According to God's word , the First-Born is highly favoured by the Lord , in fact He declares that all first-born males (both human and animal) are His !
God declared ages past that He had divine right to take the very 'best' that creation could offer mankind. See Exodus 13.
But why ?
consider the Old testament as a matrix of information , mostly coded and revealed only by God's Spirit .
The Old testament is a mystery that has now been revealed by the New testament.
Jesus Christ God's Only Begotten Son is the total focus of both the Old Testament and The New .
hence Jesus Christ it is who is the First-born
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Romans 8:29
Now if the first-born are God's by Divine RIGHT , then so we might ask how if at all does this Divine ownership effect us ?
To understand just how it effects us , we need to remember that as the Old testament was written for our instruction so we do well to grasp the whole point and purpose of the first-Born.
the First-born son had the blessing of God , but also the inheritance went directly to Him.
Christ Jesus being God's First-Born is both subject to The Father as well as the inheriter of all the Father has.
But wait , how does that effect us ?
the answer is through our unity with Christ we are co-inheriters with Jesus .
We are also viewed as 'The first-born'
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel. Heb 12:22-24
Now ask yourself the question if I am beloved Of God for Christ's sake then I am also 'The first-Born' and as such God said the first-born is MINE . Exodus 13:2 then God already had ownership of me ....
Now when we read in John's gospel .....
"I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word." John 17:6
I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; John 17:9
So a close exmaination and comparison of scripture shows us that God selected us before we were born to be His , we were highly favoured because we were viewed in Eternity as being IN CHRIST The 'First-Born'.
Now go back to Exodus 13 and carefully read , and you will find something so remarkable , all the 'First-born' sons were to be redeemed!!!
yes God declared that they were his , yet instead of sacrificing these 'first-born sons' they were to be redeemed ........ the scriptures tell us that it was a fact that God sacrificed the first-born of Egypt and that the command to redeem all first-born sons came to God's beloved Israel to redeem their own sons , literally the Jews had to buy back the first-born sons (they still do!)
Exod.13
[1]
The LORD said to Moses,
[2] "Consecrate to me all the first-born; whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine."
[3]
And Moses said to the people, "Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place; no leavened bread shall be eaten.
[4] This day you are to go forth, in the month of Abib.
[5] And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jeb'usites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.
[6] Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
[7] Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.
[8] And you shall tell your son on that day, `It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'
[9] And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.
[10] You shall therefore keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.
[11]
"And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you,
[12] you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstlings of your cattle that are males shall be the LORD's.
[13] Every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every first-born of man among your sons you shall redeem.
[14] And when in time to come your son asks you, `What does this mean?' you shall say to him, `By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
[15] For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man and the first-born of cattle. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb; but all the first-born of my sons I redeem.'
The answer to Calvinism and all religions is the Gospel.
