The secret of the firstborn is revealed in the last days

God will make a difference "again" as the prophet Malachi, the last of the Old Testament, proclaimed, i.e., God had previously made a difference between two groups and performed a separation on them; He will perform the same a second time. The "difference" is also indicated with other words and other narratives in the Bible. From today's point of view, God has to react to a "rift" that has opened up in God's people and will open up a second time. Moreover, the terms "difference, rift, break, separation, and others" are described as "change" that must inevitably take place as a result of the rift.

According to my understanding, the first change in the New Testament is represented to us by the disciple John and indicated by the words: "the disciple whom Jesus loved". Why Jesus especially loved the disciple John was simply because the Lord responded kindly to the affection of this disciple. Even in the beginning, John always wanted to be close to the Lord. We see this during a proclamation by John the Baptist about Jesus. The disciple John acts promptly and of his own accord, without being asked, follows his heart and thus the Lord. Jesus notices him and a second disciple following him. He turns to them and asks, "What (or whom) are you looking for?" They answer him with a profound counter-question, "Where are you staying?" The question seems to please the Lord, for by return of mail they receive an invitation, "Come and see!" John and Andrew accept the invitation and then spend the rest of the day with the Rabbi; this is how they call him at their first meeting.

By the end of 42 months of discipleship, John and Jesus are inseparable friends; this is especially evident at their last Passover together. John rests on Jesus' shoulder during the meal. The intimate and honorable relationship between John and Jesus is sealed at Calvary with a special stamp. With the authority of a father, Jesus performs a legal adoption. As the firstborn, he takes the position of his father Joseph because he had already died. Mary, the mother of Jesus, becomes the mother of John and John becomes the son of Mary, but not only that. Indirectly and hiddenly we are told that John becomes the brother of the Lord and thus takes the position of the firstborn, also for this reason he immediately takes Mary to himself and takes care of her. And something else is legally established by the adoption: Jesus, in the position of the father, becomes not only a brother to John, but also a father, and John becomes the son of Jesus. This is the relationship and legal position of Joseph to Ephraim. Ephraim is a son of Joseph and becomes the brother of Joseph through the adoption of the grandfather. The logical conclusion then can only be: Ephraim forms, on the allegorical level, the firstborn of the Christians who are inscribed in heaven as such. We now elaborate on this mystery, because rarely in the New Testament is there direct and obvious mention of the firstborn.

We found an illuminating passage of Scripture that briefly sheds a ray of light on this mystery. The text points to a difference that was previously unknown even to us. Only through many years of study does it become a certainty to us. Paul writes in Hebrews 12:22-23, "You - the Hebrews - have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels, the general assembly; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are inscribed in the heavens; and to God, the Judge of all; and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect."

In the above passage, the recipients of the letter are clearly distinguished from the assembly of the firstborn. The collective of the Hebrews is told that they have come to Mount Zion, but not only that, they have come to the city of the living God. And it must be emphasized, the coming is to be without fear and trembling. Paul encourages the Hebrews to come and by no means to stay behind. At Mount Sinai, harsh customs and sharp instructions once prevailed. The people were forbidden to approach the mountain under threat of death. What luck, to the mountain Zion however and the city of God the Hebrews are to come without terror. With joy they may approach Mount Zion, yes, with very great joy, because the mountain comes to them and with the mountain the heavenly Jerusalem.

This happens at the Second Coming of Jesus. Who or what is the mountain? It is the Lord himself. Daniel writes about the mountain in chapter 2:35b: "And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."  

John, that is, the disciple whom Jesus loved, belongs to the assembly of the firstborn, and Hebrews, prophetically interpreted, belongs to the assembly of the secondborn. For today's Christians, this can lead to dramatic turns. Existential questions arise for each of us, that is, for Christians:

Do I belong to the assembly of the firstborn?

Do I belong to the assembly of the secondborn?

Or, what would be the worst case: Am I a Christian at all?

