From the article entitled, Father and His Lost Family, we learned how Adam Eve, Cain and Abel are a type of the first family of all families of the earth who lost their sons because they and their lines are omitted in the genealogical record of Christ. This is significant because Christ's line traces back to Seth, who was deemed the replacement line of the family. We also learned that Seth's line is the only line that lived after Noah's flood and ends with Christ, who is the Way and Life itself.
In Parts 1 and 2 of, The Elder "Lost" Son, we focused on the eldest son, Cain, who represents the firstborn of a fallen Adamic race. We learned how his firstborn position is a legal office needed to maintain the family's inheritance on an eternal scale. Unfortunately, due to Cain's failure to meet his legal responsibilities, firstborn reform was needed for subsequent generations who lived after the flood, which brought God's judgment that wiped out the whole world except for Noah and his family.
This reform came centuries later in a post-judged and post-law world. At the first Passover, most don't realize that the Great Exodus of Egypt brought a new standard and a new approach to God. In that day, another firstborn son of God was "born," except now on a national level compared to Cain's personal platform in a pre-flood, pre-law world. Because of Passover, Jehovah-God looked forward to the Exodus of His firstborn son out of Egypt. (Ex. 4:22). We know this because Matthew's gospel links Israel and Jesus by this one event when he partially quoted Hosea 11.1.
After reading the complete verse in Hosea quoted by Matthew (Mt. 2:14-15), Hosea spoke of Israel, and not Jesus as Matthew applies it. Hosea reads, “When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” So then, how should we interpret this passage in Matthew? Was Hosea referring to the nation of Israel as Jehovah’s son, or was he metaphorically speaking of Jesus? It all goes back to the firstborn office. Since both Israel and Jesus share the same firstborn status according to Jehovah-God,[1a], then the original Passover event in Egypt was meant to be compared from two sides of the same firstborn coin.
From the Old Testament perspective, Israel is called out of Egypt as Jehovah’s national firstborn son. They “live” because of the blood applied at Passover. In the New Testament frame, Jesus, as the “Firstborn Begotten Son of God” is called out of Egypt to die as the Lamb of God on Passover. It was because of the blood of Christ as the replacement firstborn body that caused Israel to live as a national firstborn body.
In the context of viewing Jesus as the “Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29), the offer extends to all nations, not just Israel. The invitation is “whosoever will,” must apply the blood of the Lamb spiritually on the doorframes of their heart to be “Passed-over.”
With that introduction, in this article we will review the common traits of the firstborn that, in turn, become one collective firstborn "mark." Once we know what the "mark" of the firstborn looks like we can trace him throughout the course of biblical prophetic history.
The Mark of the Firstborn
Despite his crime and failure to his family, Cain continued and even prospered, primarily through the sons of Lamech in the eighth generation. The fact that Cain’s genealogy survives in the record bears witness to his significance. So much so that his line even has its own unique statement [1b], to proclaim as we have seen.
Now that we know the firstborn position links Cain and Israel in the same “Firstborn Office," the Cain and Abel story continues to highlight even more common traits of the firstborn. For starters, Jehovah accepts Abel’s sin-offering of the “firstlings of his flock” [1], over Cain’s sin-offering of the “fruit of the ground.”[2]
Why was one offering selected over the other? Simple. Jehovah cursed the ground due to the sin of Adam.[3] This curse was a literal one. Therefore, the state of the earth and anything produced from it was genuinely cursed. Jehovah, bound by His word, was unable to accept any “fruit of the ground” as an offering. That fact alone would be a sufficient answer. However, there are still more reasons why Cain’s offering was not accepted, which turns the whole Cain and Abel drama into a prophetic profiling of the “mark” of the firstborn.
