SONS OF GOD

THE SONS OF GOD



                Who are the sons of God?  The book of Job introduces them and we presume them to be angels, but then we are left with the tantalizing question found in Hebrews 1:5 where it asks:

               

                “To which of the angels did He ever say, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee? And again, “I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me.” And when He again brings the first-born into the world He says, “and let all the angels of God worship Him and of the angels He says, ”Who makes His angels winds and His ministers a flame of fire,” But of the Son He says, “Thy throne O God is forever and ever and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.



                In other words the entire first chapter of Hebrews is devoted to establishing the superiority of Jesus over the angels. Jesus is from a different class of spiritual beings and in fact He is part of the eternal Godhead, and so Hebrews 1:13 asks: “To which of the angels has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet?” And then the writer goes on to say that angels are ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.”



                The book of Hebrews is saying something that we hardly dare to see or to ask about, for it is implying that we are those sons of God who shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid.

                So David asks the question saying: What is man that Thou dost take thought of Him? Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God and dost crown him with glory and majesty. Thou dost make him rule over the works of Thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” Psalms 8:4-6



                And again in going back to Hebrews 2:10, 11 it says. “For it was fitting for Him for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings, for both He who  sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN.”



                These things go far beyond our comprehension of course, but it helps to understand that we are first of all spiritual beings. This is what the tabernacle of Moses shows us among other things. We are a spirit that dwells in a body and we have a soul. We were created in the image of God and were filled with the Spirit of God. So when Adam and Eve sold out to Satan, they did the unthinkable. They traded their birthright as sons, for a lower class. They received the spirit of Satan, which is also, called the spirit of this fallen world and it didn’t take long for us to begin to reflect the evil nature of our new evil father. Murder happened right outside the gates of Eden and it has been going downhill ever since.



                So Jesus, the one and only Son of God from the eternal Godhead came into the world, He came to redeem us from this cursed existence as children of Satan and to renew a right spirit within us… in other words, to restore the Spirit of God into us, so that we are returned to sonship in which by His grace and power He is restoring us by bringing many sons to glory. Heb. 2:10. 11. So Jesus is forever the uncreated creator of all things. He is the second member of the Godhead or Trinity. We, on the other hand are created beings, but we were nevertheless created as a class of beings different from the angels. We are the created sons of God and through salvation Jesus is going to draw us into His family as sons and daughters who will reign with Him. Unbelievable!!!



                So as unbelievable as it may seem, Jesus is drawing us into the very godhead to reign with Him as brothers and sisters, joint heirs. And Hebrews 2: 14 says: “Since then the children share in flesh and blood He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all of their lives FOR ASSUREDLY HE DOES NOT GIVE HELP TO ANGELS, BUT HE GIVES HELP TO THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. THEREFORE HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BREHTREN IN ALL THINGS THAT HE MIGHT BECOME A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD…”



                My friends, the Bible says things about us that we hardly dare to think about or ask. In truth we do not know who we really are. We don’t know our origins and we can hardly comprehend our destiny, but let us suffice to say this: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:16, 17.



                Do we ever really stop to think or to embrace what is being said here? But it doesn’t stop there for it goes on to say: “for I consider that the suffering s of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. FOR THE ANXIOUS LONGING OF THE CREATION WAITS EAGERLY FOR THE REVEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD.”



                Friends, we are those sons of God. We have been redeemed from our fall and we are being restored in a three step process that is outlined by both the sanctuary and by the three main feasts of Israel. The tabernacle shows us that we are a tri-part being, spirit, soul and body and so our redemption happens in three stages as well.

1.       When we are born again we receive the spirit of God that we lost in the fall. Our spirit corresponds to the Most Holy Place. This also relates to the Feast of Passover where we are called out of Egypt. In the Red Sea of baptism we die to Egypt and we begin to follow after the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is renewed and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our spirit.

