In February 2020, our family experienced a very sad event. My stepmother who had been dealing with the effects of dementia for several years succumbed to the disease and passed away. As you would expect, our family gathered together for her funeral and for a large meal immediately afterward. A group picture was taken after the meal, and even though it was a sad day for us all, our spirits were lifted by the presence of so many people we loved.
Then, just a couple of weeks later, in early March 2020, life drastically changed. Lockdowns began and people were mandated to avoid one another. As the weeks stretched into months, family events were canceled one at a time because of the varying degrees of comfort we had regarding in-person gatherings. Our extended family, which had a long-standing tradition of getting together frequently, stopped seeing each other. It was sad, and unfortunately, it continued for just a few months shy of three years.
It wasn't until last weekend, December 2, 2022, that our extended family got together again. We celebrated my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary, and I was thrilled to see everyone again. When you're close to your family, prolonged separation can be very painful to endure. I don't know how many times I have told my wife since that dinner just how happy it made me to see everyone again.
Family is an important thing in God's economy. It's how He's structured us to live, operate, and relate. He knows that we long for it. When our families struggle, we feel pain. When our families thrive, we rejoice. But our longing to be part of a family isn't something that's exclusive to our time on this earth. In fact, our present longing for family is directly connected to a desire the Lord has placed within us that can only be satisfied by Him.
When Jesus came to this earth and took on flesh in His incarnation, He did so in order to make us part of the eternal family of God. His incarnation secured our adoption into God's family. So in the midst of the family celebrations and special events we enjoy during this time of year with our church family, let's be reminded of the bigger reality of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf.
Galatians 4:4-7 gives us a powerful explanation of how our adoption into the family of God took place. That passage begins by stating, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law," (Gal. 4:4). I love that statement "the fullness of time." As the Apostle Paul was writing these words, what was he trying to convey?
Paul was teaching us some important details about how God sovereignly acts. He isn't surprised by human history. Rather, He's operating in it and directing its outcome. At just the right moment in human history for Christ's earthy ministry to have the effect He desired it to, God the Father sent His Son into the world to be born a man. The hearts of people were being prepared to receive Him. The activities of the nations were prepared for His arrival. World events, trade routes, relationships, and the spiritual longing of those lost in sin were made ready for Christ's arrival. The stage was set for the message of the gospel to spread rapidly and effectively, and that's exactly what took place in the centuries since.
Have you ever considered just how miraculous it is that you and I have heard and responded to the gospel? It's miraculous to consider that the birth of a Jewish carpenter a little over two thousand years ago would impact us the way it has. That a small initial group would follow Him and carry His teachings as far as they could, even under the threat of death. Yet the gospel has spread, person to person, nation to nation, transforming lives ever since. Jesus was sent by the Father in the "fullness of time" in order to have the greatest effect on the most people.
We're also told in this same passage that Jesus was "born of a woman." That's an interesting statement that has long-term historical implications in God's redemptive plan for humanity. If you recall, right after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God revealed the remedy for sin as He confronted the serpent.
““I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” ”
It's interesting that God referenced the offspring or the "seed" of the woman as being the one who would right the wrongs that had been committed in the garden, but that language was very intentional. It was a statement that pointed to Jesus who would be born of a woman without a human father. His birth would be miraculous and divinely accomplished without the seed of a man.
I believe Scripture teaches that the sinful nature we're born with is passed down to us from our earthly fathers. But Jesus is sinless, so for Him to take on flesh without also taking on a sinful nature with it, He would need to be born of a virgin without the aid of the seed of a human father.
““Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-“ ”
Galatians 4:4 also tells us that Jesus was "born under the law." Have you ever read the requirements of the Old Testament Law? The first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy, are traditionally called the books of the law. They outline the sinfulness of man and the righteous requirements of God. We're shown the many ways our lives conflict with His holiness, and we're invited to live up to a higher standard. Unfortunately, we fail to meet that standard. In fact, we fail in every respect. There isn't a single category of sin we haven't violated.
When Jesus came to earth and was born as a man, the requirements of the Old Testament Law were still in effect. Jesus was born under the law. But He responded to it differently than we did. We felt provoked to sin by its requirements, but He delighted to keep and fulfill them. Jesus satisfied the requirements of the Law because we couldn't do it. He did it for us and demonstrated His righteousness in the process. Now, through faith in Him, His righteousness is given to us as if we ourselves had kept the Law's requirements.