Every thing has two sides, and this is also true for relationships. The disciple John desired to be with Jesus. The Lord did not reject him, but kindly invited him to himself. From that time on, John desired to live permanently with Jesus, and so the Lord desired to have him with Him. It is amazing that this is already expressed in John's name. His Greek name is derived from the Hebrew name Jochanan and means:

With these variations of meaning, God's sovereignty is unmistakably expressed. Now, nevertheless, the question arises again: why had the Lord preferred John and not the other disciple who also followed him at the beginning. Actually, we already know the answer. John had approached the Lord in a friendly and open-hearted way. From that time on, he loved Jesus more and more. He was the only disciple who followed his Lord when he was arrested, was present at the interrogations before the chief priests, and went with Jesus to Golgotha. This is the main reason for the privilege gained. Now, there are other reasons that we can discover in the name Jochanan. His name is composed of two terms, the first part according to Jo and derives from Yahweh, which literally means the Eternal One. In English, Yahweh is translated as LORD. The second term is chanan and means, and now I'll let the dictionary speak:

From the stories of the Gospels we learn how earnestly John sought to move the Lord by his petitions. We read about this for the first time in the Gospel of Matthew. However, here it was the mother who stood up for her sons. In the Gospel of Mark, John and James present their request personally: "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." But he said to them, "What do you want me to do to you?" And they said unto him, "Grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand, and one on thy left, in thy glory."

That's what I call chutzpah, and at its finest. James and John, these two, want to sit next to the Lord and forever. Such charming penetration goes completely against the grain of the other TEN. In this matter they become unwilling, literally they are "much distressed", "indignant" and "vexed", and the whole carried by "sorrow".

Prophetically interpreted, what the two sons have asked for will shortly come to pass. James will sit on the right and John on the left. The left side, as we know, is the heart side; there sits the firstborn, the disciple John. On the right hand sits James, which is the side of the secondborn. (Who was the secondborn of Rachel? Benjamin.  His name is translated as: Son of my right hand.) Also the TEN's remarks are fulfilled from now on before our eyes, especially before our ears. The TEN will be very distressed, but at the same time indignant. They thought themselves on the left side, i.e. to the firstborn. Some of those left behind will even be very "upset", but all of them will be in danger of sinking into their sorrow. Let us notice, the Lord makes this difference twice, as the prophet Malachi predicted and we already know the reason for it.

What happiness, in recognizing what has been missed, there is also the second chance. And so what has been missed can be made up for. Whoever cares about it from the heart can research more details, also in the prophet Malachi.

We have heard it, John wants the best and then also everything, i.e., he desires the Lord. Regardless of his almost immoderate desires, he is and remains a caring apostle and especially for those who are left behind. And that he is caring, we already read in the Old Testament. Yes, John is already hinted at in the Tanakh, not so obviously of course. As so often, he also comes veiled. Before we look at the narrative, we must briefly recall a few things, so that we can also recognize our beloved John in the text of the prophet.

The following knowledge should be common knowledge. As Christians, we are called "sons of God" in perfection; today, figuratively speaking, we are still children. Furthermore, as a totality of the firstborn, if we are such, which I hope and wish, we form "the bride of the Lamb". Already these two aspects show us, God always sees us as individuals, at the same time also as a collective.

Things, even those that are less familiar or even new to us, we should acquire in order to become familiar with them. We now come to speak of new or even less familiar things. God speaks in many and various ways, as it says in Hebrews 1:1, which also includes representing the same facts once through a man and the other time through a woman. The male represents more the individual and the female emphasizes the collective. In addition, similar stories complement each other and close gaps. Both parts of the Bible provide us with complements alternately. This script contains some more illustrative examples of this. In the following lines we complement John's story with the story of a woman of the Old Testament and try to see which parallels can be found and which pieces of the puzzle provide us with a somewhat more comprehensive picture. The woman we have found forms the totality of the firstborn and is represented by Hannah. She was the first wife of Elkanah. We read of her in the first chapters of the first book of Samuel. Again, we look more closely at the meaning of the name. Hannah can be translated as:

The root of the name Hannah is the same as that of the name John. As with the disciple, Hannah's story is prefigured by her name. Elkanah, Hannah's husband, "bends kindly and lovingly" to her and favors her over all others, both her second wife and their children. Elkanah gives her a double part (every year again). But Hannah wants more, she wants children, and so she pleads with tears to the Lord in Shiloh. And then the miraculous happens, Hannah gives birth to the greatest judge in the history of Israel. He will not only be a judge, a term for uncrowned rulers of Israel, he will also be a priest and prophet of God.

