God’s Adopted Family
Reading: Galatians 3:23-4:7
This is part of a five part series, which is intended to draw out various aspects of what it is to be apart of God’s Adopted Family. As adopted children of God, we have many privileges and responsibilities.
We are not God’s children by birth, but of Adam. It was Adam who chose to disobey God, in doing so he set the foundation of man’s rebellious nature ever since.
We are by natural birth sinners in nature like our fore father Adam, But! for those who have received Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour, who are Born Again, are Adopted. The Adopted Children of God are Co-heirs with Christ. Whenever a child is adopted, that child becomes a full member of that family. Those who adopt that child are accepting that child as if it were there own by birth, so affording that child all the privileges of that family, just as if they had been born into them. So it is with God and us and as adopted children we are:-
John 17:23; "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
We read in :-
1 John 4:10; "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
We are the objects of God’s unmerited love. When we look at our Lord and God has done, any question about His love for and towards us becomes undoubtable. When Christ was hanging upon that cross, He was to be the propitiationary offering for our sins.
PROPITIATION PROPERLY SIGNIFIES THE REMOVAL OF WRATH BY THE OFFERING OF A GIFT.
In both the Old and New Testaments, we find that the wrath of God is towards/against the unrepentant sinner.
Psalm 7:11; "God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day."
In Numbers 14:18 we do see the great love and compassion of God towards mankind, yet at the same time, His eternal, infinite abhorrence to sin:- Numbers 14:18; "’The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’"
We can see though that His wrath can and is put away by the offering of the appropriate sacrifice.
Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the alter to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
Atonement basically means "TO MAKE AT ONE," and points to a process of bringing those who are estranged into a unity. From a theological point of view, it is the work of Christ in dealing with the problem posed by the sin of man, and in bringing sinners into right relation with God. The atoning work of Christ came about because of three things:
(1) The Universality of Sin. (Romans 3:23) "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
(2) The Serious Nature of Sin. (Romans 6:23) "For the wages of sin is death."
(3) Man’s inability to deal with Sin. (Romans 3:20)"...by the deed of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight." (Galatians 2:16)"...for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."
Despite of all of this, we must understand that to receive pardoned from one’s sin, is not something that is wrung from an unwilling deity. It is the gracious gift of God who is eager to forgive. (Psalm 78:38) "..He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath;" The averting of the wrath of God is not something which men bring about. It is due to none less then God Himself. It is He who "turned His anger away." When Jesus came to earth, (which was in the fullness of time,) He did not come just to tickle our ears and show an alternative way of salvation. Christ did not save us from nothing at all, He delivered us from a very real peril. The sentence of judgement had been passed against us and the wrath of god hung over us. We are told that He is our "ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER." Now if we need an advocate with God, then our position is a dangerous one. We are in dire peril. Yet His love for us is such, that; (Romans 5:8) "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." The death of Christ did more that give us entry into heaven, because of Christ’s atoning work, we are no longer the objects of God’s wrath. We are no longer under the condemnation that was ours outside of Christ. (Romans 8:1) "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." We are no longer to face the prospect of eternal rejection from God, only to experience the eternal condemnation and wrath of God. We are now the recipients of His love. The conditions which demanded that God’s wrath was towards us, have been fully satisfied by Christ. We are now adopted children of the Creator and upholder of the whole creation. We are LOVED by God!!!! As we receive this love and give this love away, so our capacity increases to receive more love, so we receive more to give away and the process goes on. So one aspect of this adoption is that we are loved of the Father.
