the offering he brought
to the Lord and out of anger and jealousy he killed His brother Abel. Just to think about how important this story
is let me show you:
Hebrews 11:4: By
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he
obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it
he being dead yet speaketh.
Abel was counted as righteous in Scripture for the offering
he offered to God being the firstborn of his flocks.
Noah: Genesis 9:18-29
Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. After the flood the Scriptures said after a
night of drunkenness, Noah’s son Ham defled the marriage bed, this is what the
Scripture speaks of seeing the nakedness of his father. Ham was cursed by Noah for what he had
done. But Shem and Japheth went
backwards and covered his father’s nakedness and they themselves did not see
their father’s nakedness. This is a
picture of the firstborns restoring the honor to his father. So the role of the firstborn is to show
honor to his father and never dishonor him by uncovering his nakedness. Let me share this Scripture with you about
honor:
Malachi 1:6: A son
honoureth his father and a servant his master: If then I be a father, where is
mine honour? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts
unto you, O priests, that despise my name.
And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name?
For many there is a lack of honour to the fathers of the
faith but moreover to the Father. There
is a lack of the fear of the Lord. The respect and reverence for the Lord
because of the lack of concern towards obedience to His Word.
Abraham (Genesis 16-21)
We know that Abraham had two sons. We know that Isaac represents the son of
promise and Ishmael represents the son of the flesh.
Isaac (Genesis 25:19-34)
Isaac had two sons. Esau and Jacob respectively. Now this story
is one of the best as describing the
firstborn. Because Esau broke
the womb first he was the
firstborn. In the story one day Esau was
hungry and Jacob suggested that Esau
sell him the birthright for the
pottage of stew. Esau said these words about his birthright:
Genesis 25:32: And Esau said, Behold
I am at the point to die: and
what profit shall this birthright do
to me?
So Esau sold his firstborn birthright for a bowl of
stew. Can you imagine the disrespect
that was to God. Esau totally devalued
his birthright in being the firstborn and God said this about Esau:
Malachi 1:2,3: I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say Wherein has thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacobs’s brother? Saith the
Lord: yet I loved Jacob. And I hated
Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the
wilderness.
Hate is a very strong word, especially coming from the mouth
of God but Esau did not value his birthright and remember the firstborn
belonged to God so devalued being owned by God..Hard to think but that is what
he did by selling his birthright.
Jacob (Genesis 49:1-4)
Here we have Jacob giving out the patriarchal
blessings. We know that Jacob had two
wives, Leah and Rachel. Leah give birth
to Reuben, Simeon and Levi. And Rachel gave birth to Joseph and Benjamin. Of course there are other sons because there
was twelve but for the sake of time let us look at these to explain the
firstborn. Reuben was the firstborn (vs. 3) Reuben was the son that was to wear
the coat of many colors that is given to the firstborn. However, Reuben defiled his father’s bed by
sleeping with one of his concubines and because of this he lost his firstborn
status, but to who? Well you would think
it would go automatically to Simeon because he is the next oldest but the next
person to break a womb was actually Joseph.
He was the firstborn to Rachel, hence he got the birthright and of
course the coat of many colors. And we know the rest of the story how he had
dreams and his bothers would betray him ultimately to come under his rule as
the dream stated.
These are a few to show the concepts of the firstborn in the
Old Testament. And how there was a constant battle between the seeds as it
pertain to being firstborn. Within many
of our own households we have this battle between the sons of promise and the
sons of the bondwoman and let me show you this in Scripture.
Galatians 4:28-31: Now we brethren as Isaac was are the
children of promise. But as then he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so
it is now. Nevertheless what saith the
scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then brethren we are not
children of the bonwoman, but of the free.
I do not see that being any clearer. The bondwoman and her son persecuted the sons
of God and even so it is now. We need to
come into our identity as firstborn sons that we may see who the bondwoman and
her son is within our households and cast them out.
In the next message we will examine the birthright
experience and how we become firstborn sons.