We find hidden parallels between Hannah and John in the questions of Elkanah. First he wants to know, "Why are you weeping?" Then he asks, "Why do you not eat?" The third question, "Why is your heart grieved?" And in the last question, the parallel with John's story flashes, "Am I no better to you than ten sons?" We will look in vain for Hannah's answers in the rest of the narrative. To this day, she has not answered her husband's questions, not yet. One thing is certain, Elkana's questions do not fade into the void. With the New Testament and then at the latest in time, all open questions will find their final answers. - In the end times -

Now let's look at the answers we are given in the New Testament.

Before we look at further answers to Elkana's questions, it seems useful for the understanding of what has been said to look at two fundamental aspects of human relationships. The following example could also be told in reverse. Now, let us imagine that a man's wife is in inner distress, but she does not talk about it. Her husband, to whom she has been married for many years, knows immediately where her shoe pinches. But because she is at a loss for words, he formulates her worries in the form of questions and in this way gives her grief the appropriate words. By her non-verbal reaction, the man recognizes that he has understood his wife correctly.

Elkanah finds his wife in exactly the same situation. She is constantly harassed and humiliated by Peninna, her adversary, but does not tell her husband about it. Elkanah has known of her distress for a long time. But when, and especially how, should he bring up the subject, given that Hannah herself remains silent about the humiliations inflicted on her? How can it be explained that Hannah does not tell her husband about it? Not a word does she say about Peninna's ugliness, nor do we find any hints in the writings. And yet it is possible to get to the bottom of the matter, because there is a motive that is just not yet apparent to us, and it is to these innermost motives that we now come.

Despite all the humiliation on the part of the adversary, Hannah loves her adversary. Hannah's love can be found, without difficulty, in the love commandment of the New Testament. We do not have to go that far, however, because Hannah's love for Pininna already shimmers through in Elkanah's fourth and final question: "Am I no better to you than ten sons?" asks Elkanah. Of course, Hannah loves her husband more than anyone, and Elkanah knows it. Rather, his question alludes to Hannah's relationship with Pininna and her children. Hannah also understood her husband's fourth question, but when will she be able to answer him?  

And now it gets a little complicated. When Elkanah names 10 sons, they point to THE TEN in Mark's Gospel, chapter 10:41, who were also angry and discontented and weighed down by sorrow. These TEN point to the addressees of the letter to the Hebrews who are in exactly the same emotional state of mind as THE TEN and as Hannah.

That the stories of Hannah, THE TEN and the Hebrews belong together is evident from THE TEN's reaction to Elkanah's questions. Again, briefly as a reminder, THE TEN became "unwilling," that is, they became "much distressed, indignant, vexed, and filled with grief, at the request of James and John, the sons of the gift, (Greek: Zebedee).    

Elkanah, with his last question, reveals the innermost motives. THE TEN, that is the Hebrews, did not pay attention to the exhortations, did not look at the Lord from all sides in His Word, but followed the traditions. It is different with Hannah. Her love belongs to the Lord, but also to those who have fallen behind. Their sorrow is also your sorrow. The sorrow of THE TEN is also their sorrow.  

It touches you deeply when you discover how similar Hannah has become to her husband, who once cried out to Paul from heaven: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Prophetically, Hannah will worry about THE TEN in heaven as the Lord once worried about the first church of the first century. Elkanah's questions will then be answered boldly by Hannah, she will no longer be silent but will pour out her heart to Jesus. The details of these things were written down many centuries ago in a fascinating and unique "bedtime story." And that this story of that night will end well for the afflicted, we read in the book of Esther. Her star will shine until the sun of justice rises, with healing in its wings.

(And who exactly the Hebrews are is described in the script, Introduction to the Letter to the Hebrews.

        

We have looked a little at the feminine aspect of the firstborn. Now we return to the masculine aspect, which we can discover in John's story.

