Adoption (II)
As we ponder three
of the four passages in which “the placing of a son” is used in the NT (our
English word “adoption” is not the best translation because the word “adoption”
means something different to us than it does in the Bible), there is a
connection between a son's or daughter’s placement and his or her inheritance.
“Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In
love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3 – 6, NASB).
I suppose I
should say, regarding the Father choosing us before the foundation of the
world, let’s embrace what God reveals to us, let’s enter into what He says to
us, and not become preoccupied with what we don’t know or understand – we are
not accidents looking for a place to happen, God loves us and has drawn us to
Himself in Jesus Christ (John 5:35 – 44). Let us live in this reality and let’s
fulfill our calling by sharing Jesus Christ with others, by being the Presence
of Christ to others, by entering into our inheritance today for the glory of
God and the salvation and blessing of others.
As we continue
reading Ephesians and come to 1:11 we see, “In whom [Christ] we have obtained
an inheritance.” (This can also be read, “In whom we were made a heritage.”)
Then as we read further
and come to 1:18 - 19, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,
so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing
greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Romans 8,
Galatians 3 and 4, and Ephesians 1 all associate “inheritance” with “the placing
of a son,” what is typically translated into English as adoption. All three
passages also treat the placing of a son as a process with a consummation, as “already
– not yet.” While at first glance we might think that Ephesians 1 is not as clear
on this as are Galatians and Romans, this may be because of our piecemeal habit
of reading Scripture in which we focus on tree after tree and never see the
forest, never see the entire picture, never see the parts coming together to
see the greater Whole, which is Christ, Christ, always Christ. It takes time for
our eyes to develop, for our ears to hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit, but
since this is our calling and inheritance, we ought to be patient and
persevere.
I promise you,
that if you will read, and read, and read, and ponder, and mediate on Ephesians
Chapter 1 in reliance upon the Holy Spirit, that you will have more stars in the heavens to draw you into Jesus
than you could ever imagine.
In 1:11 we see
that in Christ we have obtained an inheritance, and in 1:18 that Jesus Christ
has also obtained an inheritance. We can associate the fulness of our
inheritance with the “summing up of all things in Christ” in 1:10, and this may
remind us of Revelation 21:7 in which the Father says, “He who overcomes will
inherit these [or all] things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
While we may not
think of inheritance very much, and when we do we may tend to think of it in terms
of us having an inheritance, but in Ephesians 1:18 we see that Jesus Christ has
an inheritance in us. We inherit Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ inherits us. The
Bridegroom inherits the Bride and the Bride inherits the Bridegroom (Ephesians
5:22 – 32; Revelation chapters 21 – 22). This is along the lines of 2
Thessalonians 1:10 – 12 in which we see Jesus being glorified in us and us
being glorified in Him.
This, in turn,
is distinctly Trinitarian, this is distinctly the life of the Trinity that we
see in John Chapter 17, and indeed throughout the Upper Room (John chapters 13 –
17), indeed throughout the Gospel of John. Here we see the Father “bringing
many sons to glory,” here we see both Jesus and His brothers and sisters having
one Father (Hebrews 2:10 – 13). Here we see us being “heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ” and “being glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17).
Is it any wonder
that Paul prays that the “eyes of your hearts may be enlightened so that you
will know the hope of His calling, [and] what are the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18)?
Sadly, tragically,
as Tozer writes in The Pursuit of God (page 12), “The doctrine of justification
by faith…has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in
such a manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God.”
To arrive at first
base is not to cross home plate, the average professing Christian never ventures
beyond first base, never enters into his calling in Christ, and continues to
live as a sinner, an infant, a slave to the Law and the elements of this world
(Galatians 3:23 – 4:31). This is not simply a tragedy for us, it is a tragedy
for the people of the world who desperately need Jesus Christ.
What do you see
in the following verses?
“In whom [Christ
Jesus] the whole building, being fitted together, is GROWING into a holy temple
in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God
in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21 – 22).
“Speaking the
truth in love, we are to GROW UP in all aspects into Him who is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every
joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes
growth of the body of the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15 – 16).
We are to be a
People who are growing….growing as a People, God’s Temple, Christ’s Body;
growing as individuals in the Temple and Body. And once again, we have the Trinitarian
experience, koinonia, Life – as “every joint supplies” in Christ. This is
heavenly Church Growth, not the church growth we are so enamored
with today. What good are numbers if we are not growing up in Christ, if we are
not moving from infants to being placed as sons and daughters sharing the
Father’s glory and laying down our lives for one another and the world?
Where is the
vision of the Biblical Body of Christ, Temple of God, Bride of the Lamb?
I don’t know if
we can say that the world needs us now more than ever, but I am pretty sure
that we can say that now, when the world truly needs us, when our neighbors
need us, that we are not to be found – for rather than living as daughters and
sons, those who have been placed as adults in the Father’s family with adult responsibilities
– we are still to be found in the nursery.
Hebrews 5:11 –
6:3.
Only those who
are already children can experience Biblical adoption, can know the joy and
glory and challenge of the placing of a son…sharing in the Father’s placing of
the Son.
How is your heavenly
Father working this out within you, in Christ?
