Midrash - First Born and Second Born — Jacob Prasch

Hello friends, this is Jacob Plath speaking to you today, praise the Lord. Before we turn to the book of Genesis, the Sheep of Genesis, can we please first of all turn to the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 15.

Coming Short of the Grace of God

Hebrews 12, 16, 16, and 17. The writer tells us, See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessings, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.

Can a Christian come short of the grace of God? Well, this is quite a subject and quite a question. How does it happen? First of all, we have to understand that in the Greek text, this is what we call the subjunctive mood.

The subjunctive mood is something which in the Greek language implies doubt, implies doubt. Very often in the King James Bible, the subjunctive mood will be indicated by the word lest, L-E-S-T, lest.

It implies doubt. Jesus told the Pharisees, quoting from Isaiah, Unless you turn with your eyes, turn to me, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, and I will heal them. And in the translations of the King James, it says lest.

In other words, it was possible for the Pharisees to repent and turn to Jesus. It was possible for them to have their spiritual deafness and their spiritual blindness removed. It was possible. But it was not likely it was ever going to happen.

So it is here in Hebrews 12. Can someone come short of the grace of God? Can a Christian fall short of that grace? Yes. But it's not likely it will happen, providing we follow God's warning. The warning is not to be an immoral person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a meal.

And then when he desired to get it back, he couldn't, because he found no place for repentance. We always interpret the Old Testament in light of the New Testament revelation of Jesus. Turn with me, please, to the book of Genesis, chapter 25.

Jacob and Esau: Birthright and Blessing

Genesis, chapter 25. I'm reading now from verse 22. But the children struggled together within her. And she said, If it is so, why then am I the slave? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two people shall be separated from your body.

The one people shall be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger. And when the days to be fulfilled were delivered, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment.

And they named him Esau. Notice the word red and how many times the color red occurs in this text. And afterwards, in verse 26, his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob, or in Hebrew, Yaakov, meaning heel.

And Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them. And when the boy grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field. But Jacob, he was rather a peaceful man, living in tents. Now the word peaceful here means more complete from the Hebrew word shalom, meaning fullness, wholeness.

Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for games. But Rebekah, or Rivka, loved Yaakov, or Jacob. And when Jacob had cooked through, Esau came in from the field and he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, Please let me have a swallow of that red crop there.

The word red. For I am famished, or it could be translated weary. Therefore his name was called Edom. Edom. Edom is the Hebrew word meaning red. There it is the third time. And Jacob said, First, tell me your birthright.

And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die. So of what use then is a birthright to me? And Jacob said, First, swear to me. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went on his way.

Thus Esau despised his birthright. And we as believers are told not to be like him. Do not despise our birthright. First of all, there are different aspects of this particular story or narrative. Jacob and Esau are patriarchs of Arab and Jewish nations.

We have something in theology called a corporate solidarity. You've perhaps heard me mention it before. That is where one person represents a larger group of people. In biblical typology, Jacob becomes a representation of the Jewish nations while Esau of the Arab nations.

Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Arabs are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Esau who in turn intermarried with the descendants of Ishmael. The Jews have always remained in the character of Jacob.

And the Arab nations in the character of Esau. Let me explain. They're both descendants of Abraham and loved by God, but there's a problem. Jacob supplanted his brother. Jacob was somebody who was always trying to attain the blessings and purposes of God by his own connivances and scheming.

And his head backfiring on him, yet God loved him. He wound up in a dark night of the soul experience at the brook of Jabbok at a place called Peniel where he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. This angel of the Lord has the definite article in Hebrew, and it's known in Judaism as the Mettatron.

Now the angel of the Lord is a Christophany. It is an Old Testament manifestation of Jesus. That is why Jacob saw the face of God when he wrestled with him. At the end of his wrestling, Jacob was blessed by God but walked with a limp.

