THE FIRSTBORN
AND THE PASSOVER
[Picture above: Dr.
Houston McKelvey, Dean of St Anne’s Cathedral,
He says:-
“… Communion isn’t as good in terms of
numbers as it used to be. … I don’t preach as I am in the unique position of having two bishops,
the Bishop of Down and Dormore and the Bishop of Conor. So I invite
one or other to preach, but if they have to be elsewhere, I step in. I actually prefer celebrating Holy Communion
at Christmas, it’s at the heart of one’s vocation,
doing that which a priest does that no one else can do. I am a liturgical animal.
“I do
like the worship aspect of Christmas … And I still like unwrapping
presents. If there isn’t chocolate, I am
disappointed. My brother and
Sister-in-law always give me a subscription to Sailing
magazine. Our son buys magical gifts
and, thanks to him, I’m the proud owner of an iPod.
“We
finish eating around 6pm, then collapse again before watching a little bit of
telly. Usually we have a bit of craic in the evening, as family time is so precious. Then I fall asleep again.” (Weekend
The Writer of Hebrews says:-
“See that no-one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau,
who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest [firstborn]
son:” (Heb. 12: 16).
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THE FIRSTBORN AND THE PASSOVER
(AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS
By ROBERT GOVETT, M.A.
Heb. 12: 23.)
The festival of the firstborn
was the Passover, since they were peculiarly redeemed in
The entry into the city, and the
commemoration of the rescue of the firstborn, was a time of joy to
The assemblies of the
Beside the festival-time,
there is also the assemblage of the persons who are to celebrate it.
These are described as “the firstborn enrolled in
heaven.”
The firstborn of the old
covenant were those of nature. Moses
enrolled them on earth (Num. 3: 40). They were peculiarly redeemed to Jehovah by
the blood, of the Lamb. They were spared
thereby when the world’s firstborn were smitten (Ex.
12: 12, 29; 13: 2; 22: 29). Their
festival, the Passover, had two great aspects.
First, the celebration of it while in
We see, then, how this
applies. We are “the firstborn” of the New Testament, “a
kind of first-fruits of God’s creatures.” We are born again of the Spirit of God, and
knit to Christ, “the firstborn of every creature.” We are the peculiar purchase of Christ (1 Cor. 6: 20; 7: 23; Rev. 5: 9),
Who is “the firstborn of every
creature,” and “the firstborn from the dead”
(Col. 1: 15, 18).
We are the scattered elect of
God now, but shall one day be assembled in the glorious unity above; our names
written in the Lamb’s book of life (Luke 10: 20;
Phil. 4: 3). The immense
assemblage above is shown to us in Rev. 7: 9-17. They celebrate their salvation as due to God
and the Lamb. “They washed
their robes, and made them white” - not as
The connexion between the
firstborn, their redemption and their festival, is close. At present we are to regard the matter
practically as the feast of unleavened bread (Ex.
34: 18-20, 23). In Rev. 2, 3, we find the Saviour giving charge
against eating leaven, and promising to
the obedient, blessings. Then, in
the prophetic part, we have the first-fruits of the twelve tribes of
1. The
history of the feast of the Passover is one that enters largely into the
picture before us. We have spoken of the
crisis in the
2. But,
on arriving at Sinai, the nation kept the festival of its deliverance before the
mount (Num. 9). It
was observed after the new covenant had been made with Moses as the mediator,
and the blood of the covenant had been shed.
There, too, the second Passover in the second month was commanded, for those who were unclean during the
first. This is, and will be, the position of
3.
The
peculiarity of Josiah’s Passover was, that
4. But,
we have, in the Saviour’s day, a scene which throws much greater light upon the
picture before us. Our Lord led His
disciples across the
Then He
institutes, for “the firstborn enrolled in heaven,” the
new rite of the Lord’s Supper, characteristic of the people that trust Him as
their Priest and Sacrifice. “This is My body which is given for you; this do in
remembrance of Me.” For while the lambs of men all abide on
earth, the Lamb of God has been removed to the heaven. “This cup is the
New Testament in My blood which
is shed for you,” “unto remission of sins.” Eleven only of the heavenly firstborn were
there; but it was a token of the vast and innumerable “assembly”
one day to be held. The point of
junction between the two people of God, - Israel, and the Church, who are both
on that occasion recognized, - is, that when the Saviour comes, and with Him
the millennial kingdom of glory, the Supper of the Lord ceases, for it is only
“till He come.”
