Sons, Through the Son

“In love [5] He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.” + Ephesians 1:5

Christian, God is not angry with you. He is not mad at you. He is not upset with you. He is not disappointed with you. He doesn’t regret saving you. He is not annoyed with you. He does not ignore you. He is not distant from you. He is not tired of you. He certainly does not hate you. And He does not deal with you in any of these ways.

Because of the Christian’s positioning in Christ, the way God deals with us is in love.

And it is in this love that God chose before the foundation of the world to adopt us into His family. The predestining work of God to adopt sinners into His family and make them His sons and daughters is done entirely out of love. God’s love for His children existed before time. Not only did it exist before time, but God’s love actively chose His children before time. If you are a christian and you do not feel loved by God, just let your mind attempt to fathom this truth. God’s love was there for you, and active toward you before time. In love He predestined us.

But what did He predestine us for? For adoption as sons and daughters into His family. God did not simply choose to save us, He chose to save us in such a way that He made us His family. God takes His enemies and makes them His family. God takes rebels who once hated Him, and makes them members of His own family – the closest kind of relationship. As Sovereign Grace Music sings, “Once an enemy, now seated at Your table, thank you Jesus.”

Physical adoption is an incredible picture of the gospel, because, in one sense, spiritual adoption is the gospel. Or at the least, it is what the gospel does. Adoption is not a metaphor of our salvation. Adoption is our salvation. We really are adopted into God’s family. It is true. It is reality.

“Justified believers enjoy a blessing far greater than an occasional audience with the King. We are privileged to live in the palace.” + John Stott

And the King is our father with whom we have unlimited access to. We are children of the King. We are adopted into the Kingdom. [So christian families, adopt, if you can, for you have been adopted. Adopt as God in Christ has adopted you.]

But how did God adopt us into His family? Through Jesus. God adopted us as sons into His family through His Son. We are sons through the Son! Through Christ’s perfect life of righteousness and His atoning work on the cross we are counted as sons and daughters of God. The finished work of Jesus is the means in which God adopts us into His family.

Jesus paid the price of a criminal towards God on our behalf so we can reap the benefits of being a son and daughter of God.

Jesus was forsaken by the Father so that we could be adopted by the Father.

That’s good news. That’s the gospel.

Apart from Christ we are spiritual orphans wandering aimlessly with no father, no home, no belongings, no food, no dress, no shelter. But through the work of Christ we who were once orphans with no home are made sons of a King and are part of an unstoppable Kingdom. We who were once orphans with no belongings now have an inheritance awaiting for us. All that is Christ’s is now ours. We may be materially poor, but we are rich in the Kingdom. Orphans with no family are made a part of the vast, diverse, family of God. How great the blessings of being a son.

Those with no earthly father or earthly family, you have a Father who is King and Sovereign Lord of the universe. And He paid a dear price to purchase and adopt you into His family. That price was His own Son’s life – so you could become a son or daughter. And your family is great. In the family of God you have many brothers and sisters.

There are two (just in this verse, although there are more elsewhere, and later in this chapter) driving forces to God’s predestining work of adopting us through Jesus. The two driving forces of God sand-which the action of God in this sentence. The two driving forces are love (at the beginning) and His Will (at the end). It is not our love or our will that gets us adopted into the family of God – for that is not how adoption works. Parents choose to adopt out of their love and their will. Thus it is with God.

Welcome to the family.