He no longer trusted his greatest human strength anymore, but rather trusted God and he walked with a limp and was then reconciled to his brother. After having been broken by the Lord, whenever Jacob behaved like a new creation, whenever he behaved like a spiritual man, he was called by his new name that the angel gave him, Israel.

But whenever he went back to behaving in the character of his old way, he was called Jacob in the book of Genesis. This is why you see in the prophetic writings of prophets like Isaiah, the promises are for Israel and Jacob.

Israel is the one who is spiritual. Jacob is the one who is carnal. Israel involves the faithful remnant of Jews of the Old Testament and the messianic Jews, the Jewish believers in their Messiah of the New Testament, together with the Gentiles who have grafted in.

The faithful remnant of Israel is what Galatians calls the Israel of God. But Jacob is the Jewish people in their unsaved form. Notice both Jacob and Esau are given new names. You see, when everyone needs Jesus, they get a new name.

We have the name our parents gave us when we were born, but when we're born again, the book of Revelation tells us we have another name that is written in the book of life. And like Jacob, when we behave like new creations, God calls us by our new name that is in heaven.

But when we behave carnally and like our old nature and in accordance with the ways of the flesh, we are seen from heaven by the names our parents gave us. Philip, Barbara, Henry, etc. But let's look more closely.

Israel, Esau, and the Nations

Esau and Jacob. You know, I honestly am convinced, there is no doubt in my mind, that contemporary events in the Middle East fulfill biblical prophecy. And the Jews are back in Israel being regarded for something called the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation.

That's what's going to happen in the Middle East. The prophecies of Zechariah will be literally fulfilled, especially Zechariah 12 through 14, when Jesus comes back and establishes his Millennial Kingdom.

However, having said that, while I agree that Israel as a nation and its rebirth fulfill prophecy, and I support the right of the Jews to settle there, the prophet Ezekiel warns as did the Torah, you shall treat the sojourner among you as one of your own people.

And there have been a number of injustices by the Israeli government against Arabs. Now I point out that this is partially provoked by militant Islamic extremists. It's partially provoked. Nonetheless, I also know there are times when things have happened that cannot be justified.

This was contrary to the law God gave the Jews. Now I would say this. It is not nearly as bad as the civil rights and human rights abuses I have seen in Muslim countries. I have been in Muslim countries from Morocco to the Far East.

What you saw happen in Kuwait, with the murder and the pillage, murdering and raping Muslims, what happened in the war between Iran and Iraq, children being killed in human wave attacks, what you see happening in the strife between North and South Yemen, I remember in Black September of 1970, when the late King Hussein of Jordan systematically exterminated 20 ,000 Palestinians in about a week.

Nobody said a word. Whatever happens in terms of civil rights and human rights abuses in Israel is nothing like what the Arabs have done to each other. In the name of Islam, most jihads have always been Muslims killing Muslims.

Nonetheless, God gave the Jew the Torah, and told them not to mistreat the foreigner who sojourns among you. It's sort of like what happened here in the old South Africa under apartheid. The civil rights and human rights abuses under apartheid were bad, but they were not nearly as bad as what happened in Angola or Mozambique or Rwanda or the Central African Republic or Biafra or Ethiopia.

It's not nearly as bad as what happened to black people at the hands of their fellow blacks. But it was still wrong. And it was wrong in South Africa because South Africa had so much Christian influence.

There was so much biblical influence in South Africa, God held it more accountable. So too, God holds the Jews more accountable because he gave them the Torah. On the other hand, Esau still despises his birthright.

God gave the Arab nations all that land to the East. He gave them Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf States, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. After the Islamic invasions, the Muslims from Arabia invaded North Africa, coming across Egypt, and they took the land belonging to the Moroccans, and they took the land belonging to the Berbers, and made it part of the Arab world.

140, 150 million Arabs, some would say. All that money, all that land, all that oil. But they despised their birthright and covered a little land, very, very small, smaller, much smaller than a single state in South Africa.

