In our journey through the benefits of our salvation listed in Ephesians 1 and 2, we arrived last week on the truth that we are adopted as sons of God through Jesus. Our discussion centered on the importance of this adoption since our “spiritual birth” left us as children of the Evil One with no hope.
Today, I would like to look at the other side of this coin. What are the positive outcomes of being adopted as sons of God? In Ephesians 1:5, we learn that we were predestined for this adoption according to God’s good pleasure. The meaning of this this statement has been debated by scholars for centuries. Unfortunately, this has created division in the Church as Satan has used this dispute to drive a wedge between members of the Body of Christ. To avoid giving Satan fertile ground for disagreement, I am not going to get into a deep theological discussion. I also understand that those who have debated the issue over the years are much smarter than I, so if they cannot come to agreement, I am not going to add much to the debate.
Therefore, let us go with a simple truth that comes from this teaching. God loved you and me so deeply, even when we were still children of Satan, that he paid the ultimate price to get us out of that mess and bring us into his family. This decision was based on his good pleasure. This truth alone should cause us to stop and offer God worship and adoration. But his “glorious grace” (vs. 6) does not stop there.
Let these amazing words given to the Apostle John by the Holy Spirit sink deep into your mind and heart. 1 John 3:1-2 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We could discuss the depth of this truth for the next several weeks and not scratch the surface of what God has truly provided. Let me share a couple of thoughts to spark your interest and then you can spend time praying and meditating on this truth.
When defining the love that prompted God to adopt me as a son, he uses the word “lavished”. In the Greek, this word means to strike someone with an open hand. The picture is of God filling his powerful hand with an abundance of love, then smacking me with it to assure I get fully engulfed in it. This is a picture of a strong desire by God to assure I understand how great his holy, perfect, love is for me.
This is the package in which my adoption papers are delivered. God does not adopt us because he must, nor does he make us his children to get us out of our dire situation discussed last week. He works so hard to make us his children, simply because HE wants us to be his children.
John goes on to make clear that what this means for us is unfathomable in this life. All those things listed in the Ephesian passages are amazing and will make our lives in this world full of joy and hope. However, even this is not his ultimate purpose. In eternity, we are going to see more clearly just who our Father is and who that makes us to be.
He gives us some hints along the way. We will be joint heirs with Jesus. I cannot fathom all that this means. But one thing I do know is that our eternity will be more than we could ever imagine. To inherit the riches of our Heavenly Father does not stop with all the wealth of this life. In fact, these will mean nothing in eternity. His riches will be heavenly riches. I believe he does not attempt to explain what this will be like because our current minds are incapable of grasping the magnitude of it all. Bottom line, being an adopted child of God is an incredibly good place to be.