Since God created man to express Him with His image and to represent Him by exercising His dominion over all things, by birth every human being has a birthright — the right by birth to express God and represent Him. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis msg. 96)
God created man in His image and according to His likeness so that man would express God with His image and represent Him with His authority (Gen. 1:26). By birth every human being has a birthright to express God and represent God.
We are made for this; we are born of our human parents on earth with a birthright, which is to express God and represent God by enjoying God and depending on God.
A birthright is the right a person has simply by being born; by being born of a certain family, you have certain rights and benefits. Simply by being born as a man, we have the right to express God and represent Him.
But due to the fall of man by being independent from God, we forsook our birthright. Now most people on earth forsake their birthright to express God and represent God because they are independent from God.
When we repent and believe into the Lord, we have a turn from being away from God to God Himself, and we are recovered back to our birthright to express God and represent God! By being born of God we have the birthright to enjoy God, express God, and represent God!
The Lord today wants us to treasure this birthright, heed the warnings concerning losing our birthright, and learn how to practice enjoying our birthright so that we may enter the kingdom and really enjoy the birthright.
Jacob treasured the birthright, struggled and schemed to get it (even though he was born second), stole the birthright and the blessing, and really wanted the birthright. Esau despised his birthright, sold his birthright, considered the birthright and the blessing as being of no value, and lost the birthright.
As Christians today we have to treasure our birthright to enjoy God, express God, and represent God, and we need to exercise our birthright by enjoying God, being filled and saturated with God, expressing God with His image, and representing God with His dominion!
Every Human Being has the Birthright to Express God and Represent Him
Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the gospel. Source: Christian Pics blog.
We need to realize that, since God created us in His image and with His likeness, we have the birthright to express God and represent Him.
God created man to express Him with His image and to represent Him by exercising His dominion over all things (Gen. 1:26), and by birth every human being has a birthright to express God and represent Him. This is so wonderful! Simply by being a human being we have the birthright to express God and represent Him!
But due to the fall, we have sold our birthright by being independent from God (Gen. 4:16-17; 10:8-11). When Adam fell by declaring independence from God, he sold his birthright to express God and represent Him.
However, when we repent and believe into the Lord, we are being brought back to our birthright! When we repent, we have a change in our thinking, a turn from being with our back to God to being toward God, and we have a change of mind and direction in our being, intention, and purpose.
When we believe into the Lord Jesus, we come back to our human birthright – we come back to the enjoyment of God to express God and represent Him.
In the old times the birthright used to belong only to the firstborn son of a family, and he was given a double portion of the land.
According to the Bible as a whole, the birthright includes a double portion of the land, the priesthood, and the kingship (1 Chron. 5:1-2; Deut. 33:8-10).
In a very real sense, we are the church of the firstborn, and each one of us is a firstborn, one enjoying the birthright; we should not sell our birthright or despise it, but practice it, use it, and learn how to enjoy the Lord, be a priest, and reign in life.
By being born of God through repentance and regeneration, we have the birthright of enjoying the all-inclusive Christ, we are priests to God, and we are kings for God. Our birthright is to enjoy God, be filled with God, and be saturated with God.
Our birthright includes our right to come forward to God, enjoy Him, spend time in His presence as priests, and bring man to God. Our birthright is to rule for God and bring God to man, being one with God and depending on God for everything to express Him and represent Him on earth. What a glorious birthright we have!
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us the birthright to enjoy God, express God, and represent God. We treasure our birthright. We want to heed the warnings concerning losing the birthright and learn to practice enjoying our birthright! Hallelujah, by being a man and by being born of God we are qualified to enjoy God, express God, and represent God! Praise You Lord for giving us the right to enjoy You, spend time with You as priests to bring man to God, and as kings bring God to man to express God and represent God!
Not Despising or Selling our Birthright as Esau did but Treasuring it and Enjoying it
How we thank the Lord that in the midst of today’s degradation He has brought us into the church life, where we are practically in God’s kingdom and where we are practicing how to express God and to represent Him. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis msg. 96)
Even though the principle of the birthright in the old times belonged to the firstborn, in Esau’s case God chose Jacob, the second son, to have the birthright (see Rom. 9:11-13). In Genesis 25:22-34 we see how the birthright was shifted from Esau to Jacob.
God predestinated Jacob to have the birthright, and no matter how much Jacob struggled, schemed, and cheated Esau to get the birthright and the blessing, the birthright was his by God’s predestination.
Before the foundation of the world, God chose and predestinated Jacob to have the birthright. Jacob didn’t know this, so he strived in his cleverness (encouraged by his mother) to get what he was already predestinated to have.
The birthright is ours; we shouldn’t strive to obtain it but rather learn to not despise it but enjoy it and exercise it.
Jacob schemed and tricked Esau into selling the birthright, and later he stole the blessing meant for Esau. On his side, Esau despised the birthright and sold it to Jacob for a stew to satisfy his hunger (Gen. 25:30-34).
Like Esau, many genuine Christians have despised their birthright, loving and treasuring the worldly enjoyments today and not caring for the preciousness of God’s birthright. We need to not despise our birthright but treasure our right to enjoy God, express Him in His image, represent Him with His dominion, and participate in His kingdom.
In the church life today we need to be recovered to treasuring and enjoying our birthright. The church life is the practical kingdom life, and here we practice to enjoy God, express Him, and represent Him together with all the saints.
We today in the church life treasure and enjoy the birthright not because we are “more special” but because God predestinated all His believers in His sovereignty to enjoy God, express God, and represent God! Every regenerated person has this birthright, and we need to see this and live according to what the Bible tells us that our birthright is!
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your sovereignty in predestinating us to have the birthright. May we not despise our birthright by loving the worldly enjoyments today. Lord, we want to care for the preciousness of our birthright and stay in the proper church life to enjoy God, express God, and represent God! Keep us in the practical kingdom of God to enjoy our birthright!
Read this article in Spanish via, Disfrutar y proclamar el jubileo para traer a otros al disfrute de su primogenitura.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 96), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 5 / msg 5, The Birthright.
- Picture source and ministry portions on this topic via Christian Pictures blog.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The birthright God has giv’n to us / Must be our goal, our highest prize, / For we’re the church of the first-born— / Let us our portion realize! (Hymns #1272)
# In Him dwelleth all God’s fulness, / In Him thou art made complete; / Rise, and claim thy heavenly birthright, / Kneeling at thy Father’s feet. / He will never disappoint thee, / Praise Him that the gift is thine; / Then go forth to live each moment / On sufficiency divine. (Hymns #641)
# By divine regeneration / We the sons of God became, / But we must mature to fullness, / Thus the birthright to obtain. / Born and fully grown to manhood, / God’s adoption we may share; / By the measure of full stature, / We God’s sonship will declare. (Hymns #741)