Nonetheless, the Arab nations are in the character of Esau, and the Jewish nations in the character of Jacob. But just as Jacob and Esau were one day reconciled, a day will come when Jesus returns in his millennial reign when Jew and Arab are reconciled.

This is part of what Isaiah chapter 19 prophesies. Two nations are in your womb. That is but one aspect of this story. Another aspect is parental favoritism. This is very sad. It says that Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

This did not mean that Isaac did not love Esau, or did not love Jacob equally. And it didn't mean that Rebekah didn't love them equally. The problem is this. In the Hebrew language, we only have one word for like and love.

Ahavah. Ahavah. Well, in English, we can distinguish between like and love with two words. One for what you like, and one for what you love. In Greek, there are multiple words to describe love and like.

But Hebrew has but one. Therefore, it would appear, reading the translation, that Jacob was loved by his mother, and Esau was loved by his father, but that Jacob's father didn't love him, and that Esau's mother didn't love him.

It doesn't mean that, but it does mean they liked and they showed favoritism. This is not good. It is very bad and it is spiritually and emotionally damaging to any child to show favoritism of one sibling above another.

It is important that parents, and particularly Christian parents, show their children that they were all co-equally loved and valued. Nonetheless, having said that, let's get down to what it means for us.

Esau went on to break his parents' hearts. He despised his birthright, but he also married a non-believer. A pagan. And one of the surest things that will break the heart of any Christian parent is when a backslidden son or daughter goes off to marry somebody who is not a saved Christian.

The Firstborn and the Secondborn

But what does it again mean for you and I as believers? We have a conflict in the Bible. This conflict is between the firstborn and the second. It begins not with Esau and Jacob, nor does it begin with Isaac and Ishmael.

In fact, it goes all the way back to the beginning, to Cain and Abel, and continues on to Joseph and his brothers. The firstborn and the second. The conflict between the older and the younger, where the older will hate the younger.

To understand this, turn with me, please, to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians. Where St. Paul explains how we understand this particular phenomena in Genesis of the struggle between the first and secondborn.

To explain it, St. Paul uses something called Midrash. Midrash. The way that Jewish rabbis interpreted the Bible in the day of Jesus and Paul in the second temple period in the first century, etc. We read this in verse 22 of Galatians chapter 4.

For it is written, Abraham had two sons, one son by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son of the free woman through the promise.

This is allegorically speaking. For these women are two covenants, one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves, she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem above is free, she is our mother. And then according to Isaiah 54 it says,. For it is written, rejoice, O barren woman, who does not dare break forth and shout, you who are not in labor.

For more are the children of the desolate than the one who has a husband. And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so it is now also.

But what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be in air with the son of the free woman. So then, children, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

What does this tell us? The older will serve the younger. The one who is born first persecutes the one who is born second. We are told the firstborn is the one who is born according to the flesh. The secondborn is the one born according to the spirit.

The firstborn is the old creation. The secondborn is the new one. We have two names because we are born twice if we are Christians. The firstborn is under the law. What does the law mean? The law means we are enslaved.

Let me explain. The Jews are a microcosm of the human condition. Through Israel and the Jews, God teaches mankind about himself. The Torah, or the law, was given to the Jews not as a means of salvation, but to show them that they need a Messiah to save them because they couldn't keep the law.

The biggest section of the law is the sacrificial system. To atone for the fact they couldn't keep the rest of it. And since the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Jews cannot keep the Torah anyway because there is no Temple and no Levitical priesthood.

When their ancient sages translated the Torah from Leviticus 17, they openly said, without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. And it is written in the Talmudic literature that from the time Jesus died up until the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, for 40 years before the Temple was destroyed, the people's sins were no longer forgiven, according to the ancient rabbis.

It says in the Mishnah that a scarlet thread was hung before the Holy of Holies, the Kodesh Kodeshim. And if the people's sins were forgiven, the scarlet cord on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, would turn white.

