The significance of the firstborn

Exodus 13:1-2; 11-16;  6/7/2026; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

Introduction

This is the second time that the Lord has exhorted and instructed the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.  If the regulations concerning the Passover were an exhortation directed to the nation of Israel as a whole, then the significance of the firstborn goes much deeper—it reaches into every household of God’s chosen people.  Its purpose is to cultivate and establish God’s work in a land that may seem barren and untamed, yet holds the potential to become a land flowing with milk and honey, fulfilling the mission of glorifying God and benefiting others.  Now, let us look at our first point.

The calling of the firstborn

God had just struck down the firstborn of Egypt and the firstborn among their livestock.  What was the significance of that act?  God’s people needed to be taught.  Their core values needed to be reshaped as they journeyed together through the wilderness.  Therefore, to understand the significance of the firstborn, we must begin with the destiny and calling of the firstborn.  We need to see God’s long-term perspective and His redemptive purpose.  First, consecrated and set apart for the Lord.   It is not difficult to understand that all things belong to God.  What is difficult is to understand a belonging that transcends life and death.  Would you agree that life and death represent the ultimate boundary of human existence?  In The Art of War, it is written: “War is a matter of vital importance to the state; it is the ground of life and death, the way to survival or destruction, and must be carefully examined.”  Whenever people are confronted with matters of life and death, they instinctively feel that they have reached the end of the road, that there is no hope left.  Yet our Lord, who became flesh, went to the cross, passed through death, and conquered death.  Because of Him, even death can become an ordinary matter in the eyes of God’s children.  Consider Lazarus. He had been dead and in the tomb for four days, yet Jesus said to His disciples, “Lazarus has fallen asleep, and I am going to wake him up.”  Between Lazarus’s life and death,  Jesus transformed death into a narrow gate on the journey of being consecrated and wholly belonging to the Lord.

Second, the greatness of God’s faithfulness.  From the time of Abraham to this moment, more than six hundred years had passed. Across that long span of history, God’s great faithfulness had been clearly demonstrated.  God was, in effect, saying to Moses, “Do not be surprised, and do not fail to understand why I am doing this.  I am acting because of the covenant I made with your forefather Abraham—a covenant that I confirmed with an oath.”  God not only swore an oath to Abraham, but also to Isaac and Jacob.  The book of Deuteronomy repeatedly emphasizes this truth.  What God was revealed to Moses is this: the consecration of the firstborn to the Lord, just like His promise to give the Promised Land to Abraham, is a testimony to His great faithfulness.  Even though more than four hundred and thirty years had passed between Abraham and Moses, and seven generations had come and gone—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses—God had not forgotten His promise.

Finally, God’s redemptive purpose.  From a human-centered perspective, it is not difficult to recognize the value of a ram.  Likewise, the value of a son seems obvious.  Men were often regarded as valuable because of their physical strength, rational thinking, wisdom, and sense of responsibility.  For these reasons, families naturally tended to give priority to their sons.  Even today’s passage says: “You shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. Every firstborn male of your livestock belongs to the Lord.”  But the key point here is that the firstborn—and even the only son— serves as a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would become incarnate many centuries later.  Only because Christ became flesh can we who believe in Him truly and fully belong to God from that moment on.  Now, let us turn to our second point.

The memorial of the firstborn

So what are we remembering here?  Of course, we are remembering the redeeming grace of God revealed through the teaching concerning the firstborn.  The Scripture says: “Every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And every firstborn among your sons you shall redeem.”  Why specifically a donkey?  First, the life of a donkey cannot be separated from the principle of redemption.  What is truly beautiful in life?  What does the heart ultimately depend on for rest and belonging?  For an ordinary household without horses, a donkey would likely be one of the most valuable working animals.  Yet in Leviticus 27:27, Scripture defines the donkey as an unclean animal in the sight of God.  Therefore, in the offering of the firstborn, the donkey is excluded from being directly offered to the Lord.  In the same way, anything unclean—whether objects, thoughts, or ideas—must never be offered to God.  We must always offer God what is best, not what is inferior.  King Saul, for example, did not follow God’s instruction.  He offered sacrifice without waiting for the priest Samuel to arrive.  He presented what was convenient and humanly reasonable as an offering to God, and as a result, he provoked the Lord’s anger.

