firstbegot1

Rev.1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

.the first of the dead to be born into renewed life (Wade)

This is the second of seven titles given to the Lord Jesus in this section of Revelation. In our last lesson we emphasized that the Lord is and was our faithful witness. The Revelation was a letter written to people faced with great opposition from natural and spiritual enemies. They were being called upon to remain faithful to Christ, while in the midst of great persecution. As the "faithful witness" the Lord Jesus demonstrated an inner ability to deal with opposition of all kinds. The very LIFE of this "faithful witness," Jesus Christ, is now ours as surely as it was the possession of all those who first received this letter. The life and nature of the "faithful witness" is ours through our union with Him today!

The book of Revelation contains information concerning a false witness, identified as the false prophet. As we have mentioned in previous lessons, the revelation of Christ from within comes, not from adding more of Jesus, but from removing more of us. The false prophet in this book must be discovered and removed in order that Christ can be revealed perfectly through the body of Christ.

Now we shall consider the truths connected with Jesus being the "First begotten of the dead." We know that Jesus was Mary's firstborn son. But that's not what this verse deals with. We also know that, during His' earth walk, Jesus was the only begotten of the Father. But that's not what this verse is speaking of. Jesus being God's firstborn Son simply means that He was the only One at that time who had life in His spirit. (John 5:26) He came to make "life" available to all men. (John 10:10) In order for this to happen He had to do something about the "sin and death" that caused this enormous problem in the first place.

..the first begotten of the dead.

This verse could not be talking about Jesus being raised from physical death because many other men were raised physically before Christ. The amazing truth contained in this phrase is that Jesus Christ was the first man ever born from spiritual death to spiritual life. He was the first man ever born again.

The obvious question is why did Jesus ever have to be born again? The answer is simply, yet profound and filled with implications. As we have mentioned before, Jesus came to give man life. (John 10:10) After the transgression of Adam, the greatest need of man was eternal life. Spiritual death had become the nature of all men. (Rom. 5:12-14) Spiritual death is the substance that causes separation from God. After Adam's action man needed life. The life man needed is eternal life, the Greek word "ZOE" - which is the very life and nature of God Himself. (John 1:1-4)

When Jesus went to the cross He had already walked perfect and upright before God, thus fulfilling the law and qualifying to become the spotless Lamb of God. (1 Pet. 1:18-19) While on the cross He was "made to be sin" for us. (2 Cor. 5:21) The wages of sin is spiritual death and thus spiritual death became the spiritual condition of Jesus. This is how we were identified with Christ in all He did on the cross. He became so much like us in everyway, that God could legally declare that we died when Christ died.

First Begotton Part 1

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