Who then are the Sons of God?
In the ancient world a son, though born by the father, was adopted at maturity. The child was tutored by an educated slave until the child understood and demonstrated maturity gleaned from that education. At that time the father would “adopt” his son, which meant that the son was now in a position to participate in the responsibilities of the father.
An example of this would be Alexander the Great. As a child, even though he was the prince of King Philip of Macedonia, he was tutored by Aristotle and Leonidas. Philip would then adopt him, which meant that he was fit to co-rule with his father, and to take over after his resignation as king.
Furthermore, in the Jewish culture there are two words for son: ben and bar. Ben means a child born into a family, but bar means “the son of inheritance,” which refers to the maturation of the son in understanding the Torah, and to be a participant in the family of God. From this word we have the Bar Mitzvah (and Bat Mitzvah for girls) for Jewish boys as the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. A ceremony is performed where the father officially recognizes his son by affirming and “adopting” him before the crowd of witnesses, making him the legitimate heir to his inheritance. That is the reason why when Jesus was matured and ready for his ministry, during his baptism, the heavens opened and God affirmed Him before John the Baptist and the crowd of witnesses, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED” (Mathew 3:17).
In the same way, when we give our lives to Jesus Christ, the bible says, a party is thrown in heaven celebrating our homecoming (Luke 15:7) and now God officially adopts us as His Sons respectively,
“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, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6).
THUS THE SONS OF GOD ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN ADOPTED INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD BY VIRTUE OF THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST ON CALVARY.
To help us to further illustrate this truth, let us consider the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15,the younger son got his inheritance from his father and left his father’s house. He went into the world and wasted it all until he had nothing! He had reached the lowest bottom, to the point that he was about to eat pigs food. However, something happened to him at that moment; He suddenly realized he was worth more than his current situation and the bible said, “HE CAME TO HIMSELF” (Luke 15:17) and said to himself, that even his father’s servants had better food to eat and clothing to wear than his current lifestyle; he decided to go back home and submit to his father.
The reason why the younger son went back to his father was because he remembered his father. He remember the joy, security, wealth, happiness, hope, strength and satisfaction he had in that house, that was all at his disposal. He knew his father was a good man who really loved and cared for him and knew how to even treat his servant well. That became his road to repentance.
Likewise, we have a Father in Heaven who is good (James 1:7); He gives grace and glory and would not withhold any good things from those who fear Him (Psalm 84:11). Actually the bible says that He is the Perfect Father anyone can ever have, Jesus said if we the evil doers know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him (Mathew 7:11).
Unfortunately, many of us have neglected our true sonship in God and pursuing pig’s food (figurative speaking) whilst in our father’s house, there are better foods and inheritance waiting just for us. All we need to do is to know who and whose we are and return to our Father. And as we tend to His business, He will show us the way to prosper so we can acquire our inheritance in Him.
Ask yourself today whether you are genuinely possessing the land and walking in your call as a true Son of God or you are just a spectator of life, waiting to see a catastrophic event for you to be victimized. I charge you today to rise up, Oh Child of God! Get back into the loving arms of your Heavenly Father who is patiently waiting for your return and more than happy to give you your inheritance.
The bible says it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32). But before we can get the kingdom, we need to be in an intimate relationship with Him so we can know His ways and be prosperous.
How do you become a Son of God?
To be continued……….
By Felicia Asomaning