Second, breaking the neck: a total rejection.  Some might say, “If it cannot be offered, then why not just make use of it anyway? We shouldn’t waste it.” After all, donkey meat is considered tasty in some places—people even have sayings like, “dragon meat in heaven, donkey meat on earth,” suggesting it is among the finest foods.  But that is not acceptable here.  Donkey meat cannot be used in place of lamb meat—this is God’s command.  Therefore, since the donkey cannot be offered on the altar, its blood must not be shed in the manner of a sacrificial animal.  Therefore, the way a donkey is put to death is intentionally not by using the knife used for slaughtering a lamb—even that knife is a clean instrument set apart for sacrificial use.  Not using a knife—then what should be used?  The Bible says its neck is to be broken, that is, the neck itself.  The spiritual principle here is this: what is unclean must be completely set aside—there must be no hesitation or compromise.

Finally, receiving grace means being born again.  The donkey dies, but the lamb lives.  What is unclean dies, while what is clean lives.  This is the principle of new birth.  Nicodemus once could not understand the words of Jesus: “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  To be born again means to rise from death into life. But new birth always implies death first— there is no resurrection without dying.  So who dies?  Progressive revelation in Scripture shows us that the donkey dies because of its uncleanness.  Christ also died for us, bearing our uncleanness as the sinless Lamb of God.  And we, who believe in Jesus Christ, must also reckon our old self to be dead—and truly put it to death.  Through the death of the unclean donkey, and the redemption of the lamb, God then speaks to Moses: “Every firstborn among your sons you shall redeem.” And so it is fulfilled. Now, let us come to our third point.

The living sacrifice of the firstborn

Having children is not difficult.  What is truly difficult is teaching them with the Word of the Lord, so that even in old age they do not depart from it.  In the same way, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ—or even saying that we believe in Him—is not difficult.  What is difficult is actually living out the faith we confess. Would you agree? First, how to answer our children?  This is a question everyone must eventually face.  One day, our children will ask us about what we went through—why things happened the way they did, and how we dealt with trials and challenges.  “What were you thinking when God struck down the firstborn of Egypt?” “When Pharaoh’s army was behind you and the Red Sea was in front of you, how did you deal with fear and inner struggle? How did you overcome it?”  “Were you praying? Did you really believe in prayer?  Did you truly believe in the Lord you prayed to?”  Our children may even ask, “Did you lead us to pray back then?  And if not, how could our young hearts have overcome fear and trembling on our own?”

Second, telling our children about salvation.  Let us put ourselves in their place. The day the Israelites left Egypt was truly a unique day in human history.  On that day, everything changed.  From that moment on, there were no longer any people of God remaining in Egypt.  Why?  Because God led His people out of the land that had enslaved them, and brought them toward freedom and the promised land of deliverance.  Pharaoh would not allow Israel to leave.  The Antichrist would not allow house churches to gather, and Hitler would not allow the Jews to leave Germany.  Yet God intervened in judgment and struck down all the firstborn in Egypt.  In response, God’s people were called to respond in obedience—offering what is acceptable to God and rejecting what is unclean.  On that day, God’s people were redeemed.

Finally, remember God’s mighty power.  This is something we easily forget. What do I mean?  It is possible to believe in the Lord, to read the Bible, and to pray—almost as if we are writing Scripture on our hands and foreheads, even reading it in multiple languages—yet still fail to believe in the power of God’s Word, and even doubt the power of prayer itself.  “I have been praying for so long—why doesn’t it work?” “The pastor told us to pray, and I did pray, but it seems like God is not answering.”  Sometimes we may even wonder whether the power of prayer belongs only to pastors.  But let us not forget this:  it was the Lord who brought us out of Egypt with His mighty hand.  So continue to pray, and continue to trust in God.  God is responsible for His own power, and in His perfect time, He will surely reveal it.

Conclusion

Thank the Lord!  The meaning of the firstborn is to be set apart and consecrated to the Lord.  The cost of the firstborn is the rejection of the unclean donkey and the redeeming life of the lamb.  This life is found in Christ Jesus—in His incarnation, in His sacrificial death on the cross, in His resurrection from the dead, and in the hope of His coming again and eternal life.

Let us pray together……

 

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you,

12 you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s.

13 Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

14 And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’

16 It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”