2.       So, once having received our new spirit, we must now learn to live by that Spirit and by His Word (which tells us who we are and what our redemption is all about) and our communication with God is re-established through prayer so that we can commune with our heavenly Father. This is step two in the process of our being restored as sons of God, it is the restoring of our soul through obedience and this is called sanctification. Thus we are learning to live by the Spirit rather than by the flesh and this corresponds to the Feast of Pentecost.

3.       But there is one feast left that has not yet been fulfilled. It is the feast of Tabernacles, which represents the glorification of our body. At the resurrection of our body we shall be glorified and it says that we don’t know exactly what we shall be, but we shall be like Him (Jesus) for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2 At Pentecost we were given an earnest or down payment of the Spirit of god, but in the glorification we shall receive the fullness of the Spirit just is in Him dwelt all the fullness of the godhead in bodily form.” Col. 2:9…and we shall be like Him.

                We can only go so far with this, but in truth, we are the sons of God, whom Jesus came to redeem from the fall and He is going to restore us to full sonship and He is going to restore us to a higher position than we had before the fall. We were made for a little while lower than the angels, but in our redemption we are being restored to sonship as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.



                The point is this: We often get buried in our small problems because we have lost our vision of who we are and what God’s purposes for us are. We often fail to understand that we have been restored to royalty and that our present suffering is allowed in order to perfect us… to teach us how to be overcomers, who are learning how to live by His Spirit rather than by our fallen flesh. We have a destiny that is higher than the highest human thought can reach. We have a destiny that is so great that we dare not speak it out loud… but let us suffice to say that it is the total opposite of all that the world offers and that is why we must learn how to do everything in reverse.



                In heaven’s economy we receive by giving… we live by dying… we rule and reign by serving. In Satan’s economy we receive by taking… we live by living it up and we rule by lording it over others. But as sons, we are learning our Father’s ways. To be kings and priests in heaven’s economy we must learn to love and to serve. We are learning to dye to the flesh that was born under the curse. Our flesh wants to do things Satan’s way because we are born as children of fallen Adam, but a new Adam, Jesus Christ came to redeem us from the fall… from the curse and to renew a right spirit in us… that is to restore our sonship so that we can grow up into all that God originally designed us to be.



                So we were born again… born back into sonship. Now through Pentecost we are learning to live by the Spirit of God and to put to death the deeds of the flesh… to be sanctified, made holy by His presence within us and yet we are also eagerly waiting for the final phase which will be the redemption of our bodies… glorified and made sinless forever. Then we will once again be the sons of God for whom all of creation eagerly awaits. We who overcome will become the first fruits of a great harvest to follow for as the feasts show us, once the first fruit has been declared holy, then the entire crop is holy.



                There are many things about this salvation that our small minds cannot comprehend and our small traditions fail to embrace… but like everything else that is opposite in God’s kingdom, we enter into these high destinies through humility rather than through pride… through serving rather than through ruling… through loving rather than through bullying or lording it over people. We are learning heaven’s ways.



                Peter, a disciple of Christ put it this way saying. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time…” and then he warns us to keep alert for the devil who wishes to tear you away from your sonship. He is insanely jealous over the position of sonship that we are destined to hold, for even though he showed up among the sons of God in the book of Job, he was not one of them. His destiny is the lake of fire because he dared to mess with the sons of God, causing them to fall temporarily… and he is still trying to hide our destiny from us and to steal or to cover up our identity as the sons of God.



                In truth most of us don’t really know who we are or where we came from or what our destiny in Christ involves, but the Bible gives us hints and we can have the mind of Christ and we can know this… that if we will take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) and if we will live within the covenant that He brought to us with His own blood, He will take us to our destiny. John 6:53-58.



                We are the sons of God… redeemed from the fall… and destined to reign with Christ forever!



                “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” 2 Tim. 1:12, 14



                We are the sons of God and we are in training to reign with Jesus Christ for all eternity. Everything we go through here is a part of that training. It isn’t always easy, but it will be worth it!