Throughout the Bible, the second born is the one who gets mercy while the first born gets justice. Let’s look at some examples.
Abraham’s first born son, Ishmael, was exiled with his mother after he had scoffed at Abraham’s second born son, Isaac.
Isaac’s first born son, Esau, was jealous of his younger brother, Jacob who had, through deception, received a greater blessing from their father. Later, Jacob wrestled with God face to face and was blessed.
Laban’s older daughter, Leah, was married to Jacob before the younger daughter of Laban, Rachel, who was the object of Jacob’s affections.
The list goes on in the Old Testament – Noah’s son, Shem, before Japheth; Judah and Joseph before Reuben; Joseph’s younger son, Manasseh, before Ephraim; Moses before Aaron and David was chosen to be king before his brothers.
Let’s move on to the New Testament and the parable of the prodigal son. Jesus told the tale of a younger son demanding all that was his due from the estate of his father, squandering it on wild living and then returning to his home and being reinstated as the son.
Did you notice that in every case the second born came off better except in the case of Abel who was killed by a jealous older brother? Cain was exiled but Abel had ceased to exist. The writer to the Hebrews noticed that, too, and look what he has written:
..”you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:22-24 NIV).
We notice a number of things:
Cain wasn’t punished with death because Abel’s righteous blood delivered him.
We are called the church of the firstborn. We were the second born, Gentiles coming after the selection of the Jews, but Jesus, as the firstborn, slain on our behalf, has conferred on us the rights of the firstborn and we have been blessed with life evermore because of His blood.
How good is that!
When our day finally comes, we will stand before the Judge of all with confidence. Because of Jesus we are forgiven of all our wrongdoings forever. We are in right standing with God. Our spirits have been made perfect. Our names have been written in heaven and we will be with thousands of thousands of joyful angels. Oh happy day!
Farewell for now dear Dorita, but it will be but a short while before we will be rejoicing together with you for eternity.