Revelation 1:4–6 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
I did a study once on the names by which Jesus is known in the Bible. I found at least 110 of them, of which “Firstborn of the Dead” is one! We shouldn’t be surprised at this, since we know that the names given to people in Scripture tell us something about them and about their character. Whereas most individuals only have a few names, it seems appropriate that someone as wonderful and majestic as the Son of God would have many more, and that by considering them carefully, we would learn more about Who He is, what He came to do, the offices He fills etc.
For this meditation, I decided to dwell for a while on the title, “Firstborn of the Dead,” which appears in verse 5 above. It’s just a few words but it contains a lot of wonderful truth!
“Firstborn” speaks of preeminent standing within a family. In the Bible, to be the firstborn was to be the firstfruits of the strength of the father (Deuteronomy 21:15–17). Accordingly, the firstborn son received a double portion of the inheritance. This was his birthright (Esau despised this great privilege and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew). So Jesus is the preeminent Son. Of course, Jesus is so preeminent that He holds the title, “firstborn” in several senses:
He is the firstborn of all creation in Colossians 1:15, Paul sets out the utter supremacy and preeminence of Christ. He is the image of God, the One in Whom, through Whom and for Whom all things were created, in heaven or on earth, and the One Who upholds all created things - so He is firstborn here, too.
He was Mary and Joseph’s firstborn (Luke 2:7), so that in His earthly family He had the preeminence among His brothers.
He is the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29) - God’s plan is that many people will be conformed to the image of His Son. He foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified them to that end, and Jesus was the firstborn among this group as well, so that He may also be preeminent here.
Summing all of this up, the writer to the Hebrews simply says that He is “the firstborn” (Hebrews 1:6). Whichever way you look at it, Jesus has the preeminence. It is not saying that He had a beginning, because as God, He didn’t. Rather, it is a clear indication the Father has determined that in everything, Christ will have the preeminence (Col 1:18)!
And now we can come to one additional sense in which Jesus holds the distinction of being firstborn:
He is the firstborn of the dead. We find a very similar title in Col 1:18. Let’s unpack this by looking at some other related passages:
In his defense before king Agrippa, Paul calls Jesus “the first to rise from the dead” (Acts 26:23). We know there were others who came back from death in the Bible - both Elijah and Elisha raised people. Jesus did also, and so did Peter and even Paul himself. However, all of those individuals were raised in their old bodies that were still subject to death - they had to die again. Jesus rose from the dead as Victor over death, and in a body that is no longer subject to death, so that He will never die again! He rose from death, says Peter, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it (Acts 2:24).
Talking about the resurrection of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:20-24, Paul calls Him the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”. As the One Who is “The resurrection and the life”, Jesus is Trailblazer for a new, glorified humanity whom He will raise and bring into heaven with bodies that are like His - no longer subject to death!
Jesus, then, is the first to be born from among the dead, having overcome the curse of death and thus never to die again. He is the firstborn of the dead and holds the position of preeminence among all whom He will raise from the dead to eternal life!
Another passage in Revelation 1 is relevant here:
Revelation 1:17–18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Can you see how this goes hand-in-hand with being firstborn of the dead - with having conquered death and risen in a body that will never die again? And with having taken that glorified body into heaven as the first representative (the firstborn) of a new race of redeemed and glorified humanity. He holds the keys of Death and Hades. He can shut them so no-one can open; He can open so no-one can shut. He is supreme. He is preeminent. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He will reign forever and ever - Hallelujah!
In the light of this, we should take to heart in the midst of our fears and our troubles at this time the word spoken to John by The Firstborn almost 2000 years ago: “Fear not!”
