Predestinated to the Adoption of Children

 

                                    Predestinated to the Adoption of Children

 

Ephesians 1:5

 

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will

 

Having predestinated us: according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary the word predestinated is defined as: “to limit in advance, predetermine: - determine before, ordain, predestinate”. God has predetermined in eternity past that those who are referred to as “us” in our subject verse shall be adopted into the family of God as dear children (Ephesians 3:15; 5:1). And our God has said : “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). And in the Scriptures it is written: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good” (Numbers 23:19). And: “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 14:24). And again: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10). And the Prophet Daniel has written: “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou” (Daniel 4:34-35).

 

God has determined the end of all things from the beginning and it shall be as God has determined. Before the universe was spoken into existence, God had determined the outcome of all things, persons, and places. God has determined and fixed the events of the ages according to His own will and the will of God is affected by nothing outside Himself. In every generation He brings the counsel of His will to pass, as it is written: “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant” (Psalm 105:8-10). “He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name” (Psalm 111:9).

God’s decree is not of yesterday because  His decree is from everlasting. The things that God has determined in eternity cannot be altered in time, for God brings His will to pass by His providential administration of all things. Men may swear but God has decreed, men may endeavor but God has determined the things that shall come to pass.

 

In every generation as many as are ordained to eternal life believe the gospel, as it is written: “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:44-48).

 

Those the apostle calls “us” are those to whom the gift of eternal life has been given and that life is made manifest by faith. The spiritually dead do not believe. Faith is the gift of God and it comes with spiritual life, as it is written: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36) and again it is written: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Again it is written: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).

 

Eternal life and faith are inseparable. Those who believe God are born of God or it may be said they are born from above. Faith is a property of eternal life. Faith may be strong as in the apostle Paul or it may be weak as in Thomas called Didymus (John 20:27) but eternal life is the same life whether faith is strong or weak (I John 5:11; Colossians 3:4). The word “us” as it is used in this verse is defined by the first verse of the epistle, as it is written: “to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1). The Bible is written to the family of God, it is written to the faithful in Christ Jesus wheresoever they may be. The Bible is not written to the world, as it is written: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (I John 2:15-17). Our Lord Jesus refused to pray for the world in His Great High Priestly Prayer, as it is written: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine” (John 17:6-9).

 

The prayer of our Great High Priest is not for the apostles alone (John 17:20) but it is for all the children of God who are scattered throughout time and the world and who are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and to the adoption of children, as it is written: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:28-31).

 

“Having predestinated us to the adoption of children” God the Father, is the God and Father of all the family of God. The Father has one “only begotten Son” as it is written: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18) and again “ In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (I John 4:9). While God has one begotten Son, He also has many Sons by adoption, as it is written: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:4-7). God has many sons by creation, as it is written: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7). These that shouted for joy are angels, the servants of God, who are ministering spirits who are sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation who are the adopted sons of God, as it is written: “And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:7) and again “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1: 13-14).

 

The sovereign purpose of God which He accomplishes by adoption is to put the elect among the children of God. This principle is typically set forth in God’s dealings with Israel, as it is written: “But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me” (Jeremiah 3:19). National adoption and spiritual adoption do not have the same boundaries. The persons involved in national adoption are all the seed of Abraham both the natural and spiritual seed. The persons involved in spiritual adoption are the remnant according to the election of grace, who are dispersed among the natural seed of Abraham, as it is written: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5) for it is written: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). The “Israel of God” (Galatians 16:6) which is the church of the living God, is made up of both Jews and Gentiles who were chosen to eternal life in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, as it is written: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:3-5). The adopted children of God are the spiritual seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:6,7,29; Hebrews 2:16) and they are scattered abroad through time and through many nations, as it is written: “And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:52).

 

God puts His Spirit in the children of the covenant (Ezekiel 36:27)and to them the Spirit is the Spirit of adoption” as it is written: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:14-17). The Spirit of adoption is to the recipient of Him the Spirit of sonship, as it is written: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). It is the nature of sons not only to believe their Father but to love and obey Him as well. Although it is true that the flesh is still a hinderance to the Spirit (Galatians 5:17) and Satan is not dead but is still at his work of deception, and temptation. The adopted sons of God overcome Satan “by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” as it is written: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).

 

“By Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of his will” The children of the covenant are members of the natural family of men who are under the curse of the law because of their relationship to Adam, as it is written: “ Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come” (Romans 5:12-14). Mankind fell under the curse of death because of sin imputed to each of the members of the race through their natural father Adam whose sin was imputed to all the individuals of the race. The law and justice of God require satisfaction from those who have transgressed the law. The satisfaction that the law and justice of God require is death, as it is written: “ Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). The law and justice of God may be satisfied by the death of the transgressor of by the death of one who is Surety for the transgressor and it is written: “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament” (Hebrews 7:22).

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ carried in His veins and arteries the blood of the everlasting covenant, which is the blood of the New Testament, as it is written: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). And again it is written: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20). The blood of Jesus Christ ratified the everlasting covenant and the direct effect of that transaction is that the children of the covenant are justified from all sin, as it is written: “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39) and again it is written: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9). And once again it is written: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:24-25). Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the cruse of the law, as it is written: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3;13). Christ Jesus has redeemed the elect of God from the curse of the law being made sin for us, as it is written: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21). In Christ Jesus the elected, predestinated, adopted, and regenerated children of God are “made the righteousness of God in him”.

 

“To himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” The God of this universe is immutable and eternal. As such His will is never altered and from the beginning He has chosen a certain number of individuals from among all nations to eternal life in Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:9; 14:4), as it is written: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (II Thessalonians 2:13). God set these apart to everlasting life without beginning or from everlasting, as it is written: “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” (Jude 1:1). These sanctified ones are justified and made white by the blood of the Lamb, as it is written: “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them” (Revelation 7:14-15).

 

The blood of the Old Testament sacrifices was not of sufficient merit to justify from sin,  “Wherefore when he (our Lord Jesus: writer) cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:5-7). Our Lord Jesus acted according to the will of Him that sent Him, as it is written: “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). And again; “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). It was the will of God that brought our Lord Jesus Christ to the cross, as it is written: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10). The blood of the Son of God is the only cure for sin. That blood is of sufficient merit, worth, purity, and value to put away sin forever. His death in the room of sinners is that which frees them from all sin, condemnation, and the curse of the law of God. It is the will of God the Father that Christ Jesus should free His many adopted sons from the curse of the law, from sin, and from death, as it is written: “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10-14).

 

AJ Ison

 

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.