No other apostle describes the relations between the Lord and the family of God in such an intimate and clear way as this disciple. In his Gospel he not only tells us about the Son of God, but through his description he also reveals the Father and thus the perfectly lived relationship with Him. Jesus himself explains this to his listeners by saying, "He who sent me is true and I, what I have heard from him I speak to the world." Jesus was in constant dialogue with the Father and through this he revealed him. This, by the way, is the work that the Father had given him to do. (John 17) The revelation of the Father could only come through a visibly lived relationship with Him. In this way, Jesus became a shining example of a father figure for the disciple John up close; and because John was practiced in this, he could also apply this as an apostle in his three letters as a wise and fatherly pastor.

Important intermediate remark: John never called himself father. This will become of special importance for the end times.

In his first letter, John writes to three generations, fathers, children and infants, to show us what characteristics he sees in the growth of the three age groups. Example: I write to you fathers because you have recognized him who is from the beginning. Recognizing indicates that the fathers were intensely engaged in the Word of God and thus discovered more and more details about Jesus.

John then addresses the young adults, "I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one." The overcoming of the evil one has already happened. The evil one points to a single person, for the expression - the evil one - is in the singular; and that the young men have actually "overcome him" is in the perfect tense, a Greek tense that expresses that the event took place in the past and continues into the present and, moreover, is valid.  

John then turns to the little children, the youngest of the family: "I am writing to you, little children, because you have known the Father." "Knowing the Father" speaks, in my opinion, of a new phase of the child's life. On the one hand, at this time it becomes more and more detached from the mother, and on the other hand, it turns more and more to the father, who from then on will play the decisive role in the child's life. In natural life, this change begins around the age of 2 to 3 years. At this age, it is completely weaned and no longer needs its mother's milk.  

In the second letter, John writes as an elder to "the chosen" mistress and her children, whom he loves in truth.  The text points to Sarah. Let us hear what the angel of the Lord said to Hagar: "Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hands." Hagar obeyed and returned to her mistress.

The children of the mistress are called teknia (singular: teknion) in Greek. The root of the word explains what we hear and see from a teknion day in and day out: It constantly seeks to justify itself when confronted. From case to case it must then be examined whether praise or punishment is necessary. It is interesting that John in his first letter addresses the fathers, young men and children, when he addresses them as a collective, with the word Teknia. Here an example from 1.Joh.2,1: My children - Teknia - I write to you, ... The astonishing thing is, the collective from the first letter of John, thus the fathers, young men and little children, are the children (Teknia) of the lady from the second letter of John.

The third letter John writes to the beloved Gaius; his name, who would have thought it, means Lord. John rejoices that the children walk in the truth. Significantly, John here also calls the children - Teknia - indeed, more than that, he refers to them, as in the first letter, as "my children," and not only the brothers John speaks of, he also refers to the recipient Gaius, whose name means Lord, as his child when he writes: "I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children walk in the truth." The verse refers to the praise he gives to Gaius a verse earlier, not because he holds to the truth, many claim, but because he walks in it.

When John says "my children" in both his first letter and the third, it means that John is figuratively representing the Mother. The Holy Spirit and the Bride call out with one voice during the end times: Come! Revelation 22:17 That John does not call himself Father, because our Lord is the Father, becomes of extraordinary significance for the end times in which we live. Now we come to the concept of Father. We do not find one verse in John's letters where he calls himself Father, and yet he addresses the recipients as "my children." Yet the other does, the Antichrist. He unjustifiably calls himself father and it is precisely against this self-appointed father that the apostle John warns, and he does so as an elder. With his great age and authority he warns strongly against the other.

The linguistic expression, "my children," moreover, points to that time, now we look back to the Old Testament, when Sarah was childless and Hagar, according to the legal custom of the time, gave birth to a son on her lap. Ishmael is, legally speaking, Sarah's son. And so it happens that Ishmael has two mothers, a biological and a legal one.

