The First and Last Principle: Matt 19:30, 20:16 :: By Sean Gooding

“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

“So, the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

Over the past few months, we have been exploring Jesus in the Old Testament, and we will get back to that in a bit. But for now, we will take a bit of a break and look at some other things.

Last Friday night, I had the chance to attend a ‘lock-in’ hosted by one of our sister churches in Michigan. As the kids played and hung out, I had the chance to chat with one of my dearest friends for hours. He is a pastor like me, and we often spend time chatting about things we are learning in the Bible as we study. He is also preaching about Jesus in the Old Testament in his church.

In the course of that, he observed this pattern, and we explored it for about an hour or so in our discussions. We are familiar with the verses quoted above; they remind us to be humble and to put ourselves last.

In one text about the man hiring workers in Matthew 20, the man hires workers at different times of the day and pays them the same at the end. The men who worked 12 hours got paid the same as those that worked one hour. The ones who worked longer were upset and complained. The man makes the statement that he had honored their agreement and that he had the right to pay people whatever he wanted.

There is a law to be learned here that those who served God all their lives and those who served God for a few minutes are all going to get the same reward. We are not rewarded on merit, BUT by the grace and goodness of God. This is the surface lesson to be learned here. But if you are a student of the scriptures, you will know that the ‘milk’ of the Word is just that and if we keep reading, looking, asking, studying and talking to each other, we will find that there are layers to the truths and the verses. This is one of the occasions.

God has a habit of choosing the second or the last over the first. The most obvious of that is with Adam. In 1 Corinthians 15:22, we are told this: in the first Adam, all men die, but in Christ, all men can be made alive. In 1 Corinthians 15:45-47, we see that the Last Adam was a life-giving spirit. So, the first Adam was not the one God sent to redeem us, but the second one, Jesus.

All the way through the Bible, this principle continues. In Genesis 25:23, we see this verse, “And the Lord said to her: ‘Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.’”

God chooses the second over the first. Later, we see in the New Testament in Romans 9:13 that God chose Jacob over Esau. As we move further into the scriptures, we find this second over the first in places that we did not even recognise.

In Exodus 1, we see the birth of Moses. We know that Moses becomes the man who leads Israel out of Egypt and to the edge of the Promised Land. But many of us may not put together that Aaron was actually born first. Thus, God chose the second over the first. In Exodus 7:7, we see that Aaron is 3 years older than Moses to lead Israel. This is not to diminish Aaron’s part, but Moses obviously was the leader, and the Torah is called the Book of Moses, not the Book of Aaron.

Back in Genesis 14, we meet a man named Melchezidek, who is the High Priest of Salem, and in Hebrews 7:3, we see that this Man has neither mother nor father, and He does not have a beginning nor an end of life. Jesus, we are told in Hebrews 6:20, is a High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Notice that Jesus is not a priest after the order of Levi under the family of Aaron, but rather the order of Melchizedek. Not the priesthood of Aaron; his could not offer eternal life, but the High Priest Melchizedek can (Hebrews 7:22-25); only the priesthood of Melchizedek can offer salvation to the ‘uttermost.’

We are told in Hebrews 7:11 that the priesthood of Aaron could not offer perfection; it could not offer eternal life. Back in Exodus 34:33, we see that Moses needed a veil to cover his face because his face shone every time he came down from meeting with God. The people asked him to wear a veil so that they would not see the shine on his face, but the shine faded.

In 2 Corinthians 3:13-16, we see that the veil was to cover that which was fading away; in contrast, Jesus removed the veil. So, the covenant that came with the first veil was passing away, but the covenant that came with the second veil is eternal. The law could not offer eternal life, but the cross can and does.

In Hebrews 12:18-29, we see a tale of two mounts; the Law was given on Mount Sinai, and Jesus died in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. God rejected the first; no flesh can be justified by the Law. Justification can only come from Jesus’ death on Mount Zion.

Even as we look at Jesus’ first miracle that is recorded in John 2:1-10, we see that the first wine offered during the wedding is inferior, and when Jesus sends His wine to be accepted, the governor of the feast is astonished because the last is better than the first.

God chose David, the second king, over Saul to bring the kingly line and promise. Elisha performed twice as many miracles as Elijah (2 Kings 2:9). Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

Israel was given Jerusalem, but we await a New Jerusalem, which is the second over the first. The Jews are currently blinded by the first covenant, but in Hebrews 10:16-17, God promises a new covenant with Israel where He will remember their sins no more.

We can go on and on; I hope that you will begin to look for this pattern as you read and study.

Finally, we see in Hebrews 9:11-12, not by the blood of goats and calves, BUT by His own blood. “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

When we read in Exodus through Leviticus and all the way to even Jesus’ day, we see the blood of animals is shed for the temporary covering of sins; the High Priest had to enter the Holy Place yearly to offer a sacrifice, and daily that priests had to kill millions upon millions of animals as a picture of the blood that Jesus would shed one day. But here in Hebrews, we are told that with Jesus’ own blood, He died once for our eternal redemption.

I am so glad that I am under the second covenant, the one that Jesus paid for in His own blood. Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to the cross I cling. I pray the same for you.

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