The benefit of being considered God’s firstborn son is that we have the guarantee of his love, his protection, and ongoing fellowship with him. In his mercy, God gave Pharaoh a warning, claiming his right as a parent that prevailed beyond the right of the state and any so-called inherent rights the people might claim. The king of Egypt had no say over those whom the Lord claimed as his own. They would be freed from slavery to their hostile worldly father so that they could live as children of the Lord in their new responsibilities in the Lord’s family. In order to serve their heavenly Father, the people of God had to be separated from the world enslaved in sin.

The Lord’s message for Pharaoh through Moses revealed his specific purpose for Israel that was connected to God’s plan to bring his Son Jesus Christ into the world. God’s plan of salvation is closely connected to the enmity he established between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman in the line of the promise. So he called his firstborn son, Israel, for separation from the world, so that they could be dedicated to service to him, in the Promised Land, as the covenant people of God, in the line of promise from Abraham to Jacob. Later he would call the Davidic kings, whom he anointed as types of Christ, his sons, commanding them to serve the will of their heavenly Father in keeping Israel separate from the religions and cultures and worldly practices of the other nations. All this pointed ahead to the day that he could point at Jesus Christ and declare to the universe, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

Jesus Christ, the King of our eternal kingdom maintains the distinction when he teaches us what it means to be citizens of the kingdom of God, like we read so clearly in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1 – 7:29). When we believe in Jesus Christ, we share in his Sonship and so we share in the call to remain distinct in the world. As God our Father directed his Firstborn, fathers who follow Christ will also lead their children to be different from worldly standards. Faithful parents will show their children the inheritance they have in Jesus, so that they don’t waste all their time trying to blend in and fit in with a dying world, following worldly fathers. Our lives are not determined by the worldly influences of money and media, so that we look just as worldly as anyone else, nor are we enslaved under the dominion of our sins of pride and selfishness so that we are controlled by the opinions of others, but we have a heavenly Father, who has called us to separate from such worldly influences and who established his covenant with us. By God’s grace, the church of Christ is the firstborn son of the God of the signs. We are distinguished from all other people, because our Father is in heaven.