Deuteronomy 15:19-23; Colossians 1:1-20

Firstborn Blessings

Preached at Sycamore RPC

Kokomo, IN

March 3, 2002

Sermon Text

19 “You shall consecrate to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.  20 “You and your household shall eat it every year before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses.  21 “But if it has any defect,  such as lameness or blindness,  or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.  22 “You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike  may eat it, as a gazelle or a deer.  23 “Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

God will not let us separate law from gospel!

I keep reminding you that Deuteronomy is not just a dry law book. Certainly it contains laws, but that is not all it contains. Deuteronomy is a sermon of exhortation that Moses is preaching to the people before they go into the Promised Land. He is preparing them for their inheritance. Maybe instead of Deuteronomy (the second law) we should nickname it “Deutero-sermonos” to remind us of this. For wrapped up in this book of law are constant reminders of the gospel, such as we have again before us this morning. Remember Jesus said in John 5:46 to the Pharisees, who believed they followed Moses’ law: “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me.” Here we see Moses writing of Christ.

Imagine the excitement you would have if some fabulously rich uncle died and you found out he named you in his will. You knew he favored you and you heard he had been generous. Then you are called to the law office where the attorney is going to divulge what your uncle left you. I dare say you would tingle with anticipation and excitement as you listened to the attorney read what this family member left you. So even though the lawyer laid down stipulations and legal requirements to receive the inheritance, you would gladly follow them to receive the riches of your uncle. That is the way we need to listen to this book. To read these verses as an outdated code is similar to reading a generous will like a law book. It should not be.

For it is exactly about inheritance that these laws regarding the firstborn are concerned. And if God has given you the ears to hear, and will grant me the ability to speak of what this means for you, you will come to realize that you have been granted a far greater inheritance than any uncle can leave you. Indeed, in the letter written to the Hebrews found in the New Testament, we hear that you are to consider yourself to be of “the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23). If we can see this today, we will leave here rich!

Beloved, by believing and obeying the following items you will receive the rich inheritance God in Christ Jesus has for you. As I did last week, I must spend a significant amount of my time explaining the first application that we might understand the final two.

I. Consecrate Christ as the heir of all.

In verse 19 Moses commands the people to “consecrate to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of you flock.” These firstborn were not to be put to work or shorn for wool, but instead offered as a sacrifice. This follows an earlier command from Exodus 13 regarding the firstborn:

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine…And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, that you shall set apart to the LORD all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD’S. But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.” (Exodus 13:1-2,11-13).

Again we hear this command to consecrate the firstborn. Not only were the ox and sheep to be offered. Other animals, such as donkeys that were not to be sacrificed on the altar, were to either have a substitute of a lamb offered in their place or just their necks broken. God’s words concerning this stipulation were strong: “For they are wholly given to Me from among the children of Israel; I have taken them for Myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel. For all the firstborn among the children of Israelare Mine, both man and beast…” (Numbers 8:16-17). Even the firstborn sons were to be redeemed, not by offering them as a sacrifice, but by the substitute of a Levite serving God in their place or with a monetary offering (see Exodus 34:19-20; Numbers 3:40-50).

What was the reason for this command? The LORD instituted the firstborn ordinance at the time of the Passover, which you will notice is what will next be addressed in Deuteronomy 16. Listen again to God’s reason for this from Exodus 13:

“So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’” (Exodus 13:14-16).

It was because the LORD brought death upon the firstborn of Egypt that this command was instituted. That is why we sang from Psalms 135 and 136 this morning. Both celebrate God’s redemption of the people from Egypt by exalting God for taking the firstborn of the Egyptians (135:8; 136:10).

Yet that should still leave you with a question. If the firstborn of Israel was to be consecrated because the firstborn of Egypt killed, why was the firstborn of Egypt killed? Why would taking the firstborn of Egypt necessitate God requiring the firstborn of Israel? Why did God not take the second-born, or the wife, or the head of the families of Egypt? The answer to that lies in going back to the firstborn, or first created, of all. Adam.

Adam as the first man in God’s creation stood to inherit the whole earth. He was told to be fruitful and multiply, then fill the whole earth and subdue it. All the earth was to belong to him and his descendants. Yet by virtue of his fall into sin, he forfeited his inheritance. He and all His descendants were erased from God’s will. More than that, judgment and death were pronounced on them all. Romans 5:14 says, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Paul is teaching us here that men born after Adam did not sin like he did (“in the likeness of his offense”), i.e., men did not fall into sin from a state of innocence. Yet still death reigned over them, and still continues to do so. Why, many today try and teach that we are born innocent, and later society corrupts us and we make bad choices. But the Bible teaches repeatedly that we were born in sin and we are all subject to death because of it. Friend, that has become our inheritance. Listen to Romans 5:

• Romans 5:15 says "…by the one man’s offense many died,”
• Romans 5:17 says: "by one man’s offense death reigned by one;”
• Romans 5:18, “as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation”
• Romans 5:19, “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners”

The taking of the Egyptian firstborn was a dramatic judgment indicating what all deserve because of our fall in the firstborn Adam. And at the very point in time (Exodus 12) when Israel could have looked at Egypt and said, “Ha! You deserve that because of what you did to us,” God comes (Exodus 13) and says He requires Israel’s firstborn! He tells Israel, “You deserve the very same thing. You are just like the firstborn, the first Adam. But for you, I will provide a substitute.”

