The second cause of falling away from the grace of God is the fornicator. When Paul wrote verse 16, he might have had in mind Reuben, the first son of Jacob, who was wrecked by his fleshly lust and thereby lost his birthright (Gen. 49:3-4; 1 Chron. 5:1). By the lust of the flesh, the fornicator is kept from the enjoyment of Christ in God’s new covenant. Nothing ruins God’s people as much as fornication does. We all must flee it. The fornicator, like Reuben, will lose the blessing of the birthright because of the defilement of his lust.
The third cause is the profane person. The profane person is one who loves the world and the worldly things, and who is captured by the entertainment of physical things. He is like Esau who sold his birthright for one meal (Gen. 25:29-34). Esau’s birthright as the firstborn son of Isaac was the double portion of the land, the priesthood, and the kingship. Due to his profaneness in giving up his birthright, the double portion of land was given to Joseph (1 Chron. 5:1-2), the priesthood went to Levi (Deut. 33:8-10), and the kingship was assigned to Judah (Gen. 49:10; 1 Chron. 5:2). Verse 17, speaking of Esau says, “For you know that also afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears.” The words, “no place for repentance,” do not mean that Esau had no ground to repent, but that he had no way to reverse by repentance the result of what he had done.
We Christians, born of God, are the “firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18) which He has reaped in His creation. In this sense, we are the firstborn sons of God. Hence, the church composed of us is called the church of the firstborn ones (12:23). As the firstborn sons of God, we have the birthright of the firstborn. This includes the inheritance of the earth (2:5-6), the priesthood (Rev. 20:6), and the kingship (Rev. 20:4), which will be the main blessings in the coming kingdom and which the profane, world-loving-and-seeking Christians will lose at the Lord’s coming back. Eventually, this birthright will be a reward to the overcoming Christians in the millennial kingdom. Any worldly enjoyment, even one meal, can cause us to forfeit this birthright of ours. If after such a serious warning, the Hebrew believers still preferred to indulge in one meal of their old religion, they would have missed the full enjoyment of Christ and lost the kingdom rest with all its blessings.
Actually, what we are privileged to enjoy in Christ today is the foretaste of the blessings in the coming kingdom. The proper enjoyment of this foretaste will usher us into the full taste of the kingdom blessings. If we do not enjoy Christ today as our good land, how can we enter into His rest in the kingdom and inherit the earth with Him? If we do not exercise our priesthood today to contact Him and prayerfully minister to Him, how can we fulfill our priestly duty in the kingdom? If we do not exercise our spirit with a God-given authority to rule our self, our flesh, our entire being, and the enemy with all his power of darkness today, how can we be Christ’s co-kings and rule the nations with Him in His kingdom (Rev. 2:26-27)? Our enjoyment of Christ and the practice of the priesthood and kingship today are the preparation and qualification for our participating in Christ’s kingdom tomorrow.
In Genesis 1, we see that God created man in His image so that man might express Him. According to the deep thought of the book of Hebrews, expressing God is a matter of the priesthood. To have the priesthood today in the new covenant way is to have the law of life work God into our being that we may become His expression and testimony. This is what it means to be the priesthood expressing God’s image. From the very beginning, man was destined to be God’s priest. Furthermore, the man created in the image of God was committed with God’s dominion to rule over all created things. This is the kingship. Expressing God in His image is the priesthood, and ruling over all created things with God’s dominion and authority is the kingship. Hence, both the priesthood and the kingship were with man in the beginning. Moreover, God gave the earth to man that he might take possession of it and replenish it through the spreading of God’s expression and dominion. Therefore, in Genesis 1 we see the priesthood, the kingship, and the land, the three things assigned by God to man as his destiny.
After Adam fell, God selected another race, the race of Abraham, to be His people. By reading the Old Testament, we see that God’s intention with the children of Israel was the same as with mankind originally. God intended to give the children of Israel the priesthood that they might express Him and His authority that they might represent Him. God also gave them the best land on earth. Hence, with the children of Israel there were the priesthood, the kingship, and the land. However, most of the children of Israel became fallen. Although Reuben, the first son of Jacob, should have had the birthright, he lost it due to his fall and the defilement of his fleshly lust. As a result, the birthright was divided. The land portion of the birthright went to Joseph, whose two sons received the double portion of the land, the priesthood portion went to Levi, and the kingship portion went to Judah.
When we come to the New Testament, we see that God’s intention is that all the church people express God through the priesthood, represent Him with the kingship, and take possession of the land in order to have the proper human living. No one on earth today has a proper human living. The unbelievers do not have it because they are still fallen, and we Christians, though we are saved, do not have it now because this is the time for us to lose our soul and to suffer for God’s testimony. According to the book of Hebrews, one day we shall have all three items of the birthright. The land, the coming inhabited earth, is mentioned in chapter two. In the future, the inhabited earth will be given to us, the human partners of Christ. In the next age, we shall possess the land, rule the whole earth, and be the priesthood. During the coming millennial kingdom, we shall have the proper human life. That will be the full recovery of what was lost in Genesis 3. When, in the coming age of the kingdom, all the overcomers take possession of the inhabited earth, express God as priests, and rule as kings over the nations, everything that was given to man in Genesis 1 will be recovered. That will be the proper human living. This is God’s intention.
Because not all of God’s people care for His intention, He has made it a reward for those who do care for it. In the past, we have seen the reward and the gaining of the soul. The gaining of the soul is simply having the proper human life with the proper humanity. We cannot have such a life today because the earth has not been cleared up. But in the coming age of the kingdom, the whole earth will be cleared up, and we shall enter into our possession and be God’s priesthood to express Him and His kingship to represent Him. Then we shall be the proper humanity living by Jesus, the proper man, to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. At that time, Genesis 1 will be completely fulfilled. The whole earth will be under the possession of the proper humanity, which will be the expression of God in the priesthood and the representation of God in the kingship. This is God’s intention in His eternal purpose, which has been assigned by our wise God and Father to be our portion and reward. During the coming age of the kingdom, we shall be in perfection and glorification and shall gain our soul to enjoy the proper human living with the proper humanity. This is the goal of God’s intention, the reward, and the birthright.
Since we have this birthright today, we must exercise it. We must exercise our spirit to express God, to represent God, and to enjoy Christ as our real land. If we fail to do these three things today, how shall we be able to do them during the coming age of the kingdom? We must practice the priesthood and the kingship and we must enjoy and take full possession of our good land today. If we do this, we shall be fully prepared to enter into the joy of taking possession of the coming inhabited earth and of exercising our priesthood and kingship. At that time, we shall receive the reward and enjoy the birthright. This is God’s goal.