The New Jerusalem by Pat Marvenko Smith.
This is the 13th post in my study of Dr. Sinclair Ferguson's text "Children of the Living God". Buy this book from Amazon.
We come now, to the last chapter of Dr. Ferguson's text. Here he points us to the final destiny for the sons of God: our inheritance.
Throughout the whole of this text, we have seen that God has determined that our relationship to him will be as his "sons".
We saw that the scriptures called Adam, God's son. After the fall, we find that once again God returned to a father-son relationship with the nation of Israel. Today, we find ourselves adopted into this family, through Christ, and living under a new covenant.
Sonship is everything!
As I have studied, and meditated on these truths, I have found that my perspective has completely changed. I never fully realized the intimate relationship that God desires to have with us as sons. I never really saw the central theme of sonship, and the restoration of us as sons, weaving its way through the whole of the Bible. Never before has my identity, as God's son, been so before me. Never before have I understood the beauty of my Father, and the relationship that he deeply desires to have with me. Never before have I contemplated unending....increased...joy...for eternity. Finally, never before have I understood all that my Father has for me, waiting in store, as my eternal inheritance.
When I spend time meditating on these things, it really is overwhelming to consider.
1 Peter 1:3-4 - "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,"
Romans 8:17 - "and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..."
Galatians 4:7 - "So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
Did you get all that!
Let's explore Dr. Ferguson's final chapter...
Notes from Dr. Sinclair Ferguson's, "Children of the Living God", Chapter #9 - "Our Final Destiny":
In the following verse, Paul is describing our destiny, and its present significance to us as sons.
Romans 8:29 - "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."
Likeness - likeness and image are very important words in the Bible's story. Man was made in the image and after the likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27). After the fall, however, we were now made in the likeness of Adam, complete with his fallen nature which ushered death into the creation. We are still made in the image of God, but that image is distorted by our fallen natures. In some cases, the image of God is so distorted, it is barely recognizable.
God was not content to leave thing there, however. He brought forth a new "son", the nation of Israel. Then, fulfilling the promise of the Hebrew Canon, God sent forth his Son (Jesus Christ). Jesus is the heir of all things, the one through whom the universe was created, and is the exact representation of our most holy God. Jesus took upon our human nature, so that in our flesh he might repair the image and glory of God.
Christ's ultimate purpose in coming was to be the firstborn of the many brothers who will one day reflect all that God intended man to be.
Restoration - as I think back about the mental picture I had, regarding my relationship with God, it was frankly more that of a hired servant rather than a son. As we discussed, in an earlier chapter, God has no desire for more hired servants, he has many leagues of angels.
God, through Jesus Christ, will make nothing less of us, through his restoration process, then sons!
Conformity - with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ, where one day we will once again express the perfect glory of our heavenly Father. This is accomplished by the power of Christ's death on the cross in our lives. We are born again, and journey the path of sanctification until that day when our resurrected bodies join our Elder brother (Jesus Christ) in our eternal inheritance.
Incompleteness - Until the resurrection, we will not be fully transformed. Therein, lies our tension, we are not what we used to be, and are also not what we will be. There is this internal groaning as our spirits await the completeness of our restoration. Even the creation, the Bible tells us, is groaning for this completion. We groan, creation groans, and even the Holy Spirit groans on our behalf.
Certainty - the verse above uses the words foreknew and predestined. The Holy Spirit is telling us, through Paul's words, that this is a certainty for those who are called to be sons of God. What an incredible promise!
This book was an incredible teaching for me. It has completely changed the view of my relationship with God, my Father.
I think I will end this post here, but come back with one final, later post, to re-cap the highlights of the Doctrine of Adoption.
