Let's Talk Adoption - by Brent Lokker

Me:     Did you hear the great news? You’ve been adopted by your heavenly Father!   You:    Cool, but I didn’t know I wasn’t already God’s child.   Me:     Well, you are his child, but you’ve also been adopted.   You:    Wait, huh?   Yes, you have ALWAYS been God’s child and you always will be! But the Apostle Paul, in his writings, also uses adoption language to get across a point that wouldn’t have been missed by his audience at the time.   Children adopted into a family in that day were given all the rights of the firstborn, which included a double portion of the estate. Why is that significant? Because Paul is making the point that while we are already God’s children, as a consequence of Jesus’ redeeming work, we have been adopted as sons and daughters as well, sharing in the spiritual inheritance as heirs of all that God promises. We have all the rights of the firstborn, and the firstborn of all creation is none other than Jesus (Col 1:15).   What’s his is ours! Isn’t that the heavenly exchange that’s taken place? A crown of beauty instead of ashes! The oil of joy instead of mourning! A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair! (Is 61:3)  Does it get any better than this?   And when was this glorious decision made by our very dear Father?  The stunning truth is that you’ve always been his and you were adopted before the foundation of the world!   “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great delight.” Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)   This is what HE wanted to do—by his choice—to make a covenant with us of astonishing proportions. Always for us, never against us, blessing us at every turn by including us in Christ’s death and resurrection so that everything that belongs to Jesus is ours. Everything.   The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Romans 8:29-31 (MSG) How can we lose? It’s abundantly clear that because of what Christ has done…we can’t!