The Firstborn of the New Creation
Revelation 1:5 proclaims that “Jesus Christ [is] the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” He is the first out of death, the beginning of the new creation in resurrection. Likewise, Colossians 1:18 declares, “He [the Lord Jesus] is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead.”
In Revelation 1:17-18 the Lord said “I am the First and the Last and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” He is the First in the new creation of resurrection, which is is God’s life, as in John 11:25.
(The old creation, even in its very good condition in Genesis 1–2, did not have God’s life.And the new earth and new heaven surrounding New Jerusalem will be very good but without God as life.)
Not only Christ is life but also He has become life in us to bring us onto the road to New Jerusalem for God’s full expression. This is Romans 8:29, “those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.”
The Son is the image, the expression, of the Father. We are being conformed to this image to be part of God’s eternal expression, New Jerusalem, fully constituted with God’s life.
Graphic courtesy of pixabay.com.
Posted by Don on June 10, 2024
https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/06/10/the-firstborn-of-the-new-creation/
