God presently has two firstborn Sons —
Christ (Hebrews 1:6)
and Israel (Exodus
4:22, 23).
Christ is God’s firstborn Son through procreation (John
3:16), and Israel is God’s firstborn son
through adoption (Romans
9:4). And God is about to bring into existence a
third firstborn son through adoption — the Church (Romans
8:14, 15,
19, 23).
“Sonship” implies rulership.
Only “sons” hold regal positions in God’s kingdom — past,
present, or future. That’s the way God established matters
in the beginning, and that which God has established in this
respect never changes.
Angels alone (sons of God because of
creation) have ruled throughout God’s kingdom in time past
(both over this earth and elsewhere in the universe). But,
with man’s creation — an entirely new order in the universe,
an individual created in God’s image, after His likeness — a
change in the order of rulers within God’s government was
made known. Man was created for regal purposes
(Genesis 1:26-28);
and, though sin subsequently entered, resulting in a ruined
creation (Genesis 3:1ff),
God did not and will not change His mind concerning the
reason He brought man into existence (Romans
11:29).
The whole of man’s salvation has this
high end in view, whether salvation past (the spiritual
birth, presently possessed by all Christians) or salvation
present and future (the saving of the soul, not presently
possessed by Christians but awaiting realization). Man has
been, is being, and is about to be saved for a revealed
regal purpose.
A new order of “sons” is about to be
brought forth (Romans 8:19;
cf. Hebrews 2:5). And only then will
God’s purpose for man’s creation (in the beginning) and His
reason for man’s subsequent salvation (following his ruin)
be realized.