From Genesis, we learn that Cain, as the firstborn of fallen man, has five primary traits:
1. He rejects the true sin-offering. (Gen. 4:3-4)
2. He divides the family line. (Gen. 4:12-14)
3. His delayed-salvation pattern. (Gen. 4:15)
4. His murderous heart. (Gen. 4:8-11)
5. His choice to do wisely. (Gen. 4:7)
Together, the above traits become one collective “mark” of the firstborn in terms of his spiritually fallen condition. Therefore, Cain’s “mark,” as it relates to the firstborn position or office on an eternal scale, is not limited to physical appearance. Remember, the fuller meaning of HIS-Story stretches far beyond our time, into eternity. So, from Jehovah’s perspective, the “mark” of the firstborn of the fallen Adamic race is always in the context of a heart issue.
From this insight, we can trace the firstborn of fallen man (the meaning of Adam's name) throughout prophetic biblical history. In the pre-flood period, the position appears in the face of Cain. In the post-flood period, the firstborn status grows into national proportions and appears in the “face” of Israel.
Note how the two faces of the firstborn (as represented by Cain and Israel) are considered Old Testament yet both lived in completely two different administrations that are separated by God's judgment in the form of Noah's flood. In that vein, Cain's placement is pre-judgment and pre-law, while Israel serves in a post-judgment, post-law world.
Believe it or not, both administrations still exist in New Testament times. However, Jesus is the only firstborn face we see now. Paul re-labels the two dispensations of the Old Testament as the ministry of Life in the Spirit and the ministry of death in the law." (2 Cor. 3:7-17). Paul taught that Grace comes by the Spirit. But he also warned that, "Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed." (2Cor. 3:15-17, ESV).
Because the New Testament has precedence over the Old, Jesus takes His rightful position as the firstborn replacement line of all lines. "Christ is an end of law for righteousness to every one who is believing." (Rom. 10:4, YLT). In Him, the "Old" is at rest, to make things "New." He is the Lamb slain since the beginning of the world. (Rev. 13:8). His death on Passover brings the opportunity of new life for all in any dispensation.
The Five Marks of Cain
Once we see how the five traits of Cain, in type, collectively serve as the “mark” of the firstborn of fallen man, it is not hard to recognize how Cain is a perfect type for firstborn Israel stuck under the Law as the older brother to both Jesus and the “body of Christ.” As their elder, blind and legalistic brother, Israel continues to reject their Messiah and becomes jealous of their “newly founded” younger brother, the Christian Church.
As firstborns, both Cain and Israel bear the firstborn “mark” of Jehovah before the world. As noted previously, Cain’s mark was more than just a physical mark, it was a spiritual condition. This same “marked condition” holds true for National Israel because they rejected Jesus as their Messiah as their sin-offering, much in the same way Cain did in his day.
Now that we have identified the "mark" of the firstborn of fallen man, it is easy to see it as a spiritual condition of which only Jehovah can fix. The firstborn office as administrated by both Cain and National Israel portrays a weakness that leads to “mortal sorrow” and death, while the same office as assumed by Christ portrays a strength that leads to eternal life.
The Cain and Abel story curiously prefigures death is allotted to the younger brother while life to the older. If we trace this pattern throughout biblical history, we can see how Christ is that younger brother of Israel who died in the place of all the “Cains” of the world. However, ultimately, the younger brother dies for the world, not just those in the “Cain” category, simply because Adam’s transgression is before Cain’s crime.
If Cain is a type of that portion of Israel stuck under the Law, then what of Abel? Since Abel appears to have no genealogical record, how can his line be established through death? Stay tuned for the next article.
Footnotes:
[1] Gen. 4:4: And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
[1a] Mt. 17:5: While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. From there, we learned a profound lesson. It was because of the shed blood from Christ's own “firstborn” body that caused Israel to live as one, national “firstborn” body.
[1b] Cain-Line Summary Statement: (Gen. 4:17-24- from Cain to Tubal Cain)
“Man, acquired [as a] dedicated teaching witness, declined [as a fleet of] fugitives, smitten by God, who is of God, powerfully humbled [as] the despairing, leads a joyous jubilee.”
[2] Gen. 4:3: And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
[3] Gen. 3:17: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
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