SONS OF GOD: WOW!
By: Frank Tunstall, D. Min.
God sent His Son to make us sons and heirs. Can you believe it? It’s almost too good to be true, but it is true! (Galatians 4:4-7).
“When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba Father.’ So, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7).
Jesus has a heart that delights to adopt new believers into the family of God, and the Holy Spirit gives witness to it in their hearts. The welcome is kind and affectionate and it inspires the cry of “Abba Father” [Father Father] from every new believer.
The Heavenly Father’s warmly felt reply to our repentance comes speedily; “welcome my beloved to the family of God.” Even heaven bursts into rejoicing when a sinner comes home (Luke 15:7). The result is every child of God feels adopted and accepted as an heir in God’s family. Indeed, the value of the inheritance is without price: “everything God has belongs to us” (Galatians 4:7, TLB).
Wow!
Regarding the “right time, if the birth of Jesus had occurred even 20 years earlier it is highly doubtful everything would have been ready, including a substitute for such people as another Caiaphas the high priest, and Judas the traitor. Would there have been another Mary, or Joseph? What about Pilate? Or John the Baptist? Or the twelve disciples, and Barnabas, and Saul of Tarsus? The list goes on and on. Roman roads and its governmental system would have adequately been in place for Joseph and Mary to make their trips. But Caesar Augustus would not have been the emperor on the scene to order the special tax that would get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, the place where Jesus had to be born to fulfill prophecy (Micah 5:2, 6).
God did not manipulate these people and their minds so that everything fell in place in the incarnation to fulfill each of the prophecies regarding the life of Jesus. Instead, God knew the people who lived through the drama of the ages would come together naturally in a 30-year window of time in first century Jerusalem, so that each of the participants freely and by their own personal beliefs and choices would play their roles in the drama of the ages. God violated the free will of no one.
Dear reader, hear it and feel what happened in Mary’s womb — happiness multiplied! Then do the same with what took place about 30 years later with Jesus on a cross that was evil personified.
Please don’t be a casual reader. Let it ring in your ears time-and-time-again until your spiritual eyes see and feel the power and blessedness of knowing Mary’s Baby was Israel’s Messiah, and that same Baby as a man walked out of His tomb, holding the keys to death and hell (Revelation 1:17).
Ah! the incarnation story. I know I’m repeating myself, but please read what follows, and re-read it, and reread it again, and again, until you truly feel it. At just the right hour in salvation history:
“God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because [we] are [God’s children and heirs], God sent the Spirit of his Son [the Holy Spirit] into our hearts to call out, ‘Abba Father’!” (Galatians 4:4-6).
God’s Son (Mary’s Baby) was born at just the right time in history so that He could become the sacrifice for the sins of all people in every generation, making us sons of God.
WOW! What a gift!
Now. Please consider this is also classic Trinitarian language. It includes God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God in Tri-Unity, the God who is One, was active in the incarnation of Jesus our Messiah, and the inheritance of all believers was the result.
WOW again!
The statement [we] “are no longer slaves…” refers to the enticing evil power of Satan and his many traps. But Satan’s bondage is broken when, in heartfelt repentance, we acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God. In the moment of that confession, we become God’s children. Since [we] are “God’s children, God has also made [us] heirs” (Galatians 4:7, GW).
WOW again.
Paul was very straight-forward with these new Galatian believers: “How can you turn back again to the powerless and bankrupt principles of this world? Why do you want to offend God and become their slaves all over again?” (Galatians 4:9-10, GW).
Think about it. A new believer can hardly have time to stand up from the altar before Satan starts talking. Consider these three among so many others:
- You’ve made a fool of yourself at that altar.
- You didn’t really mean it.
- Think of all the things you’ve been enjoying. Now those people in that church will require you to give it all up.
Yes, a new believer will have struggles, but Jesus never leaves us nor forsakes us. Indeed, He will be with us always, just as long as eternity rolls (Matthew 28:20).
WOW again.
“There’s a new name written down in glory.
And it’s mine, oh yes it’s mine.
And the white robed angels sing the story
A sinner has come home.
There’s a new name written down in glory,
And it’s mine! Oh yes it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven
I am bound for heaven.
Never more to roam.”
“New name” by C. Austin Miles.
“Just as Long” by the Imperials 1966