Do you see yourself as a son of Adam? Can you see your sin does not simply make you his son, but shows you were born as one of his children? Can you see you have lost your inheritance, indeed life itself? You may be saying, “Wait a minute! Where’s the tingle? The anticipation you promised as we listen for our inheritance?” It won’t happen until you first realize this. You deserve no inheritance. It has been lost to you. You’re sitting in the law office hearing about your uncle’s will, and the lawyer says these riches can only be granted if you have never been arrested or given a ticket. Yet you were just stopped for speeding on the way over! Yet it is much worse than this. What Adam lost, you lost. What Adam became, you became. What Adam was, a sinner judged unworthy of a paradise, you are.

Yet all through the OT we see pictures that another would come and restore the rights of the firstborn. Seen most prominently in the life of Jacob.

Recall how desperately Jacob wanted the firstborn rights of Esau? How he enticed Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of stew? How he deceived his own father to steal Esau’s blessings? Why? Though he needed to learn to trust God, which twenty years of servitude capped off by a night wrestling with an angel taught him, Jacob knew God had promised to Abraham and Isaac great blessing. God had said He would give Abraham and his seed the land of promise as his inheritance, and he wanted that. Jacob pictures for us Christ. He came in with the hairy covering of Esau and replaced the wicked firstborn as the righteous choice of God. Have you considered Christ in that manner? He was covered with your sins before the Father, that His righteousness might be yours. He has restored the inheritance that you lost back to you. Jacob in turn pictured this again for us when it came time to bless Joseph and his sons. Manasseh the firstborn son of Joseph was brought to Jacob’s right, Ephraim the youngest put on his left, but then Jacob with the Spirit of Christ leading him crossed his hands and gave the younger the place of the older. So it is Christ, the second Adam, has been given the place of the firstborn, and you in Him inherit the same.

Remember again what Romans 5:14 said, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Adam as the firstborn, the head over all who forfeited inheritance of righteousness, pictures for us the true Firstborn, the one who can bestow righteousness on all. The male bull and sheep offered reminds one of the substitute that would come and win and give back the rights lost. For what Adam lost, Christ regained. “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

Colossians 1:15 says Christ is the “firstborn of all creation.” It does not mean He was the first one created or made. Rather, He has the firstborn position. Read 15-20. The inheritance is all His!

Either you are a son of Adam or a son of God through Christ. What must you do? How do you consecrate Christ as the firstborn?

II. Consume Christ as the life of all.

Verse 20 tell us that this sacrifice had to be eaten. The people were to take it to Jerusalem and eat it there before the priest. As they ate this meal, Israel was taught that consuming the slain firstborn gave them life before God. A failure by an individual of family to honor this commandment would mean they were to be cut off from Israel, and indeed their very life was threatened (see Numbers 8:19).

This firstborn sacrifice teaches God’s people that they must hunger. Do you hunger for your inheritance? Do you have a hungry faith like Jacob, or are you self-satisfied like Esau? Few today realize that a belief that is merely intellectual is not a saving belief. We have to hunger for Christ and desire Christ in order to be saved and have life. The Israelites were not to drink the blood of the firstborn sacrifice, but pour it out on the ground (verse 22). The blood was life, and yet to eat the blood of an animal would not give them life. But there is a blood we are to drink that will give us life, the blood of the firstborn. Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves” (John 6:53). How do you eat of Him, you might ask?

By having a belief that does not simply say in your mind, “I know Jesus died on the cross for sins and so I am saved,” but having a belief that cries out from your heart, “Without Christ, I have no life. I am in my sins. But his broken body on the cross has taken my sins from me. His spilt blood has covered and washed away my filth. That is food and drink to my soul.” One who believes this way will not use belief in Christ to commit more evil, but to flee from evil. He won’t regard the church of Christ as just a meaningless institution, but His body to which he rejoices he belongs. He will not regard the sacrament of communion which we shall celebrate next week as just a religious ritual, but as a wonderful meal where we feast on Jesus. He will regard Christ as the food he needs every day to have strength to live, for Christ Himself has become his inheritance.

III. Consider Christ as the only one of all.

Finally, one who believes in this way will proclaim that no other one can give life. Notice that a defective firstborn animal was not to be offered. It was not worthy to be brought before God. That is because the firstborn of God is the only the perfect Son, the “Firstborn from the Dead” (Revelation 1:6), who can release us from our sins. No other person ever born can do that. Mohammed cannot. Buddha cannot. No other man can do that for you. Only Jesus. He is uniquely the Son of God.

Those who have received their inheritance know that it comes from no one else except Christ. He alone can provide it to you.

As we finish, consider the Lord’s Supper. Is this not its message? Does not this meal signify that Christ is Lord, the firstborn who alone give life to His people? And does not it tell us as we sit around this table that we have been restored? Beloved, we should not be allowed, but through Christ we have regained the right to sit at God’s table. What an inheritance we have! What life He offers! Prepare yourself this week to rejoice again in that.