Journey of the firstborn

God testifies in Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

Jordan explains, “We love people because we think we’re going to get something out of it, but that’s not love. Love is giving. John 3 says, ‘For God so loved the world, that he GAVE his only begotten Son.’ Ephesians 5 says, ‘Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and GAVE himself for it.’

“In II Corinthians 12:15, Paul gives you a great definition. He said, ‘I’m willing to spend and be spent yet the more I love the less I’m loved.’ You know what loving is? It’s spending and being spent for someone.

“Jeremiah 2 says, [1] Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
[2] Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
[3] Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

“That’s what Revelation 2 says about those folks in Israel leaving their first love. It was a love relationship God had with Israel.

“Hosea 11:1 takes you back to the beginning when He brought them out of Egypt. When He uses that term ‘my son,’ He’s referring back to Exodus 4: [21] And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
[22] And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
[23] And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

“Notice what God calls Israel. God desired to have a nation that He called ‘my son.’ In Scripture, a son is not just a descendant.

“In Galatians 4, you see this thing about a son really being about the doctrine of adoption: [3] Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
[4] But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
[5] To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

“Israel is a child when they come out of Egypt. He’s literally teaching him to walk in the Lord’s way. He’s still a child but he’s a child who is going to be His son because that’s who you make a son out of in the Bible.

“By the way, God had other sons. In Genesis 6, you read about ‘the sons of God,’ which is a reference to angels. But they were not born; they were created. The first time God gave birth to a son, He gave birth to a nation.

“Now, He had given birth through Abraham to have Isaac; He gave Abraham and Sarah the ability to have a child.

“But in Deuteronomy 32, Moses tells Israel, ‘Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.’ You go over and read Ezekiel 16, 60-plus verses, and you read how he literally describes the birthing process of bringing Israel out of Egypt.

“It’s actually quite gruesome to read. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a child being born but I think that’s one place a man doesn’t belong.

“Psalm 89 is about the Davidic Covenant. The definition in verse 27 says, ‘Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.’ That term the ‘firstborn’ is a reference to having that position of headship in the family.

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“There’s a real interesting problem verse in Matthew 2:13 that people get real bent out of shape about. It says, ‘And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.’

“This is the story of the wise men that came to see Jesus. He’s not a baby in the manger; He’s a young child in a house. When you see the nativity scene with the wise men there, with Mary and Joseph and the babe and the cattle and all that, that’s just a bunch of religious bunk.

“The wise men don’t go to the manger. The wise men weren’t there when the shepherds were there. The wise men didn’t see a baby—He was a young child as much as two years old.

“There weren’t three wise men, by the way. The reason they say there were three is because they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh, the three gifts. But they brought the three gifts because of the fact Jesus Christ was going to be the prophet, priest and king. That’s where the three comes from.

“There may have been two wise men and there may have been 30. You don’t know how many there were. All the stuff about their names is just Roman Catholic mythology.

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“In Matthew 2: 13, that quote is Hosea 11:1, but when you read Hosea 11:1, obviously he wasn’t talking about the Lord Jesus Christ back there.

“People say, ‘Why in the world would Matthew quote Hosea when Hosea was talking about Israel, not Jesus?’ That’s one of those places where you have to sit and think just a little bit.

“You see, God gave the name ‘my son’ to Israel and Jesus; the Messiah. He said, ‘This is my beloved son in whom I’m well-pleased.’

“John 15:1 says, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.’ We studied in Hosea 10 that the vine tree in the Bible is the nation Israel. Well, if the nation Israel is the vine tree that God plants in the earth, then why would Jesus say, ‘I am the true vine’? Because it’s only Israel IN Christ that’s going to be the blessing and going to get the inheritance.

“It isn’t just any Israeli. Romans 2:28 says, ‘For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.’

“He’s not saying what people say: ‘Oh, when you get saved, you get spiritually circumcised and now you’re a spiritual Jew.’ Look back at verse 17. He’s talking to Israelis; physical descendants of Abraham.

“A real Jew is not just a descendant of Abraham; he’s got a spiritual circumcision of the heart. In that passage in Deuteronomy 30, God told Moses, ‘I’m going to circumcise not just your flesh but your heart.’

“In John 8, Jesus is talking to the religious leaders of Israel and they say, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ Jesus says, ‘Big deal, your real father is the devil.’ God’s the Father of all them that believe.

“Isaiah 45:17 says, ‘But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.’

“Israel’s going to have salvation, but where’s their everlasting salvation going to be? In Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“By the way, in verses 21-23 is that passage in Philippians 2 that Paul quotes as a reference to Jesus Christ. So right here in the passage you have an identification of Jehovah as Jesus.

“Verses 24-25 says, Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
[25] In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

“You see, it’s Israel IN Christ--not just Israel in her flesh--that is going to be the redeemed nation God uses to be the head of the nations. So when He talks in Hosea about the ‘firstborn,’ that title is really the title of the Messiah because it’s going to be the nation IN Christ; the true Israel of God.

“The Lord Jesus Christ, by the way, in His earthly ministry, literally retraces the history of Israel, and His going down into Egypt and coming up out of Egypt--that’s where the nation came from. So He’s going to come from the same journey that His nation does.”