Let us look at a passage from Galatians 4. In this chapter, Paul explains to the Galatians that the covenant with Sarah and Hagar has a figurative meaning, i.e., the stories are allegories and must be interpreted allegorically, just as Paul does. Sarah is figuratively for the Jerusalem in heaven and Hagar is figuratively for the earthly city. Now Paul explains to the Galatians, verse 31, that "we are not children - teknai - of the handmaid, but (children) of the free. Now Sarah had only one son, Isaac. That one stands, and now we continue the allegorical level, for our Lord Jesus. If, allegorically, Jesus is represented figuratively by Isaac, then Abraham must represent God the Father. And so it was, God the Father is the one who offered the sacrifice on Golgotha. But Isaac also represents us. Paul writes about this: "But you brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise.

Before we go into further details, let's briefly look at God's way of telling the story. It is circular and ascending, like a spiral funnel. The smaller circle is at the bottom and the last large circle of the spiral is at the top. When viewed from the side, the circles taper downward.  

The narrative of Abraham and Sarah form the basis, represented by the lowest first circle with the smallest circumference. For the allegorical level, this means that there is less narration, but basic things are vividly depicted. We must make the same narrative form for the story of Abraham with that of Hagar, in order to interpret correctly the earthly Jerusalem, which is still in bondage.

Now we look at the story of the other children of Sarah, the descendants of the second generation, also called grandchildren, form the twin brothers Esau and Jacob. The narratives of Isaac and the birth of the two sons form the second circle on the ascending spiral with a larger scope, that is, their stories are more extensive and provide us with an expanded insight into the prophecy.

As already stated, Esau and Jacob are twins, the former being the elder. As the firstborn, Esau inherently possessed a double inheritance. We will see what this means. When Esau comes home from the hunt one day, breathless and famished, he desires the lentil dish from his brother. Jacob does not deliver for free, but demands a high price: lentils in exchange for the birthright. Esau agrees to the deal and seals the legal transaction with his oath. Esau receives the lentil dish with bread, and with it Jacob buys the rights of the firstborn.

Normally, anyone can do what they want with their property and rights. The motives, no matter what kind, remain insignificant in legal transactions. But for God the motives are important and in the matter of the firstborn even decisive. The text from Genesis 25 reveals Esau's attitude: Thus Esau despised the birthright. With his purchase Esau makes clear what the birthright is worth to him and that is nothing. But by despising the birthright, Esau also despised his father, and even more, he despised God, by whom the right of the firstborn was established. Conversely, we find Jacob longed for the birthright, and consequently he must have loved his father as well. And he who honors his father and mother also honors God, this connection is discussed in detail in the script/book, The Messiah's Torah. https://simson-project.com/tora-des-messias.html

A few years later, Isaac's eyesight had progressively deteriorated, he calls his elder to bless him. While Esau is out hunting, Jacob deceives his father by pretending to be Esau. Actually, Jacob should not have had to do this, since he was in possession of the birthright. Well then, Jacob disguises himself, goes into the tent of the father and claims: I am Esau. The almost blind father does not see through the matter and blesses Jacob. Now, with the blessing safely in his pocket, Jacob leaves the tent and a short time later, on the recommendation of his mother and with another blessing from his father, he travels to his uncle in Haran (or to the house of his great uncle Bethuel in Paddan-Aram) for safety reasons, because Esau wants to take revenge on him. And so it comes as it had to come, the first-birth blessing leads to the separation of the twins. The great uncle Bethuel, to whom Jacob is to flee, carries in his name, in the lowest root, exactly this thought of separation. The mystery will be revealed and fulfilled in salvation history, represented by two women, at the end of days.

Now, as we ascend our spiral narrative ladder, we arrive at the third circle.  This is where the separation, or more accurately, the divisiveness of the brothers takes place. The rift between Esau and Jacob prophetically points to, among other things, a division within Christianity. We discovered the related parallel narrative in the descriptions of Jacob's wives.

Leah becomes the first wife of Jacob, compulsorily, because, as her father later explained, she is the elder. Rachel, the second wife, is Jacob's great love. However, he is allowed to marry her only after a waiting period of seven days, but also only if he agrees to work for his father-in-law for another seven years. Out of love for Rachel, Jacob agrees to the gagging contract.

