"Daniel with the Book of Life" c 1511, by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Fresco from the Sistine Chapel. Daniel Chapter 12
This is the fourth post in my study of Sinclair Ferguson's text "Children of the Living God".
I have been on a serious quest, in the past six months, to get to know my heavenly Father and to, furthermore, understand what his words are to me in the Bible.
I have come to the realization that, in many ways, I had no idea what God would have me know of him. To be frank, until recently, I have never studied a chapter of the Bible clear through. I spent many years in churches listening to many sermons but I have never been exposed to expository teaching where you simply read and seek to understand the Bible and what it is saying to us.
Without mincing words, I am a little upset with myself. About 2% of that upset is with those who were placed by God to shepherd over me. How is it that, at 51 years of age, I have been exposed to so little of the riches in this Great Text? The fault is mine! I had the Book in my hands all the time. I intend to fix this problem with all my diligence.
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson has made it clear that, for us, God's story is about making us sons and daughters. Put another way, God wants us to be his children. Children of God!
This is a remarkable fact. But, this fact only considers this great truth from our point of view. What does this whole thing look like from God's vantage point? If we were to look through the eyes of Christ and the Holy Spirit, what would we see concerning our sonship?
There seems to be a cultural belief that we are all children of God. Is it possible that this isn't true? If some, through their sins and disbelief, will spend eternity in hell, are they then also now children of God?
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson is now, in his second chapter of "Children of the Living God", going to explore the "new birth" and how it pertains to those who are called by God, his children.
Please join me...
As human beings, looking through our selfish eyes, we seem to think that the Holy Trinity revolves around us. We forget that, before this earth and the humans on it existed, there was God. God in Three Persons, in eternity past, in perfect relationship with Himself. This is completely mind bending and I am going to simply move on accepting this fact in faith.
So...if God was in perfect relationship, why create man? Dr. Ferguson starts out chapter two with this statement:
"God's ultimate purpose is to honour his Son, Jesus Christ, by making him the "firstborn of many brothers" (Romans 8:29). He intends to make us children of God."
We are a gift to the Son, and in so being, we have the opportunity to become sons of God.
Here is a wake up call for many to hear, from Dr. Sinclair Ferguson:
"There could be no more serious delusion for us to suffer from, therefore, than that we are naturally his children. Rather, we need to become children of God."
In Romans 1:18-3:20, Paul's whole argument is that we are born under condemnation. We are born with evil hearts and are spiritually dead as a result of Adam's imputed sin. In Ephesians 2:3, we are told that we are not children of God, but in fact, "were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind".
So:
- Adam's sin was imputed to all mankind
- When I was born, with Adams' imputed sin, even though my flesh was alive, I was dead in sin and someday my body would follow, in death, and return as dust to the ground and my spirit would spend eternity in separation from God (Hell).
- Yet...God desires that I become his son. God desires that I become a part of the great gift to Jesus and enter into a relationship with Him as Father.
So how do I do this? How do I become a son of God?
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
Here is where the Doctrine of Regeneration comes into play. We must be "born again".
The scriptures provide scores and scores of references to the regeneration process and the miraculous events that occur. All of this made possible by God's love for his Son, his Son's willingness to become sin and in so doing, endure the holy wrath of almighty God. This sacrifice, was sufficient enough for all mankind, to become righteous in God's eyes to those who believe, repent, turn from their sins, and profess Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
And all of this....so that God could show his love for the Son and thereby we, in Christ, become sons of the most holy God.
If I were the son of the queen of England, the world would be outside my door hoping to take a picture of me. What the world doesn't realize is that I am a son of the Creator of the universe. I am an heir to an incredible fortune that will last for eternity. I, David Anthony Porter, am a son of God!
Incredible to contemplate. The most special part? He chose me to be his son! This is unfathomable and a complete mystery. I am thankful to the core of my being.
Abba! Father!