The Scripture also tells us that Jesus did this "to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Gal. 4:5). We were in a hopeless state of spiritual poverty and slavery to sin. Jesus paid for our sin with His blood, gifted us with His righteousness, set us free from slavery, and made us His family. As Jesus, the Son of God, lives within us, we too are reckoned as sons of God. We have been adopted into God's eternal family.
““Nobody is born into this world a child of the family of God. We are born as children of wrath. The only way we enter into the family of God is by adoption, and that adoption occurs when we are united to God’s only begotten Son by faith. When by faith we are united with Christ, we are then adopted into that family of whom Christ is the firstborn.” ”
As sons of God, we are blessed with inheritance privileges in His kingdom. We are treated like heirs. Have you ever inherited something from a parent, grandparent, or other relatives? What if you inherited an old pair of jeans dating to the 19th century? One pair of such jeans was passed down through a family in a wooden trunk that once belonged to Arizona pioneer Solomon Warner, eventually coming into the hands of his great-great-grandson, Jock Taylor.
The design of the jeans showed that they were made by Levi Strauss & Co. The fact that they had just one back pocket meant that they were made prior to 1901, when the company added a second pocket to their well-known jeans. Eager to own the artifact, Levi Strauss & Co. offered Taylor $50,000 for the jeans. Taylor decided to wait for a better offer. The jeans eventually sold for almost $100,000. https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/heirs-chosen-at-random-and-6-other-incredible-inheritance-tales/
Earthly inheritances have a brief shelf life, but our inheritance in the kingdom of God is ongoing, incorruptible, and guaranteed to us by Jesus.
““Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” ”
The Father has caused us to be born again into this living hope. None of this is accidental. You weren't adopted into the family of God by accident. He isn't reluctant about offering you an eternal relationship with Him. Because Jesus took on flesh, you have the opportunity to be adopted into the family of God. Because Jesus shed His blood on the cross, your redemption has been paid for. Because Jesus rose from the grave, you share the hope of a resurrection like His and an inheritance that can't be ruined or defiled. By the power of God, that inheritance is being kept in Heaven for you, awaiting your arrival.
Now I realize it can be tempting to think of inheritances in legal terms, but the Scripture makes a point to explain that there's more than just a legal relationship taking place here. Through Jesus, we're made the family of God, and we're invited to speak to the Father with that level of familiarity.
We're told, "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”' (Gal. 4:6). God is more than just our Creator, He's our Father and we have a relationship with Him. "Abba" is Aramaic for "father." Often, I hear people say it's like coming to God and calling Him "Dad" or "Daddy." That's precisely how He wants us to approach Him.
The other day, I came across a screenshot of a text I received from one of my sons when he was 12 years old. The conversation went like this, "Are we leaving soon? Dad? Daaaaaad? Dad. Dad. Daddy. Dada. Dod. Deed. Daaad!" At the time, I joked that this was why you should never allow a child to have access to a cell phone. But at the same time, I got a big kick out of it, particularly because it demonstrated the closeness of our relationship.
God delights to enjoy a close relationship with His children. He wouldn't have put up with all He has put up with if He didn't. He wouldn't have orchestrated our rescue if this wasn't what He wanted. Through Jesus, He's fixing the problem of our separation from Him. He's reconciling us to Himself. We who were far away are being brought near, and we're being blessed with all the benefits of a place in His family as if we had never been living outside of it.
The passage we're looking at today closes with this statement, "So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." (Gal. 4:7). It's a summary statement that all ties back to the work Jesus accomplished. Through faith in Jesus, we are no longer slaves to sin. We enjoy the blessings of being sons and heirs of God because in the fulness of time, Jesus was born a man and He secured spiritual blessings for us that we couldn't secure for ourselves.
In response to all of this, do yourself a favor that will directly improve the quality of your life. Live like someone who knows your real identity. Stop living like someone who doesn't know who they are.
Stop living like a slave to sin, Satan, or the things of this world. Start living like a son who has been assured of a glorious future in God's kingdom.
© John Stange, 2022