But the Passover of Israel’s deliverance then steps in, and the glory
dwells on earth.
Moreover,
we have, at the close of the Lord’s life, a notice of “the
spirits of just men made perfect,” and of the entry into the
eternal city, in those words of Matthew; “And the tombs
were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the tombs
after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City, and appeared unto
many” (27: 52, 53).*
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[* NOTE. Two offences against holiness are noticed in
the sixteenth verse fornication and profaneness. Was Esau guilty of both? It is not expressly asserted, and is not
necessary to the argument. But observe
how the Spirit drops words of caution to believers against the worst forms of
sin. He does not suppose, as so many
Christian teachers do, that if a man be converted, he must be all that a
regenerate man should be; or if he is not, he is not converted.
Certainly, the Epistles to the Corintians,
which deal with the most corrupt Church on record, take ground quite
opposed to such a view.
Esau was
the son of Isaac, the man of faith. But
Esau was guilty of a profane bargain. “For a single meal” he disposed of his birthright. When
asked to sell it at so paltry a price, he accepts the offer at once. He himself depreciates the article he was
about to sell: a mode of procedure which showed how little he valued its
spiritual .advantages. “Will you sell me your horse for a pound?” Did anyone ever hear such a reply as: “Well, poor
creature, he is six years old, and a film growing over his left eye. Yes, you may
have him at that!” Sellers in
general are ready and eloquent in the praise of what they have to dispose of, specially when there is a desire expressed to buy. Jacob urges him to sell under an oath; and he
refuses not. And Esau, after the meal
was over, rose up and went his way, as though nothing of any importance had
been done. He never showed any desire to
buy back what he had sold. “Thus Esau despised
his birthright” (Gen. 25).
But when
the time of receiving the inspired blessing of his father arrived, a sense of
its importance arose within him, and he was willing to take any measures,
directed by Isaac, with a view to that end.
Yet no misgiving visited his mind, that he could not have what he had
sold, and sold beyond recall; inviting God to hinder any attempt to repossess himself of his lost privilege! But he was met by a rebuff where he did not
anticipate it. The father who directed
him how to win his blessing, as the
firstborn, refuses it! It was given
away; and though his brother had sinned in the affair, Isaac would not recall
the supremacy given to Jacob. Esau knew he was his father’s favourite son, and
therefore flung himself, in all the ardour and impetuosity of his feelings,
upon his father’s preference for him; but in vain! Esau did not repent of his sin; and he could
not get his father to repent of the blessing given to Jacob.
This,
then, is a lesson to believes! We are the firstborn, as the first to hope in Christ, while
In this
passage we may see the meaning of a believer being a “castaway.”
* It refers to the loss of millennial reward, and of' special
privilege; not to his being eternally lost.
If Isaac was so firm against the pleas and tears of his favourite son,
much more will “the Righteous judge,” in the
coming day, be firm against the son who has profanely sacrificed heavenly
benefits for earthly and temporal advantages.
Once sold, the bargain cannot be undone.
God Himself puts Himself under oath not to change. “So I sware in My
wrath, they shall not enter into My rest.”
We are
sons of God, as Esau and Jacob were sons of Isaac. We are expecting to appear before our Father
in heaven, to receive the ‘blessing’ of the
firstborn. “Come near,” was Isaac’s word to
Jacob. Like Esau, we are not to appear
before our God empty: even as both Esau and Jacob bore in their hands to their
father something that he loved. “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a
field which the Lord hath blessed.” This
may remind us of chap. 6: 7. The fertile field is near to blessing. To this scene refers, I believe, that word: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked [as Isaac was]; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap” (Gal. 6). “Bring me savoury meat, said Isaac, that my
soul may bless thee.” So we read: “The righteous by faith shall live; but, of he draw back, my
soul hath no Pleasure in him.”
Esau was
not wholly cast away. He remained a son.
He obtained an inferior blessing, though he lost the blessing of the
firstborn.
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