Eden
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Firstborn Among Many Brethren (excerpted and adapted from Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life):
This consideration takes us forward into Romans chapter 8 where the topic is developed in verses 8:16 to 8:18 and again in verses 8:29 and 8:30.
Paul says: “We are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us” (Romans 8:16-18);
And again: “Whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:29,30).
What was God’s objective? That His Son Jesus Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren, all of whom would be conformed to His image.
How did God realize that objective? “Whom he justified, them he also glorified.” God’s purpose in creation and redemption was to make Christ the firstborn son among many glorified sons.
That may perhaps at first convey little to many of us, but let us look into it more carefully.
In John 1:14 we are told that the Lord Jesus was God’s Only Begotten Son: “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father)”.
That He was God’s only begotten Son means that God had no other Son than this one. He was with the Father from all eternity.
But, we are told, God was not satisfied that Christ should remain His only begotten Son; He wanted also to make Him His first begotten Son.
How could an only begotten Son become also a first begotten Son? The answer is: by the Father having more children.
If you have one son then he is the only begotten son, but if thereafter you have more children, then the only begotten son also becomes the first begotten son.
God's purpose in creation and redemption was that God should have many children. He wanted sons and daughters, and He could not be satisfied without us.
In reading the story of the prodigal son most people, we read, “My son... was lost, and is found”, there is the heart of the story.
It is not so much a question of what the son suffers but the loss the Father feels, that is bigger.
He is the sufferer; He is the main loser. A sheep is lost: who feels the loss? The shepherd does.
A coin is lost: who feels the loss? The woman does. A son is lost: who feels the loss? The Father does. That is the lesson of Luke chapter 15.
The Lord Jesus was the only begotten Son, and as the only begotten He had no brothers. But when the Father sent the Only Begotten Son in order that the Only Begotten might also become the First Begotten Son.
And so God's Only Begotten Son died as God's grain of wheat, and by dying and resurrection, acquired many brethren for Himself and many sons for God the Father.
There you have the purpose of God fulfilled in also “bringing many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10).
In Romans 8:29, we therefore read of “many brethren”; in Hebrews 2:10 we read of “many sons”. From the point of view of the Lord Jesus we are “brethren”; from the point of view of God the Father we are “sons”.
(excerpted and adapted from Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life)
Be blessed,
Eden
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