Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. Ephesians 1:5
Someone tried to tell me one time that it is only in the New Testament that God is addressed as ‘Father’. It’s not true, of course. There are many instances in the Old Testament where God identifies Himself as ‘Father’, in Deuteronomy 32:6 for example: ‘Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy Father that hath bought thee? Hath He not made thee, and established thee?’ And there are instances where Old Testament saints addressed God as ‘Father’, including Isaiah 64:8: ‘But now, O LORD, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of thy hand’. So God as our Father is not unique to the New Testament and the dispensation of grace. God has always desired His people to enjoy a close family relationship with Him. But now as New Testament saints, we can enjoy this relationship even though we are not the natural children of Israel. The adoption of children referred to in our text today is the second of the spiritual blessings that verse 3 of Ephesians 1 tells us are identified in this chapter.
What a great blessing it is to be adopted into God’s family! This blessing is available to everyone, ourselves included, who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour: ‘As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name’ – John 1:12. The ‘power’ referred to in that verse is the same word as ‘authority’. The very authority of the Almighty brings us into His own family. And that comes with all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of that family. All of the power and the wealth and the prestige of that family are available to us because of our relationship. And it is a relationship that can never be broken. But it is a relationship that can be underappreciated.
I personally know of several cases where families have adopted children who have failed to appreciate their adoption. These are heart-breaking cases where children have turned to bad companions, drugs, and crime totally out of character with the families that sought to give them good upbringings and opportunities. And we all have encountered people who have been saved, or at least professed to be saved, who have failed to appreciate their new relationship and have turned back into the world and its wreck and ruin. Despite the failed adoption cases, there are many wonderful stories of children finding a wonderful new life in their adoptive families, and blossoming into the wonderful people that their former life could never allow. In the same way, we thrill at all of those who are truly save and who appreciate and take full advantage of their blessings in Christ.
Our adoption as the children of God is a blessing to only as much as we enter into all that our Father has given us as His children. – Jim MacIntosh