But if it didn't, it meant they were not forgiven. And it didn't turn white for 40 years before 70 AD. In other words, the rabbis tell us that from the time of Jesus until the Temple was destroyed, the sins of the Jewish people were no longer forgiven by the Torah.

In actual fact, the prophet Daniel prophesied in chapter 9 that the Messiah would come and die before the second Temple would be destroyed. And so the saga continues. The firstborn is under the law. What does the law mean?

The law that God gave to the Jews teaches about our fallen nature. It is what Paul calls in Galatians our pidian, our teacher, to teach us about our needs for somebody to save us because we can't save ourselves.

The Law of Christ and Freedom from Sin

Think of the law as gravity. The old-time Plymouth brethren explained it wonderfully, as did the Chinese Christian Watchman Nee. Gravity says things will fall. Thus, if we had a balloon that was not inflated, it would fall because of the law of gravity.

It must fall. Well, that's the way human beings are. They must sin. The most anybody who is not born again can choose is how, when, where, but not if. They must sin. Not if or not to do it. Only how, when, where, etc.

Because of the law. They must fall. Because gravity makes things come to earth. However, if you were to take helium and pump it into that balloon, something happens. A stronger law than gravity takes over.

That law is called the law of buoyancy. It is a stronger law in physics than gravity. The balloon will float because helium is lighter than air. If you blow CO2, carbon dioxide, into a balloon, that won't work.

That's like religion. It'll only make the balloon fall slower at best, but the balloon will still fall. It still wants to come down. It is only when someone is born again they don't have to sin. Much the same as you put helium into the balloon the Holy Ghost comes inside of us.

Christians have a free will. We have a restored free choice at the cross. Unfortunately, the extremes of Calvinism deny this. They deny this free will was restored at the cross, but it was. They say Christians cannot fall away, otherwise they were never saved.

This is simply not true. The Bible speaks directly and clearly of the apostasia, of a falling away, and you cannot fall away from something you never believed. Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 make it very clear there's a danger, and so does Hebrews 12, as we've already read.

Nonetheless, let's understand this. The firstborn is under the law. Gravity is a law that makes things fall. Buoyancy is a stronger law than gravity. If you don't want things to fall, a stronger law has to take over.

This is what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 9. He says this in verse 20. And to the Jews I became as a Jew that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being under the law myself, that I might win those who are under the law.

In other words, he culturally identified with the people he was trying to reach. To those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God, he was not an antinomian, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law.

If you were driving in South Africa and you crossed the border to Zimbabwe, you would no longer be in the jurisdiction of South Africa, you would be in the jurisdiction of Zimbabwe. Does Zimbabwe have laws?

Yes. Are they the same as South Africa's laws? No. Some are the same, others are different. Well, so it is when you are born again. You come out from under the law of sin and death, represented by the law of Moses, but you come under the law of Christ.

I know some silly people today, when you point to the Bible, they say, you are legalistic. You are under the law. To begin with, they don't know what legalism means. There are two kinds of legalism. The first kind is trying to be saved by work.

The second kind of legalism is gnomianism, where you begin making religious rules that you can't do this and you can't do that, concerning things not specifically found in the Bible. That doesn't say we're saved by work, it just tells people they have to keep rules after they have been saved, apart from things written in the Bible.

To begin with, they don't know what legalism is. But more than that, what they mean is antinomianism, that we have no law. Paul says we are under law. We're under the law of Christ. When we get saved, we've left one law and gone under another.

You're either under the law or under the law of Christ. The law that God gave to the Jews, the Torah, teaches about the fallen human condition. Unsaved people must sin. So the firstborn is under the law.

It's a slave to sin. It's the son of a bondwoman. It is only the son of promise. The secondborn, the one who was born of spirit, who is free from the law, free from the curse. And if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.

Look again more closely at Galatians chapter 4. What does Paul tell us in this particular passage? He tells us very clearly that the one who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the spirit.

This is why unsaved people don't like Christians. But it is also why the old creation, the firstborn, doesn't like the new creation, the secondborn. But let's go back to the very beginning of this conflict between the firstborn and the second.