The earthly bride, the bride of the night, is represented by Leah; see Matthew 25. It is formed mainly from those who have stayed behind, that is, it is composed of those Christians who did not participate in the Rapture. Why are not all of them raptured? To put it briefly and casually: One group represents the affectionate Rachel, the other group is represented by the sickly and poorly seeing Leah. Because Leah is the older, she is married first, in the night of the tribulation. According to Matthew, the wedding will occur at midnight, at which time the bride will be fed to the bridegroom. This feeding is indicated by Laban bringing his elder daughter into Jacob's tent during the night darkness.

The details about the prophetic significance of Jacob's two wives, including their handmaids, are described in more detail under the heading, "The Four Wives of Jacob," in the following script: https://simson-project.com/einfuehrung-in-den-hebraeerbrief.html  

Again as a reminder, the descriptions of the wives focus on the collective aspect of believers and the descriptions of the sons of Isaac emphasize more the position of sonship and the resulting personal responsibility. In comparing - Leah with Esau - we will now explore the similarities, for some parallels can be found between the two.

Leah has bad eyes and is always ailing, also she thinks Jacob hates her because of her shortcomings. From Esau we know that he did not want to see and did not understand the rights of the firstborn. He too feels tired and weary. Returning breathless from the hunt, he enters Jacob's tent. The most striking parallel between Esau and Leah leads to a dispute in Malachi, for there God says, "But Esau I have hated. Malachi 1:3.

Now to hate means, among other things, to love less. After Esau realized what he had lost by losing the blessing of the firstborn, he begged his father to bless him as well. For the blessing of the firstborn, no matter how much he could cry, it was too late, no room, says the Letter to the Hebrews. And yet Isaac, because he loved him, blessed him with the words, Genesis 27:39, "Behold, thou shalt dwell in the fullness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above." Only Luther of 1545 and the King James of 1611 translated the text literally. And that was translated correctly is confirmed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it says, "By faith Isaac blessed, concerning things to come, Jacob and Esau. Hebrews 11:20

At this point we look more closely at the verse from Hebrews 12:17 because it is too often misused to deny blessing to Esau. Verse 17: "For you know that even afterward, when he (Esau) wanted to inherit the blessing (the blessing of the firstborn), he was rejected (for he found no room for repentance) although he sought it diligently with tears." If a translator assumes, as is the case with the translators of the Elberfelder, that Esau does not receive a blessing, then the Greek word is simply translated as "rejected," which, however, the meaning of this verse and also of the verse from chapter 11:20 does not give at all. The Greek word is apodokimazo (αποδοκιμαζω) and can be translated as:

Esau demanded his right, that of the firstborn, but that was rejected by the father, because by the contract, which Esau had concluded with Jacob, the right is taken away from him. Legally seen his father refutes him by means of the legally valid contract and teaches Esau of a better one. The complaint of Esau is rejected thereby by the "judge" Isaak.  

Now we examine a second word from the verse, the word space, and after explaining the term, any contradiction must fall silent. Now, what is described by the space that Esau did not find? The Greek word for space is topos (τοπος). It denotes:

From the word topos we gather that there was no longer an opportunity for Esau to undo the legal condition he had sealed with his oath. If we look more closely at the scope and extent of the blessing of the firstborn, we also understand what the blessing extends to spatially and that it is already occupied by the blessed.

The blessing of the firstborn extends over two areas, this is already indicated by the double part that Hannah receives. Through Ephraim, who is God's firstborn, it is prophesied in his name, for his name means "double fruit." And it is also told in veiled form in the Gospels. While the Lord promises the 12 apostles that they will sit on 12 thrones to judge the 12 tribes of Israel, this refers to the earth, then the sons of Zebedee (gift) want more, they also want to sit on the left and right in glory, and this points to the heaven.

The double inheritance describes heaven on the one hand and earth on the other. These are the two sides of the double inheritance. It can even be seen in the simple blessing of Esau. Esau is blessed with the fullness of the earth, and dew drips from heaven. The words fullness and dripping form the tension between earth and heaven that is drawn with the description of the blessing. In the blessing of Esau we are to be reminded of the time of the beginning in the Garden of Eden, for there too the dew of heaven had covered the earth, because at that time rain was unknown. The second born receives the assurance that God will restore the Paradise on earth.

There is much more I could tell you about the rights of the firstborn and secondborn, but perhaps you will discover the hidden treasures for yourself.

Berlin, November 4, 2022