God's Firstborn

When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt He told Moses to tell Pharaoh that Israel is His firstborn. Then in the institution of the Passover God claimed Israel's firstborn sons as His own after protecting them from the plague in which the Angel of the Lord destroyed Egypt's firstborn sons. Later, when the tribe of Levi showed faithfulness after the sin of the golden calf, God took the Levites in place of the firstborn. When Hezekiah celebrated the Passover he gave them reminders of the first Passover and thus reminded those who had returned from exile of their position as God's firstborn with all its duties and privileges. In the Lord's Supper, the bloodless replacement of the Passover in the New Covenant, we see our place in Christ to serve as God's firstborn, a kingdom of priests who intercede for the world.