“…that he might be the firstborn of many brothers.”

Studies have shown that firstborns, especially sons it seems, have particular tendencies that don’t show up in non-firstborns.  Being a firstborn myself, I understand that.  It’s hard to be precise in explaining why firstborns are they way they are.  But many believe that it comes from that special time the child and parents have exclusive of other future siblings before they arrive on the scene.  Both factors are necessary, explaining why single children don’t show the same firstborn characteristics consistently as firstborns.

But when we come to Jesus being the firstborn, there is more here than meets the eye.  When I think of firstborn, there is one word that comes to my mind — elevation.  Why elevation?  For a number of reasons.  First, the firstborn is atop the “pecking order” of offspring, as we say.  He is the one that all the other siblings look up to, at least in terms of chronology, if not character.  He’s the one who matures first, the first one to graduate from school and enjoy the liberties of adulthood.  He is the one who cuts the trail for the others to follow.  The very essence of being a firstborn is wrapped up in elevation, having priority.

Since that is true in a physical/chronological sense, it is likewise true spiritually.  The first time God uses the term metaphorically is found in Exodus 4:22.  In that verse he instructs Moses, “Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son…’”  God doesn’t have literal, physical children.  But remember who Moses was speaking to — Pharaoh, a fellow who believed that he was divine because he was his father’s firstborn son!  Not only was God through Moses challenging that assumption, he was also stating that a whole nation was in special relationship to him, not just one man!  How’s that for one-upmanship?!  That’s what I call elevation.

Further, we catch another example in Psalm 89:27, when God says, “I will appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.”  In the immediate sense, God is speaking of David.  He was not the first king of Israel chronologically, but he was “appointed.”  This clearly demonstrates that to have the rights and privileges of a firstborn need not require literal or physical chronology.  Ultimately this verse finds its fulfillment in Christ who is “firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15) and “King of Kings” (Rev. 19:16).  The sense of elevation is undeniable.

So when we get to our verse found in Romans 8:29, we carry the clear understanding of elevation with us to add punch to an incredible context.  Backing up to verse 28 — a very familiar text too often pulled out of context — we see that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  What purpose?  That of being “conformed to the likeness of his Son.”  Again, notice the elevation.  Instead of leaving us in our miserable, fallen, wicked condition on the fast track to hell, he not only saves us, but also gets us in the pipeline of sanctification, of patterning our thinking, desiring and behavior after his own Son!  That, my friends, is elevation from our current state.

That leads us to another question.  Why does God want us to be conformed to his Son’s likeness?  The rest of verse 29 tells us: “that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”  Did you get that?  It is the way that the Father exalts — elevates — his Son, having him be the perfect and preeminent model.  And just who is he the model for?  “Many brothers”!  That’s you and me, plus multiple millions more throughout the last 2,000 years.  This is precisely what Jesus prayed earlier: “I pray also for those who will believe I me through [the disciples’] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21). The Father is glorified and the Son exalted by all those who respond in faith.  It happens every day all across the globe.  That’s a whole lot of brothers renewed in his likeness in a never-ending stream.

What does it say about a God who acts this way?  Go ahead…answer that one for yourself.  What does it mean when God, in making his Son the firstborn, also elevates everyone involved in the process?  Can you find the words, describe the feelings or give it expression?  We simply run out of adjectives in conveying our response.  Or at least we should if we’re paying attention.  Has this firstborn Son captured your attention so that your very life reflects the purpose and destiny that God has for you — elevation?