This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 15: Assembly of the Firstborn: Hebrews 12:23.

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The writer of Hebrews points his readers to “the assembly of the firstborn” (12:23). The word “firstborn” (Greek: prototokos) is used in a variety of ways in Scripture. Usually, “firstborn” means the first male child born into a family, but the word can be used in other ways. It may denote rank, position, or prominence. King David, for example, who is the last in his family’s birth order, is called “firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth” (Ps. 89:27).

The same is true for the nation of Israel. The Israelites are not the first people group to populate a region of the earth. Even so, the Lord commands Moses to tell Pharaoh that “Israel is my firstborn son” (Exod. 4:22). That is, God established the Israelites as a special people for whom the Promised Land is prepared.

When it comes to Jesus, the Greek word prototokos never is used to describe his origin, as if he’s a created being; after all, he’s the uncreated creator of all (John 1:1-3). Nor is “firstborn” used to depict Jesus in purely human terms, for he has no earthly father. In every case, the New Testament writers depict Jesus as first in rank, position, or prominence. We see this every time in Scripture he’s declared to be the firstborn. 

So, Jesus is:

“… the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom. 8:29). As part of the golden chain of redemption – depicting God’s work of salvation from eternity past (in foreknowledge and predestination) to eternity future (in glorification) – God’s supreme purpose in bringing sinners to salvation is to glorify his Son by making him preeminent in the divine plan of redemption. As such, Jesus is first in rank among the Father’s adopted sons and daughters, who receive eternal life by faith.

“… the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15). If Paul had meant to say Jesus was the first created being, as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim, he could have used the Greek word protoktisis (first-created) rather than prototokos (firstborn; preeminent).  

Renowned Bible scholar F. F. Bruce writes:

The word first-born had long since ceased to be used exclusively in its literal sense, just as prime(from the Latin word primus – “first”) with us. The Prime Minister is not the first minister we have had; he is the most preeminent…. Similarly, first-born came to denote [among the ancients] not priority in time but preeminence in rank.

As firstborn, Jesus always has retained the fullness of deity (Col. 1:19; 2:9). There has never been a time when Jesus did not exist or was not God. Therefore, Paul exalts Jesus as the creator of, and sovereign over, all, as he states plainly: “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16).

“… the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). Jesus is the first to rise from the dead in a glorified body, which serves as the prototype of our future resurrected bodies. Paul describes this in detail in 1 Corinthians 15, referring to Jesus as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). This calls to mind the annual festival of firstfruits, in which the first and best of the spring barley harvest is offered to God, honoring him as Lord of the harvest and expressing trust that he will ensure the entire crop is gathered. 

Paul also writes about this to the Philippians: “He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself” (Phil. 3:21).

… the Father’s “firstborn,” who is brought into the world (Heb. 1:6). This verse is set in the context of the writer of Hebrews declaring Jesus as superior to angels (Heb. 1:5-14). Before the Incarnation, angels worshiped Jesus as creator. Now, as the eternal Son of God takes on flesh, the Father instructs the angels to worship the God-Man, whose humanity in no way diminishes his deity. 

… the “firstborn,” who has an “assembly … whose names have been written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). The “assembly of the firstborn” is a reference to those whom Jesus, the “firstborn,” has redeemed through his finished work on the cross. Jesus, not glorified saints, is the firstborn; believers are the assembly of born-again believers belonging to him. 

The LDS Church misses the point entirely by insisting that humans may become gods and inhabit a celestial kingdom one day. Rather, the point the writer of Hebrews makes is that those who are born again, through faith in Jesus, have a place assured in the presence of the firstborn – Christ. That place is in heaven upon death, and in the new heavens and new earth upon his return. Wherever Jesus is, the “assembly” is, too (see John 14:3). 

The Greek word translated “assembly” is panegyris and means “a festal gathering of the whole people to celebrate public games or other solemnities.”⁷ This may be a reference to the redeemed of all ages, who gather around the throne to pay homage to “the Lamb who was slaughtered” (Rev. 13:8). 

Now, let’s dive more deeply into Hebrews 12:22-24, which tells us of names written in heaven:

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel (Heb. 12:22-24). 

Next: Mount Zion