Cain and Abel: Works and Sacrifice

The beginning, of course, is the story of Cain and Abel. Turn with me, please, back to the book of Genesis chapter 4. Rishis Terek Dalet, Genesis 4. Now the man had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.

And she said, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord. Cain actually means gotten, or the gotten one. Now, the original Hebrew text does not say, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord.

It just says, Ki Yehoah. The text allowed for the possibility that Eve could have believed that the child who she conceived was actually God himself. She knew from Genesis chapter 3 that it would be the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head.

I'm not saying that she did believe it. I'm simply saying the text allowed for the possibility that she believed the child was God. But, of course, we know it wasn't. Hence the translators insert something not found in the original Hebrew text.

They say, with the help of the Lord. And again she gave birth to his brother Abel. So you have the firstborn and the second. And Abel was the keeper of flocks, but Cain was the killer of the ground. Notice that Cain did something that man did only before the fall.

He did it before the fall. Originally, before the fall, the text of Genesis would pretty well show that man was not carnivorous, only herbivorous. The slaying of animals is something that only happened after the fall.

Hence Cain did something that man did before the fall, but Abel did something that man did only after. He took care of animals that were going to be slaughtered. So it came about in verse 3, in the course of time, that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.

And Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fattened portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering. But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.

So Cain became very angry and is counting himself. Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.

Its desire is for you, but you must master it. And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother?

And he said, I do not know my brother's keeper. I hear the voice of your brother crying from the ground. And the same kind of symbolic language, and the same kind of literary properties of Genesis are replayed in the book of Revelation.

Genesis and Revelation fit each other like a glove. God declares the end from the beginning. Alpha and Omega, Olive and Tove. The martyrs cry out, their blood cries out from under the altar, in Revelation, as Cain's brother Abel's blood cries out here.

We see in the story of Joseph and his brothers with the woman and the stars, and we see the same imagery in Revelation. We see the serpent in Genesis, we see the serpent in Revelation, etc., etc. The Bible is like a loaf of bread that hasn't been sliced yet.

It looks the same on both ends. So let's understand the story here of Cain and Abel. Once more, the older hated the younger. Cain is a corpse of solidarity. He's again a picture of us. Sin's desire was for him, and he has to overcome it.

Much the same as sin's desire is for us, and we must overcome it. But let's focus more closely. The older hates the younger. Why? When Adam and Eve sinned, God said, you have to have animal skins. Sacrificed animals to cover your nakedness.

Not fig leaves. Fig leaves in the Bible are figures of good work. In the book of Revelation, the fig leaves are for the healing of the nations. Fig leaves have their value, but their value is not to bring salvation.

That's why Jesus churched the fig tree. Israel had a work righteousness. There were leaves on the tree. The beginning, of course, is the story of Cain and Abel. Turn with me, please, back to the book of Genesis, chapter 4.

Cain and Abel Revisited

Now the man had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I've gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord. Cain actually means gotten, or the gotten one. Now, the original Hebrew text does not say, I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.

It just says, Ki Yehoah. The text allows for the possibility that Eve could have believed that the child who she conceived was actually God himself. She knew from Genesis, chapter 3, that it would be the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head.

I'm not saying that she did believe it. I'm simply saying the text allowed for the possibility that she believed the child was God. But of course we know it wasn't, hence the translators insert something not found in the original Hebrew text.

They say, with the help of the Lord. And again she gave birth to his brother, Abel. So you have the firstborn and the second. And Abel was the keeper of flocks, but Cain was the killer of the ground. Notice that Cain did something that man did only before the Fall.

He did it before the Fall. Originally, before the Fall, the text of Genesis would pretty well show that man was not carnivorous, only herbivorous. The slaying of animals is something that only happened after the Fall.

Hence Cain did something that man did before the Fall, but Abel did something that man did only after. He took care of animals that were going to be slaughtered. So it came about in verse 3, in the course of time, that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.

And Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fattened portion. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering. But for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.

And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know him.

I am my brother's keeper. I hear the voice of your brother crying from the ground. And the same kind of symbolic language and the same kind of literary properties of Genesis are replayed in the book of Revelation.

Genesis and Revelation fit each other like a glove. God declares the end from the beginning. Alpha and Omega, Olive and Palm. The martyrs cry out. Their blood cries out from under the altar in Revelation as Cain's brother Abel's blood cries out here.

We see in the story of Joseph and his brothers with the woman and the stars and we see the same imagery in Revelation. We see the serpents in Genesis. We see the serpents in Revelation, etc., etc. The Bible is like a loaf of bread that hasn't been sliced yet.

It looks the same on both ends. But let's understand the story here of Cain and Abel. Once more, the older hated the younger. Cain is a corporate solidarity. He's again a picture of us. Sin's desire was for him and he had to overcome it.

Much the same as sin's desire is for us and we must overcome it. But let's focus more closely. The older hates the younger. Why? When Adam and Eve sinned, God said you have to have animal skins, sacrifice animals to cover your nakedness.

Not fig leaves. Fig leaves in the Bible are figures of good works. In the book of Revelation the fig leaves are for the healing of the nations. Fig leaves have their value. But their value is not to bring salvation.

That's why Jesus cursed the fig tree. Israel had a work righteousness. There were leaves on the tree, but no fruit. In other words, no fruit of the Spirit. There had to be a sacrifice. Cain did not bring the sacrifice for sin that God ordained.

Only Abel did. Thus the Lord was not able to accept Cain's sacrifice. Now God did not hate Cain. God did not cast Cain out right away. God did not do anything other than try to enterish Cain. But it was only Abel's sacrifice that was acceptable.

So what did Cain do? In resentment he murdered his brother Abel. Why did the older kill the younger? Because God accepted the sacrifice of the younger. Of Abel, not of Cain. The firstborn hates the second.

The all creation hates the new one. Why? It's obvious. Abel's name in Hebrew is Tevez. It means insignificant. The firstborn, which Paul tells us corresponds to the all creation, hates the one who is secondborn, the new creation, the one who is born again.

He sees it as insignificant. You're insignificant! And God's going to accept your worship? You're telling me my religion is not as good as yours? My worship is not as good as yours? No, it isn't. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins.

Other faiths, other religions, are not acceptable to the Lord. He demands the sacrifice. The sacrifice of one without sin. And the only one who came without sin was his son, the Messiah, Jesus. To God, one man without sin is worth more than all the men with sin.

That is how Jesus could die for all. And that is why the Passover lamb had to be a lamb without spot or blemish. Only one without sin could be the atonement God would accept. Innocent like a lamb. Nonetheless, let's look.

So there it is with Cain and Abel. The older hates the younger. The firstborn persecutes the second. The story then continues with Isaac and Ishmael. As we read in Galatians, the one born of flesh hated the one born of promise.

The one who is under the law of sin and death which shows we are fallen hates the one who was born of the spirit. That's the conflict. Then it continues with Cain and Abel. But it goes beyond Cain and Abel.

It goes beyond Isaac and Ishmael. It goes beyond Esau and Jacob. Turn with me, please, to Joseph and his brothers. In Genesis chapter 38. We have an instance here of the sons of Tomas. Joseph was to see Egypt.

But meanwhile, something was happening at home. You had two twins in her womb similar to what you had with Esau and Jacob. In verse 28, moreover, it took place while she was giving birth that one put out a hand and the midwife took and tied a solid thread on his hand saying this one came out first.

Notice there would be conflict between the firstborn and the second once again tying on the solid thread. This solid color or reddish color has to do with Isaiah 1 .18. Now we'll come to this in just a moment.

In Genesis 37 verse 5 while this was going on another conflict had happened between Joseph and his brothers in verse 5. Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.